Two interesting political videos caught my attention this week and they show how negative events get far more attention in the media than positive ones.
The first was Herman Cain, who when asked about Libya had a Rick Perry moment. The YouTube video is nearing the million hit mark and the video was on just about every news cast out there. It's scary (to me) to think that Cain could be the President of the United States.
On the flip side, this off-camera moment with Ron Paul, which is only hitting the 4,000 hit mark (and not surprisingly got zero media coverage), shows that politicians aren't all sociopathic narcissists.
To me, the Paul video is more important in terms of assessing a presidential candidate than the Cain video. Of course it's important whether Cain knows what he's talking about, but the Paul video is an example of how character is something you either have or you don't. If you want a just system / society, then you better elect someone who lives their life based on morals that reflect a concern for what is right and what is wrong (and not just when they are on CNN).
As long as society focuses on the negative over the positive, then the media will continue to serve up the negative over the positive.
And ironically, PR folks will continue to be forced to play the blame game and rally efforts to make their opponents look like idiots, versus running their campaigns based on their own strengths. The 'they suck more than I do' strategy will most likely dominate the 2012 election campaign, when what the world needs is an American electoral campaign based on solutions and candidates who run a 'I'm the best for the job and here's why' type of mentality.
On a positive front, Paul continues to stay strong in polls, so there's definitely a segment of society that is starting to look for character over charisma.
The first was Herman Cain, who when asked about Libya had a Rick Perry moment. The YouTube video is nearing the million hit mark and the video was on just about every news cast out there. It's scary (to me) to think that Cain could be the President of the United States.
On the flip side, this off-camera moment with Ron Paul, which is only hitting the 4,000 hit mark (and not surprisingly got zero media coverage), shows that politicians aren't all sociopathic narcissists.
To me, the Paul video is more important in terms of assessing a presidential candidate than the Cain video. Of course it's important whether Cain knows what he's talking about, but the Paul video is an example of how character is something you either have or you don't. If you want a just system / society, then you better elect someone who lives their life based on morals that reflect a concern for what is right and what is wrong (and not just when they are on CNN).
As long as society focuses on the negative over the positive, then the media will continue to serve up the negative over the positive.
And ironically, PR folks will continue to be forced to play the blame game and rally efforts to make their opponents look like idiots, versus running their campaigns based on their own strengths. The 'they suck more than I do' strategy will most likely dominate the 2012 election campaign, when what the world needs is an American electoral campaign based on solutions and candidates who run a 'I'm the best for the job and here's why' type of mentality.
On a positive front, Paul continues to stay strong in polls, so there's definitely a segment of society that is starting to look for character over charisma.
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