Tuesday, February 5, 2008
This evening NPR interviewed the guy who writes for a blog/forum called "Tech President." (link) It charts the (changing) use of techmology in presidential campaigns. Nifty little descriptions of viral marketing by supporters of Hillary & Obama: a thrilling mash-up of (gorgeous) celebrities sing-speaking in unison with Obama's post-New Hampshire "Yes We Can" speech (link), an MTV style interview with 'ex-band members' called "Hillary & The Band" (link), tella-novellas in spanish for Obama, ringtones, etc.Interesting. What about the Republicans? Are they doing any of this kind of stuff?
(dude says)
"The Republicans are terrified by grassroots politics. They are rigidly clinging to a top-down model."
Just like the Ariens, clinging to the power-structure of their dying age. We're witnessing the first green chutes of Aquarius right now. Yay!
2 comments:
Republicans afraid of grass roots politics? Have we forgotten about Swift Boating so soon?
Whereas the blog is the new media tool of the left, the right more or less owns the "unattributed email forward of questionable veracity" mechanism. Which one is ultimately more effective at swaying voters? There's much to be said for means of communication that doesn't allow for dialog, and that most people take as true on face value.
That's a really good point, and kinda puts the lie to the comparison they were making, which is implicitly "grassroots Democrat activity vs Republican party machinery." Or maybe that was just my read, but when he said, 'the Republicans are terrified of grassroots politics and are clinging rigidly to their top-down model' it seemed to imply official party action. Naturally, the Will.i.am. video and "Hillary & The Band" (which is admittedly, pretty fucking gay) are obviously just home grown memes. The grassroots activity seems to be more or less divided along those lines though — we're seeing more about progressives making homemade viral messages, whereas the conservatives are writing hysterical e-mail forwards. The money behind the swift boat operation elevates it to a new level, in my opinion. I think at the individual level, the left is making more homegrown stuff, but when it comes to well-funded 501(c)3's there seems to be more balance. I question the idea that "most" people take them at face value. I think it's more a matter of "you are more likely to believe a forward if you aren't the type of person that deletes them on sight." I get all kinds of forwards, but I trash them, or I send them back to the Mormon friend who sent them to me with an explanation of why it's inaccurate or a link to a Snopes debunking.
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