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But Who's a Cranial Rectalist?
Kiro5hin has a long article today about creating a new, 3-Dimensional model of the political spectrum. It begins like this:
...With the rise of ideologies such as paleoconservatives, neolibertarians, and radical centrists, creating a political spectrum model that can describe them all has become more challenging. No longer does the simple left-right axis suffice, nor even the ever popular Nolan Chart. This article proposes a new model that attempts to accurately describe all known ideologies using a three dimensional spectrum...
Radical centrists? And these would be the people who feel strongly about not feeling strongly about things? Warning: I haven't read the article yet. I just started reading and was laughing so hard I had to quit.
Can you imagine, years into the future, when we have a 3-Dimensional model of political views? And you guys thought Tim Russert had trouble with the electoral votes and the whiteboard last election! Wait until we've got some 3-D computer-generated landscape that we can fly over, with the peaks and valleys representing, one would suppose, belief summits.
Politics is about labels, and marketing. Sure, I'm an independent with libertarian tendencies, but let's face it: Joe Six Pack on television doesn't have time for all that crap. Just tell him I'm a WASP who voted for Bush, and he's got me in a little box. That's what people want: a couple little boxes to put other people in so they can understand them better. Not 3-Dimensional mappings of the philosophical constructs of post-modern class warfare. They want something simple. The adjectives that drive emotion: dummy, evil, selfish, silly, progressive, proud, etc. And don't put too many of those simple words together -- one or two will do just fine.
Note that I'm really not trying to make a political statement here. The same thing is true for people selling dish detergent as it is for people selling ideas. Less is more. Find the couple of simple ideas that will drive a wedge in the crowd and pound them home. Don't give them a chart, give them a feeling.
I'm probably being way too hard on David Bruhn, the author. I'm sure in the abstract field of political science he is probably a million times smarter than I ever will be. I'm going to go over there right now and try to slog my way through his article.
As soon as I stop giggling.
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