paper clips and talking right

July 10, 2006 &bull uncategorized

Here’s a pretty interesting story about a guy from Canada who has, from a series of trades, taken a red paper clip and turned it into a house. Aside from how cool the story is, my favorite part is the Alice Cooper clip from KVLY in Fargo, ND. It’s possible I think the clip is funny because I grew up watching Fargo news. But, at the very least I think others will appreciate the “oh yah” at the end of the clip — a truly classic Fargoism.

Onto something a bit more serious. I heard a pretty interesting interview on Fresh Air the other day about how the political right has been kicking the left’s ass in the realm of language and popular opinion. The story struck a chord with me because ever since college I’ve been pretty interested in how language works. Over the last few years I’ve repeatedly been surprised at how well the right’s use of the words “morality” and “values” have actually resonated with voters. You see, the biases in my mind go like this. The right mainly stands for corporations and wealthy, white Americans (particularly males). Recently, they have been more interested in spending money on war than on truly helping people. And any time an election cycle comes up, they put the gay marriage “issue” back on the national agenda, which alienates people and plays on their insecurities. Conversely, the left stands for helping people in need through strong social programs, peace, and personal freedom (e.g., gay marriage, a woman’s right to choose). Granted, as I said, these are my personal biases so they are pretty tainted by the way I see (and want to see) the world. Also, please note that I’m not really talking about Republicans versus Democrats. I’m really talking about the political right as compared to the political left. Anyway, for the last few years it has blown my mind how people can think that the Republicans are the moral party. That they stand behind strong family values while the Democrats/Progressives are the weak and morally corrupt party. It seems to me that’s what Geoff Nunberg’s book, Talking Right is about. How the heck this odd turn of events came about and how the left got left out in the cold. I’m thinking about picking it up and, with any luck, will maybe write some more about it.

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