Thursday, October 04, 2012

Well this is surprising

The media usually likes the performance of the person who was the bigger asshole in a debate (unless it's a woman the media won't let a woman be an asshole (the "b" word and all that)) and such is the case now.

Oh that Romney he sure was aggressive, he must have won.


I'm not a big fan of the "debates" because they accomplish nothing and generally waste two to three hours of our lives -- or if you're Andrew Sullivan (not gonna link, you can go find his "we're all gonna die" panic for yourself) reinforce every preconception we have of you. But this is pleasantly surprising: I still don't see how that could be a surprise, frankly, but it is unique to see a "serious" person call Romney on being an outrageous liar.

4 comments:

Raoul Paste said...

Charles Pierce has nailed it- if you assertively lie, you will be viewed as 'strong', and that's the only factor that many people consider.

Montag said...

It's distressing to think that Goebbels was right about the "big lie" technique, in part because it negates the supposed value of a broadly-based information system.

As societies become bigger, they become more complex, and the net result is that people no longer feel they can be sure about knowing the truth about a wide variety of subjects. If the lie produces uncertainty in someone, they may want to find the right answer, but--and this is particularly true since the advent of the internet--they may only find contradicting views about the lie, rather than accurate information.

The information explosion, along with the failure of the press to ferret out the truth in favor of delineating the boundaries of every controversy, has made it less likely that people can determine for themselves that a lie is indeed a lie.

pansypoo said...

lying at the convention should have been a clue. the publikkklans will do anything.

Anonymous said...

A week or so before the debate Romney said he didn't know how he should react when Obama lied and kept repeating the lies over and over. Since the Republicans always project what they do onto their opponents this should have tipped off team Obama to what they should expect in the debate.