triticale - the wheat / rye guy

The People Of The Slogans

I was describing the portion of Chrenkoff's interview with Steven Vincent which is quoted at USS Neverdock to my wee wifey. I thought she would dig the concept of the people of the Slogans, but she needed an explanation. I offered as an example the woman I saw at the gas station yesterday wearing a button saying "War Leaves Every Child Behind."

A perfect slogan. It sounds good but is both meaningless and wrong. I wanted so much to light into her, but there is no way to argue with a slogan built on deeply held generalities. Beyond the simplistic notion that all war is wrong, especially if waged by the U.S., I also see zero-sum thinking. Any dollar spent on the military is expressly and specifically a dollar less for the government school monopoly, which could do wonderful things if we would only give it limitless funding. Unfortunately, these beliefs can only be countered by reasoned argument, and not by slogans, and so we will continue to have to deal with the people of the slogans for the foreseeable future.