Many Americans want as president someone who is exceptionally well-informed about public policy, who surrounds himself with experts, who weighs the evidence and then does what is best for the country. But few people are policy experts, so they often follow their hearts rather than their heads when deciding whom to vote for. Often, they assume that someone culturally similar to themselves will be more likely to look out for their interests. And that is why Mrs Palin is still so popular. There are an awful lot of Americans who see her as one of their own. She talks like them. She guts her own fish. She wears her faith on her sleeve. She obviously didn’t go to Harvard. And when people who did call her stupid or mock her faith or her family, her fans take it personally.
The Economist seems to be implying that many of the people who follow Palin take criticisms of her more personally than they would for other politicians. This would certainly explain the barrage of defensive comments I got on my Sarah Palin video the other day. From the comments you would think I had said something horrible about her, but all I did was make a silly, and rather non sequitur joke.
Here are some of my favorites:
i wanna unsubscribe to your channel cos you are wrong about Palin
You seem to me to be someone really adept at regurgitating the media mumbo jumbo. Congradulations for being a dumb person with a webcam.
jesus christ, get off the woman's back.
At least have an educated response!
4 comments:
I wonder how much of it could be some lingering remnants of chivalry and the like?
People get personally invested in a politician, and they feel that attacks on the politician is an attack on them. The same is true with Barack Obama.
I saw you put my comment about "unsubscribing to your channel" on your blog and just want to make a comment. I didn't take your comment as a joke, but you are entitled to your own opinion. That was in fact a humorous comment! never intend to mean I am a Palin's hardcore supporter. yes, I am a conservative and I don't think a lot of Palin's critics ever viewed her positions with some degree of objectivity.
For instance, they trashed as as and incompetent politicians and when she resigned, they attacked her of being weak! I am not saying that you are one of them, but Iam just saying that partisan politics has torn this country apart and objectivity is nowhere to be found. That applies both to the Democratic and Reps. supporters!
Sa'omoana, sorry for misunderstanding the humor. From the other comments on most of my videos, you can see why I tend to assume "real." I don't think sarcasm shows well on the internet.
As to whether this applies to all hard-core supporters of any candidate, I would tend to agree. The Economist seems to be suggesting that Palin supporters are more likely to follow with their heart because she has bad policies. However, just because another politician might have good policies, doesn't mean that his/her supporters are following because of those reasons.
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