Palin’ around with Sarah: Self-esteem run amuck
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Director of the Blogosphere called this morning. Sounded outraged, even a bit panicked. ”Where is it?!!” she demanded.
“What?” wondering why the hell she was calling me … on a Sunday!
“Don’t play cute. You know, your Palin piece. You have to line-up, be counted. Are you standing with urban ethnics or white country folk? You write a blog. You have a responsibility. Forget all this health-care, two-wars nonsense; technology, and science changing human nature–not important. We have to make sure that all the people with no healthcare and no job never realize they are on the same side. You have to keep the conflict going. So, what is it? Are you pro-Sarah or anti-Sarah? You have to take sides. Everyone does, the blogosphere demands it!”
After she hung-up on me I got real nervous. I know blogs are supposed to polarize the electorate, to be a place where you talk to people with whom you already agree–that’s how you build traffic, get yourself known, go viral. It’s also, apparently, how you sell books, paper-and-ink relics people waited in line for hours to buy from Sarah, although some also went so they could wait in line,
“It’s more fun talking politics with people who agree with you,” said Lucy Vigmostad, who was celebrating her 18th birthday by being first in line in Grand Rapids.
via Enthusiasm for Palin, and Echoes of 2008 Divide – NYTimes.com.
But I’m neither pro- nor anti- Sarah. I am amazed by her talent. As a good progressive I know I’m not supposed to be so impressed. But I’d much rather read a Sarah-story than, oh I don’t know, look at a magazine cover with a picture of Chuck Schumer in running shorts. We can call her all the names in the book, even invent new ones, but the fact is that she is an extraordinarily talented, attractive media star with tremendous charisma who happens also to have some truly dangerous ideas.
I’m even more fascinated by the crowds she attracts, all the people who want to pal around with her. Palin’ around with Sarah makes everyone feel good about themselves; who doesn’t want the boost that comes from someone “just like me!” up there on stage holding everyone’s attention? In the crowd you look left, look right and see people just like you having a great time feeling great about themselves.
If all she did was host a talk show, even us lefties could simply wonder at her appeal. But she ran for VP! And some say she’ll try for an even higher office in 2012. Don’t discount her. I am truly scared by her crowds. The debt they owe her for the self-esteem boost she provides is so much more powerful than any policy consideration could ever be. And there’s more. When you combine her talent at simulating intimacy and empathy–a genuine ability to make people believe she shares the same private hopes and fears they do no matter what they might actually think and feel–with the polarizing power of new media you get a phenomenon far more powerful than standard American populism. You see, Palin’ around with Sarah on Facebook and Twitter just might be putting our nation at risk.
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You have hit the nail on the head. One has to have a baseline set of knowledge and cognitive skills to prosper in the modern world, and that combination is just not available to everyone. Those that don’t prosper may be purposefully ignorant, they may be lazy, or they just might not be smart enough. And then there are those who see those who can’t make it as an opportunity for exploitation. I believe that Sarah is the queen bee of the exploiters, but I could be wrong. As you say, she could just be a loser savant who has crystallized the rancor of the Fredos of the modern world as they cry out, “I’m smart and I was passed over!”
Hey misterb, thanks, while we’re on the same wall, I think we may be hitting different nails. Ignorant, lazy, not smart enough? I don’t think that’s really a fair description of those Palin’ around with Sarah. There are plenty of knowledgeable, hard-working, smart-enough Americans without a decent job, an affordable mortgage, and healthcare. Ours is not a “just world” but an unfair place where even those who play by the rules don’t always get their share. She’s talented at tapping into those resentments, not at all a loser — if only she offered solutions and not just faux-intimacy!