It's The Stupid, Stupid
Why Our Political Discourse Always Goes Nowhere Fast
The famous motto inside the first Clinton presidential bid was, “It’s the economy, stupid.” The motto served as a jarring reminder that no matter which issues the media or the Bush re-election campaign were talking about, the response was to pivot everything back to the current recession. The economy, for the Clinton team, contained the whole of the problems that were affecting Americans.
The Clinton motto is revelatory of the way people think…and the ways we don’t.
In the beginning of Speaking By the Numbers, I illustrate how human intelligence centers work: We all think, feel, and do. I showed how commercials play on our intelligence centers, trying to motivate all three of those intelligence centers. To be effective, messages have to be simple, tight, and evocative.
But the human desire for messages to be simple, tight, and evocative, also means something else, effective messages keep us, well, stupid. I don’t mean that as focused at you or me, but I do mean to aim it at you and me. In many ways, effective messaging works best when we are asked to act without examination or reflection.
Right now, our politics and culture are what they are because we are conditioned to align ourselves with what’s simple, tight, and evocative rather than thoughtful. This formula, I believe, keep us stupid.
What do I mean?
As an example, let’s start with gun safety.