Here, the GOP appeals to lady voters at a level we can understand - wedding dresses. They finally get me. This is not to say that I don't thoroughly love the show parodied here. Just that I don't relate to politics and issues that affect my life through a lens of reality television. Assuming so is pretty insulting.
Then there's this video. Which, I can testify as a millennial, is awesome. And went almost immediately viral. And not in the, OMG look at what ridiculously embarrassing/offensive thing Rick Perry just said kind of viral.
The comments on the video are, not unexpectedly, pretty racist, classist, sexist, and generally every other kind of hateful "ist" you can think of. I mean, it's the internet comments, people. I guess human rights kind of freak some people out.
So what are we to think then? Are we really moving forward? As Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I can only hope that my generation's hands and hearts will keep on bending it. And in the meantime, there are these videos to make you groan/smile. Oh yea, and don't forget to vote!
I agree that second video is pretty awesome. The first, I don't actually find to be offensive so much as a funny reference and something that I think most people will actually relate to as funny (except those who are already grossed out by the Republicans, which is decidedly not the voters they are trying to win over, as that would be a waste of their time.) Remember in middle school when whoever had the cool / funny election speech got chosen? I know that you generally don't make your choices that way these days (or at least you think you don't - all of us are probably influenced by media and internal biases in ways we don't even realize), but I do think the popularity game / image contest is still a big part of elections. Neither party is trying to sway the base of the other, because it's not gonna happen with people who are strongly decided on their core issues. But I am guessing many swing votes are won on feelings and yes, catchy commercials referencing pop culture in one way or another, as both parties are obviously trying to do (albeit with very different styles). Whether we like it or not, they do it because it works.
ReplyDelete