Polipsych 101

At the UW one of the required courses for communications/editorial journalism majors was called Propaganda 101. It was a course in the psychology behind politics, with an emphasis on how political campaigns are communicated to the masses. The course was taught by a man who, in a previous career, moderated one of the US Presidential debates**. One thing he said which applies to last night's debate is this:

People polled after a debate will overwhelmingly say the person they went into the debate favoring is the person they favored after the debate.

He added that idiosyncrasies which the viewer attributed to candidates before the debate were magnified in the eyes of the viewer during the debate, whether they were (objectively) displayed by the candidate or not. The prime example of this is most viewers said Nixon, who had a rep for a major 5 o'clock shadow, looked like he needed a shave, despite having shaved just before the debate and having worn makeup.

I am amused by the pundits and callers to the radio talk shows demonstrating this in spades. I am even more amused to find myself doing it.

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**Prof. Bill Shadel, who died at the age of 96 in 2005 in Renton. My warped memory at first came up with another senior professor's name, Henry Ladd Smith, but I see that was probably because another debate moderator was Howard K. Smith.

More Language Foo

Football jargon has corrupted all the other sports, and I can't stand it.

The only sport which h has offense and defense is football. Don't be rattling your tongue around about offense in baseball or basketball or hockey or ping pong. Baseball has hitters and fielders. Catchers and pitchers are fielders with some extra responsibilities. Basketball has ten players, running up and down the court. They don't magically become offensive or defensive players when they start running the other direction, they are Players. Hockey has players and goalies. Yes, the goalie plays defense, but everyone else plays everything. As for soccer, see basketball, just change the number of guys and change the court to a field. Ping pong and tennis, players play, period.

If things keep deteriorating in the world of sportscasting, expect to hear about defensive plays in golf, swimming, skydiving and javelin catching.

Review - Dreams From My Father

Finally finished Obama's first autobiography. The writing is so-so, I get the sense it was heavily edited, there are huge chunks missing, for example his drug-taking, class-cutting, total fuckup days are glossed over. There is nothing about his Harvard days, but the book ends after he has finished his law degree ands has taken his second trip to Kenya.

In a nutshell, it's a book about a man who was in search of the half of his heritage which was taken away when his father deserted him at age 2, and again when his father did not take him back to Kenya with him at about age 10. Going to a private school in Hawaii was all about being black, this despite the fact he was living with his white-as-Kansas mother and grandparents. Living in Indonesia he blended in, looking a lot like the other kids. Going to Columbia was glossed over, except for the part about being a black man in a time when not many were in college. I'm not sure how accurate that was for Columbia in the 80's. His experience working on Wall Street was about being the only black man in the building. Again, I don't really buy it.

Much of the book follows his time in Chicago being a community organizer. He was hired by a New Yorker to take over a loosely organized group of churches, find community action projects, and motivate community member to get them going. From his description he bailed and went to Kenya, then Harvard, without anything to show for it after three years on the job.

He describes a scene in Rev. Wright's church where we understand that he Found Jesus™. He does not come right out and say it, and he does not mention his Christianity again except in passing. If you're looking for details on what his religious beliefs are, how he came to convert to Christianity, or exactly how deep an influence Wright had on him, you will not find it here.

The final third of the book is about his trip to his late father's homeland in Kenya, and it is like he has finally come home, except he leaves to go to law school. There is a huge amount of interesting revelation about his ancestors, grandparents, father, uncles, aunts, cousins, sisters, brothers with the bottom line being that except for his half-sister who is a professor in Germany, his family is nothing to be particularly proud of. Yet he is still proud of the father he never knew because of his intelligence, charm and stubbornness. He is not so proud that his father died a drunken loser, but in the end Barak Jr's dreams win out over the reality.

I read the book hoping it would give me a reason to support the man for President. It did not do that. The man who wrote the book is not the man we see on TV. The man we see on TV has grown up, straightened up, made something of himself. But he carries a truckload of baggage.