Tower of Babel (Image via Wikipedia)Read related » Articulate No MoreThough I tend to be as amused as the next guy by clever bumper stickers, I never confused that thoroughly-American brand of amusement with eloquence, as that very same confusion is frequently the source of its humor. But when significant portions of the general population, along with the majority of the MSM, invest bumper-sticker-sized sound bites with eloquence and meaning, the national dialog descends to the level of playground trash talk. And the ensuing din is what the Tower of Babel must have sounded like.
[Reading this related article in its entirety is recommended.]
“During the campaign, many conservatives, including me, were mystified by the media’s assertion that Obama was the most eloquent man of his era. He was charismatic and inspiring, we were lectured. But conservatives could barely figure out what he was saying […] It seemed gibberish to many of us. But at least it was all of the same piece, all recycled leftist sloganeering. […] And just to twist the knife, CNN acknowledges that George W. Bush was a more effective communicator:
“While many poked fun at former President George W. Bush for mispronouncing words and stumbling through sentences, observers note that he rarely had to backtrack on his answers because he employed a simple and direct messaging approach.”So Obama has gone from inspirational to exasperating for his followers and cheerleaders. Maybe he just ran out of left-wing bumper-sticker phrases.
— JENNIFER RUBIN - 08.17.2010 - commentarymagazine.com
The world is a complex assembly of mass-energy and mediating-forces, including some seven billion of the most complex sub-assemblies, AKA humans. A principle force of mediation for those often intractable sub-assemblies is dialog, which itself is a complex assembly of varying flavors. And trash-talking is among the least effective means of constructive dialog, limited, as it is, to inciting animosity.
Hopey-dopey is to eloquence as minutes are to years.
Post 1,388 Four score and seven minutes ago …
No comments:
Post a Comment