Displaying 271 To 300 Of 1,116 Comments A Letter to the Arizona Legislature Pardon me, but I could not disagree more with that idea of ignoring the ignorant. Ignorance is like an infection. It is always a mistake to try to pretend that it isn’t there, to allow it to fester. Over time, it gets worse and worse, until it becomes untreatable. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 19, 2011 @ 9:00 am GOP Economics – How to Become Taller by Digging Holes That’s true. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 12:46 pm We have something in common. I have also worked in advertising in my past, although I’m not terribly proud of it. I developed lots of point-of-purchase advertising for various companies. When Taco Bell introduced flan to its menu in the Miami area, I designed all the graphics that were used to try to sell it to the public there. If you went into a Taco Bell there, you might have seen my designs in the form of the on-the-counter advertisements, the stuff hanging from the ceiling, the menu stickers, and the window graphics. Actually, I don’t ever want to work in advertising again. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 12:43 pm When the day comes that morality can be eliminated from the equation, that will be the day that I am ready for the grave. Morality is all we have left. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 12:35 pm Well, like I say, I have mixed feelings about it. I guess it comes down to this: how much do we trust the general populace to make the right decisions? I am in full support of the idea that a democracy depends upon a well-informed citizenry, but there’s more to it than that. If there are good and informative public service announcements that give the people what they need to know to make rational decisions in choosing their leaders, is that enough? In this day and age, market research has become a glittering gem of science. Psychological tactics have become a fine art form. Marketers know how to appeal to the deep emotional core of the “admass” (as they call us,) to get public opinion to be what they want and need it to be. And now, neuromarketing is being developed, which should increase the return on investment to an untold degree. Simply giving the people the facts, as a political strategy, depends on an act of faith. It depends on the faith in people to use their critical thinking skills to see through the BS, to make the best decisions by using their reasoning skills. I’d LIKE to believe that most people are capable of that, I really would. I don’t want to think of people as sheep; that would be dehumanizing and deeply disrespectful. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 12:32 pm We can certainly agree to that. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 11:59 am Yeah, you’re right. They suck at marketing. So I have mixed feelings about it. The science of marketing is disgusting in itself. It is the manufacture of consent. It is perception management. It is the manipulation of the minds of a people who SHOULD be free to think what they want to think. So when the administration demonstrates a lack of ability of these skills… what am I to think? It means that they tend to lose in the contest for public opinion. It means that they tend to lose in negotiations of public policy. It means they tend to lose in the battles for the hearts and minds of the American People. But Obama can keep the moral high ground. To turn Matthew 16:26 around, what does it profit a man to gain his soul and forfeit the entire world? » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 11:38 am That really is a good quote. I haven’t heard that one. There’s a whole lot of truth to that. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 11:25 am President Obama likes to find the “middle ground” in all negotiations. Ordinarily, this is a virtue. Ordinarily, this is the characteristic of a true gentleman. But in the present circumstances, this trait can be easily used against him. Here’s a cartoon illustrating the budget battle, starring the President as the superhero “MiddleMan:” » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 7:36 am Whatsthatsound – Yes, “leveraging” is a somewhat distasteful term, but a good one to describe the political possibilities you’re talking about. Such missed opportunities those were! President Obama and his cabinet aren’t unintelligent; surely they must have recognized these possibilities. They just decided not to act on them for some reason. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 7:27 am Love the article. The “digging a trench” metaphor is spot-on. Unfortunately, I can’t really imagine the Democrats demanding that the wealthy start sharing some of the sacrifice. I can’t imagine them playing tough with the plutocrats, closing their tax loopholes and ending corporate subsidies. It’s easier to imagine a boulder rising up off the ground like a soap bubble. After all, it takes beaucoup bucks to get into office, and then to be re-elected. Get tough with the rich, and the rich can see to it that you lose your seat, particularly now that unlimited anonymous funds can legally be used for this purpose. How many people are willing to get tough with their own paymasters? » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 3:11 am We’re not like Detroit (yet?), and I don’t want to exaggerate the situation. It’s just that as a signmaker, I can’t help but notice how many businesses are closing down. It’s depressing to see. Atlanta has been a “boomtown” for as long as I’ve been here, and I guess I expected it to be like that forever. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 12, 2011 @ 8:10 am Billboards are everywhere here in the Metro area. People aren’t doing well when they can’t afford to advertise anymore. A business with no sign is a sign of no business. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 11, 2011 @ 3:52 am The skies really ARE beautiful down there. We drove down to St. Petersburg to see the Dali museum there, and we had to drive across the Tampa Bay bridge to get there. Out in the middle of the bridge, it’s almost like being at sea. We watched a small, localized rainstorm drift across the water toward us on that otherwise non-rainy day. There was plenty of time to see it coming; it passed over us and rained on us, and moved on. Anyone with a fear of wide open spaces should not drive across that bridge, but the view was incredible. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 11, 2011 @ 3:48 am Time to Stand Up to the Undermining Pundits I never miss an episode of The Young Turks. When I fill my iPod with things to listen to, I always put The Young Turks at the top of the list. There’s a good reason why their show consistently makes The Best Of The Left podcast. There’s a good reason why they received the Best Political Podcast 2009 at the Podcast Awards and the Best Political News Site 2009 at the Mashable Awards. It’s because they do a good job and their show is excellent. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 11, 2011 @ 7:10 am I apologize for not responding. I’m trying to do a lot of different things these days and it slipped my mind. How rude of me. I wanted to come up with a new idea to show you, though. You’ll hear from me shortly. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 11, 2011 @ 5:03 am Not everyone sees Cenk Uygur as a racist. The blog Diversity Ink concerns itself with matters of race, and they put The Young Turks at the very top of their Heroes of 2010, saying “The Young Turks have set the bar high when it comes to tackling race-related stories.” http://diversityink.blogspot.com/2011/01/heroes-and-villains-of-2010.html » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 11, 2011 @ 4:14 am That Orismar de Souza is one inspiring character. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 10, 2011 @ 10:34 am Secrets From Beyond The Emerald Curtain – PART 2 – I wore a mod badge there, but I was very conscientious about using it. I do believe in free speech, after all. I would only flag stuff that used overly violent messages, racist or de-humanizing speech, or scatological insults. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 10, 2011 @ 10:41 am Friday Music Thread— April Fool. Good tune! One might call it music piracy, but I went straight to and made myself an MP3 of this for my iPod, and my own personal listening pleasure. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 1, 2011 @ 2:22 pm The Fool on the Hill… » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 1, 2011 @ 1:33 pm Southern Discomfort – Code Red There’s a lot of truth in that. There’s even a lot of difference between the Low Country in South Carolina and the rest of the state. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 4, 2011 @ 4:18 am Khirad – “… any one group can learn to abuse another and view themselves as superior (like, now it’s our turn).” That’s exactly right. I’ve lived with all kinds of different people down here in the South, and there’s always some group lower than the group you’re with, some people lower on the hierarchy that people can look down on. When I first left home so long ago, I lived in a residential-hotel, where people looked down on those who had no home at all. When I stepped up one rung to living in a rooming house, the people there looked down on the people I previously knew. It’s always like that. A couple of years ago there was a sci-fi movie called “District 9” that made this same point. A group of starving refugees from another planet were stranded in South Africa. What happened next was the most likely thing: the social ladder simply had another rung installed at the bottom. I had never seen such a thing in a science fiction movie before, and it gave the movie a believability that no special effects ever could. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 4, 2011 @ 4:15 am Good article. I give it 10 stars. Personally, I could do without the cicadas. Man, those bugs are loud! » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 3, 2011 @ 6:38 am Free Speech and Commenters’ Experiences at The Huffington Post You’re not so bad yourself! I like this article. You make some really good points, and do so in a very entertaining and readable way. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 1, 2011 @ 1:43 pm I found it impossible to mention her by name at all. I wanted to say something about the panel of KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center,” but I couldn’t get the comment through, no matter how much I disguised the words. I think it was because the name of Arianna Huffington was one of the names I needed to use to describe that panel. My comment wasn’t even all that critical. » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 1, 2011 @ 9:25 am Thanks Chernynkaya. And like yourself, I had never considered that the excessive moderation was a way to increase clicks. That seems like such a likely thing (now that Foxisms has pointed it out.) I wonder why it never occurred to me before! » Posted By Buddy McCue On April 1, 2011 @ 9:13 am KT – No offense to you, but when I read something like this, I just HAVE to check it, to make sure it isn’t being taken out of context. “Atheist Muslims” is just too good. So I looked it up. He said it alright. Here’s the full quote for those curious to see it: “I have two grandchildren – Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.” Newt Gingrich was addressing Rev. John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church when he made these idiotic remarks. I agree that his spinal cord probably doesn’t touch his brain. » Posted By Buddy McCue On March 31, 2011 @ 1:10 pm Bageant and Webb: Virginia Will Miss’Em The statements “Independents out number Dems or Repubs,” and “We are blue because we believe in the Democrat party platform” contradict one another. And I surely never said anything about “All Northerners,” nor would I. » Posted By Buddy McCue On March 30, 2011 @ 8:43 am Notice that I’m careful to include qualifiers in my statements, saying “many of,” or “a lot of.” I do this in order to avoid blanket statements. Making generalizations certainly is lazy, but I’m not lazy. I stand by the things I’ve said. When I talk about so many people coming from a default position, or about social inertia, I am speaking of real forces that are greatly proven by real evidence. If such things did not exist, if most people were independent thinkers who were not swayed by regional opinions, then it would not be possible to paint broad areas of the map red or blue. It would be quite evenly purple. If people were not influenced by the others in their region, there would not be typical regional differences, or regional dialects. If group behavior did not influence the individual mind, there would not exist fads or fashions. Market research based on demographics would consistently fail. But it doesn’t. It succeeds. Why? Because individuals tend NOT to be independent thinkers. That’s an ugly truth to be sure, and I hesitate to spell that out so explicitly. However, there ARE many independently-minded people who CAN make up their own minds about what they believe. I know that I am such a person, and I think you are too. Personally, I’m glad that Planet POV has so many people like that. It makes this a nicer place to be than some other places I can think of. » Posted By Buddy McCue On March 30, 2011 @ 7:50 amComments Posted By Buddy McCue
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