Why all the bitter, negative political ads?
They work. So, the question should be, "Why do negative political ads work?" To simplify the answer, it is because our brains retain bad news longer than good news.
Scientists have proven this in numerous ways. Here is a simplification: Show subjects a series of pictures on a TV monitor - like a slide show. The pictures cover all sorts of things: good, bad and indifferent visuals. Then the subjects are shown a second set of pictures, and given a handheld device which they are instructed to click every time they recall that a picture in the second batch also appeared in the first batch. It is a test of which kinds of pictures they recall accurately.
The same is done with audio. Short, abstract sentences read by an announcer. After listening to the first batch of readings, they are asked to listen to a second batch and note each time they hear a sentence which was also in the first group of readings.
In every test, people remember the "bad" stuff much better than the "good" or "neutral" stuff.
I believe the reason is an ancient one, alive and well in our modern brains. Suppose you are an ancient person, a hunter-gatherer, doing your daily round of hunting and gathering food for the day. You see a wide variety of nature's creations. Then, suddenly you discover that a sabre-toothed tiger occupies a certain valley. You may well forget the meadow where you saw a mouse; but you are not going to forget that valley of the tiger.
It may have started by our remembering more accurately those things which were a danger to us. But it isn't limited to that. On the front page of today's local newspaper, there is a story of a small child who was killed in an auto mishap. To be specific, some family member backed a pickup truck over the child. A horrible accident. I read every story on that front page, but that is the only one I now recall. Somehow bad news, even when it happens to someone we do not know, is remembered longest.
This does not mean that the dirtiest, meanest political ads will always get their candidate elected. As in other types of advertising, some political ads are just poorly done. If an attack ad seems implausible, frivolous or just unfair, it may backfire. But it will almost certainly be remembered. And for that reason, people who write political ads will always search for a way to vilify their candidate's opponent.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Why Does America Go To War?
In the second decade of the last century, European nations got themselves into such a squabble that it quickly escalated into mass killings. Eventually the United States entered the fray to help restore peace. America had not been attacked, but we went to war to help solve someone else's problem.
My father and his brother participated as soldiers in that conflict which was so widespread it became known as The World War. Dad came home, his brother did not. He was one of 116,708 Americans who gave their lives to help their friends.
The peace we helped gain was managed badly, and in less than 20 years, the Europeans were at it again. America was attacked by the Japanese, but not by Germany or Italy. We entered that war - Europe first - because the American government was afraid our European allies could not hold out much longer. When VE-Day, "Victory in Europe" was accomplished, we turned our attention to our attacker in Asia.
I participated in the last year of that war... luckily, after the major shooting had ended. I was safe, but a total of 407,316 Americans died in what was called World War II. Many of the Americans died while saving someone else's skin. Then, hard-working American men and women paid for the restoration of what the war had destroyed in Europe and Japan!
Three years after I left the Army, the North Koreans invaded South Korea. Again, America came to the aid of the nation that was attacked. When it finally ended in a cease-fire, not a true end to the war, another 36,916 Americans had gone to their graves.
In 1961, another weak nation was attacked as North Viet Nam launched war against democratic South Viet Nam. Again, America came to the aid of the oppressed. In spite of the fact that politicians micro-managed that war, our military none the less won a decisive victory on the ground. But before victory could be declared, our politicians bowed to the pressure of ill-informed war protestors and did, summarily, "cut and run". 58,193 Americans had died in vain. The ones who came home were vilified by their own countrymen. Such are the depths to which an uninformed civilian population can sink when goaded by masses of ignorant protestors.
About thirty years later another small nation was attacked by a more powerful neighbor as Iraq invaded Kuwait. America again went to war. American deaths did not mirror the large numbers from previous wars, but in America we value every life and mourn the losses in the Gulf War no less than the losses in previous wars.
Each of these 20th Century wars was pre-emptive. But in the end, America did not claim any spoils of war, did not raise our flag over any new territory. We just restored the peace and went home.
I keep hearing people say that the Viet Nam war was an unjust war? In what way is that so? Was it "more just" to protect Kuwait and Korea than South Viet Nam? Every one of the wars of the 20th Century was fought to help some nation survive.
We have gone to war to protect the rights of people of every color and creed. Wouldn't you think America would be appreciated by some of those people? Well, we are appreciated by some of those people. But not necessarily the ones you may think.
During the Johnson Administration, Charles DeGaulle, then president of France, ordered that every American soldier be removed from French soil. Johnson asked if that order included those soldiers in graves in French soil. DeGaulle never answered. Attitudes have not changed in the French government - Chirac carries on the tradition of unfriendliness to America.
Happily, that is not always true on the streets of France. Many French men and women know what America did for their country and are not too proud to say it.
America goes to war to help protect some weak nation from a bully. And we are reviled for it. But, Americans are slow learners, and on some future date another rogue nation will attack a weak neighbor. More thousands of Americans will lay down their lives to right that wrong. And more of the world's population will hate us for it.
In the second decade of the last century, European nations got themselves into such a squabble that it quickly escalated into mass killings. Eventually the United States entered the fray to help restore peace. America had not been attacked, but we went to war to help solve someone else's problem.
My father and his brother participated as soldiers in that conflict which was so widespread it became known as The World War. Dad came home, his brother did not. He was one of 116,708 Americans who gave their lives to help their friends.
The peace we helped gain was managed badly, and in less than 20 years, the Europeans were at it again. America was attacked by the Japanese, but not by Germany or Italy. We entered that war - Europe first - because the American government was afraid our European allies could not hold out much longer. When VE-Day, "Victory in Europe" was accomplished, we turned our attention to our attacker in Asia.
I participated in the last year of that war... luckily, after the major shooting had ended. I was safe, but a total of 407,316 Americans died in what was called World War II. Many of the Americans died while saving someone else's skin. Then, hard-working American men and women paid for the restoration of what the war had destroyed in Europe and Japan!
Three years after I left the Army, the North Koreans invaded South Korea. Again, America came to the aid of the nation that was attacked. When it finally ended in a cease-fire, not a true end to the war, another 36,916 Americans had gone to their graves.
In 1961, another weak nation was attacked as North Viet Nam launched war against democratic South Viet Nam. Again, America came to the aid of the oppressed. In spite of the fact that politicians micro-managed that war, our military none the less won a decisive victory on the ground. But before victory could be declared, our politicians bowed to the pressure of ill-informed war protestors and did, summarily, "cut and run". 58,193 Americans had died in vain. The ones who came home were vilified by their own countrymen. Such are the depths to which an uninformed civilian population can sink when goaded by masses of ignorant protestors.
About thirty years later another small nation was attacked by a more powerful neighbor as Iraq invaded Kuwait. America again went to war. American deaths did not mirror the large numbers from previous wars, but in America we value every life and mourn the losses in the Gulf War no less than the losses in previous wars.
Each of these 20th Century wars was pre-emptive. But in the end, America did not claim any spoils of war, did not raise our flag over any new territory. We just restored the peace and went home.
I keep hearing people say that the Viet Nam war was an unjust war? In what way is that so? Was it "more just" to protect Kuwait and Korea than South Viet Nam? Every one of the wars of the 20th Century was fought to help some nation survive.
We have gone to war to protect the rights of people of every color and creed. Wouldn't you think America would be appreciated by some of those people? Well, we are appreciated by some of those people. But not necessarily the ones you may think.
During the Johnson Administration, Charles DeGaulle, then president of France, ordered that every American soldier be removed from French soil. Johnson asked if that order included those soldiers in graves in French soil. DeGaulle never answered. Attitudes have not changed in the French government - Chirac carries on the tradition of unfriendliness to America.
Happily, that is not always true on the streets of France. Many French men and women know what America did for their country and are not too proud to say it.
America goes to war to help protect some weak nation from a bully. And we are reviled for it. But, Americans are slow learners, and on some future date another rogue nation will attack a weak neighbor. More thousands of Americans will lay down their lives to right that wrong. And more of the world's population will hate us for it.
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