One area where conservatives have passed us in the the area of anecdotes. Nearly all of them have some story they want to spin to help their campaign. People left of center and way out their left like facts and figures. The problem is that people in the middle and slightly right of middle have abandoned the idea of facts for the most part. Tell them a good story and they are sold.
The problem with stories is that they are meant to capture the exception that proves the rule. Stop me if you've heard some of these. Gertrude lives alone. She lives in a bad neighborhood. Someone talked her into buying a gun and it saved her life. A prowler came calling and as he slowly moved through the house, she was able to find her gun, load her gun, and shoot the SOB before he was able to grab anything.
Requisha is a welfare mom. Of course, sometimes she goes by Lekeisha, Starquinda, and Rhonda. See, she gets four different checks by tapping into the vast wasteland that is welfare fraud. This year was a banner year for whatever you want to call her. She took in enough to go buy that new shiny Lexus. So, there you go. She sits on her sofa eating bon bons while we work hard and never quite get the Lexus. You reach your own conclusions.
Finally, you get the story of Abdoul. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he usually kept to himself. There were always small groups of people coming to his home and they sat in the dark and talked low (I'm the neighborhood busybody). I didn't think anything of it and until I saw his face on a watchlist. I called the authorities immediately and they took him away in handcuffs. Thank God I am there to spy on my neighbors.
I could keep spinning yarns, but you have the idea. Some progressives are able to tell a good story, but for the most part, the Democratic party is the party of facts, logic, and evidence. Excuse me while my eyes glaze over. We need our own stories. I've talked here and in comments sections about the need to reach people emotionally. Fear is a terrific motivator, but hope is too. Numbers don't create hope, but a good personal story does. Mine is not long, but I hope it creates hope for the future.
As many of you know, my daughter is three. Since she was six weeks old she has gone to the same daycare center (no, I am not saying where). At the day care center she met a boy and they became best friends. My wife and I were nervous not because of who he was, but because it was a boy period. The boy's name is Faisal. For those that don't know, Faisal is the name of one of the past kings of Saudia Arabia where his family is from.
It has been a tough few months for her, because he and his family went back to Saudia Arabia. Before they left, they invited our daughter (and by extension us) to his birthday party at McDonalds. She was one of the few kids from her daycare class to go. It goes without saying, but we were also one of the few white families there. In this case, I claim no responsibility or need to brag about what happened. It was purely a situation where our daughter had made a friend.
Since they left they have sent a picture back and our daycare center made sure it got in our daughter's cubbie. We've tried to explain the whole concept of friends moving away, but it hasn't quite stuck. She wants to go to "Sabbia Rabbia" to go find Faisal. We don't know where they are, but know they may come back someday. Funny, but they came so Faisal's mom could go to college. Someday, dad might go to college too. As soon as she got her degree they moved back home. They loved it here, but they missed their family.
It's a very human tale that most parents go through. Your child has a friend and the friend moves away. Naturally, I didn't think much of it at the time. Yet, there are so many people that would have flipped out if their child had "associated with someone like that." I say follow the children's lead. They know what is best for them most of the time. I have a much better chance finding a terrorist among the rest of her class as I do amongst Faisal and his family. Heck, I miss him too. Every parent hates seeing their child sad.
fantastic examples but I fear the second one misses the mark for these folks. You have to know people personally to care and when you insulate your movement with 99 percent white it just won't register. Registers with the rest of u's on both counts.
Once upon a time in Germany there was this rightwinger. He hated Jews and murdered millions of them. True story I swear.
Once upon a time in America there was a practice of slavery. For hundreds of years, even after they lost a war over it, they still want to enslave people. At least segregate them.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any contact info for Faisal and his family. It used to be that we told stories that bolstered the human spirit. Many conservative tales talk about the worst of human nature. It seems like we search for why something shouldn't happen. I certainly did that with the community center and it had nothing to do with those organizing the center. It was the fear of reaction. I have no doubt that there are bad people in this world, but the moment we assume someone is bad before they give u's reason to feel that way is when we are officially lost not only as a nation but as a whole humanity as well.
I think there are more good people in the world than there are bad. But the bad ones get the publicity and sometimes, the fame. Additionally, we have so fewer "heroes" than when I was a kid. That's a problem. And, even when we get a legitimate hero, often times he falls from grace. Sometimes with a big "splat".
I look back to the 1800's, 1700's when "honor" and a man's "word" were cherished and protected, sometimes with death. Nowadays I see guys like Madoff, Blago, Stanford, the Enron bunch......it makes me sick.
really like this story...touching.
It brings to mine one of the things that I 'thought' was unusual about children. After watching my daughter's reaction to having her friends come and go out of her life like an assembly line I came to believe that young children don't really even notice because they don't have an established sense of permanent loss. Now lose a pet and you'll see waterworks for days. I just knew my daughter was destined to be as cold as her mother...I'm crying on my keyboard as I type.
I feel really bad for that young lad. That goes to the heart of what social ostracization can do the heart and spirit of developing children. It's just wrong and akin to spiritual murder in my estimation
you make a good point, Scott - one of the reasons Clinton was so well liked and his poll numbers even went up during the impeachment mess was because he had that gift of gab; perhaps it was natural from his car-salesman Dad, or maybe it was consciously acquired, but it reminded everyone of that familiar neighbor who was smart and a little too-talkative.
our problems arise from the DINOs in our midst who either can't stomach the Regressive party, don't want to give up their Seniority positions, or just enjoy being the supposed 'swing vote' who are always in control and are thus able to raise more campaign cash.
sounds like your daughter will always have a pen-pal; let's hope more kids find international friends and focus on the fact most countries' citizens are interested in living their lives with minimal government intereference, and making sure they hand things off to the next generation a little better than they were handed to us.
except in cases of flat-out aggression, we are divided and polarized by the political class and the media.