Indicators of a Good Candidate for Congress
An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was
getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a
profession.
Like many young men, the boy didn't really know what he
wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it.
One day, while the boy was away at school, his father
decided to try an experiment.
He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table
four objects:
a Bible,
a silver dollar,
a bottle of whisky
and a Playboy magazine.
"I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to
himself, "When he comes home from school this afternoon, I'll see
which object he picks up.
If it's the Bible, he's going to be a
preacher like me and what a blessing that would be!
If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and
that would be okay, too.
But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good
drunkard, and Lord, what a shame that would be.
And worst of all, if he picks up that magazine he's gonna
be a skirt-chasin' bum."
The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's footsteps
as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. The
boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to
leave the room he spotted the objects on the table.
With curiosity in his eyes, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle
and took a big drink while he admired this month's Centerfold.
"Lord have mercy," the old preacher disgustedly whispered,
"He's gonna run for Congress!"
Thanks to Richard for this input.
Funny!
Larry, have you checked out the book "Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak through Philosophy and Jokes." This is a thin, fun book to read but with a lot of revelations on how we are manipulated by politicians through faulty logic. The book is supplemented with humor to make for a fast read.
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Peter,
Sounds like fun.
Thin is better for books, according to Ken Blanchard.
Give us an example from the book, please.
Larry
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Two selections from the book:
We have to revisit the question of whether politicos make intricate logical errors on purpose or because they really don't know any better. After thinking long and hard, we've decided to give them the benefit of the doubt: We believe they would rather be called devious than dense...
A whole lot of these logical flimflams happen around the notion of cause and effect. The first of these...is known as "with this, therefore because of this."...cum hoc ergo proter hoc...Here's an example:
The commander in charge of coalition forces in Iraq---who is also senior Commander at this base---General John Vines, put it well the other day. He said: "We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad, or we deal with it when it comes to us."
---President George W. Bush, June 2005 [BTW: He quotes people from across the spectrum.]
Exactly how does this work? Is it that the terrorists are too busy?...In any case, it's hardly a sure bet that it's the war in Iraq that has prevented us from being attacked at home. It's like a guy painting his house pink to ward off dragons. Call him nuts and he points to his success rate.
Cause and Defect:
Melvin was dying. He was old, very old. He had seen much suffering in his life. Trudy,his wife, was seated on the edge of the bed, wiping his brow. They had lived together for more than seventy years. "Tell me, Trudy, do you remember the Depression years when we barely had enough to get by?" he asked her. "Of course I remember. I was with you through all that," Trudy answered. "Do you remember the lean years after the war, when I was working two jobs and going to school?" "Of course. I was with you then too, my love." "Were you with me when I lost my job?" "Of course, my love, I've always been with you. Always." Melvin was silent for a moment. Then he looked at his loving wife. "You see, Trudy, I think you were bad luck."****************
PROJECTION occurs when one is threatened by or afraid of one's own impulses and consequently attribute those impulses to someone else...When party A grants' huge tax cuts mainly to the superrich, and the opposing party B points to the unfairness of this measure, how does party A respond? By passionately and fervently crying "Party B is igniting class warfare!"
SHRINK: When I show you this triangle, what's the first thing that comes into your mind? PATIENT: Two men and a woman going at it on a water bed. SHRINK: How about when I show you this circle? PATIENT: Some girl-on-girl action in the locker room shower. SHRINK: And this square? PATIENT: A woman taking on three men in the backseat of a Volvo. SHRINK: My diagnosis, you're obsessed with sex. PATIENT: Me? You're the one with the dirty-picture collection!
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Peter,
Interesting quotes.
My wife had on a Bill Maher special on HBO last night who was commenting that so much of the Bush and/or Republican policy seems to be built on slogans of ten words of less. Bill repeated several of them and then would pause between them to count on his fingers. "Gotta fight 'em there so we don't fight 'em here."
I remember Richard Clarke noted in Against All Enemies that Bush struggled to grasp an issue unless you could boil it down to a bumper sticker slogan.
I'm sure there are others committed by Democrats as well, I'm just not recalling any at the moment. Can someone provide some balance?
But let's get back to your basic point, and the seeming point of the book. That point is that politicians will start you down a path that seems logical and then take a sudden subtle turn that leads you to an illogical conclusion and that politicians have a variety of speech techniques to achieve that. Am I making the right conclusion here?
Larry
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