General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone please explain to me why the Republican Party still enjoys [View all]unblock
(52,205 posts)and it's certainly true that some ridiculously rich people are thrilled to be able to us manipulating messages.
over and over and over and over and over again.
it works, and not just on republicans, but also on independents, democrats and even the apathetic. at a minimum, we all end up debating the issues they want us to be debating (al gore's sighs, flag-burning, whatever) instead of real issues like concentration of wealth, political corruption, etc.
as for remedies, ideally we would have enough money to get counter-messages out, but we don't, and that's inherent in the nature of the power of concentrated wealth. the best that i've been able to come up with is simply laughing in their faces. you really have to shake someone out of their worldview, and the only way to do that is to shatter the illusion that their views are socially acceptable.
so, laugh in their faces when they say something idiotic, like rich people need a tax cut as an incentive to work hard, but poor people shouldn't get a wage hike because they'd get lazy and work less.