Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/30/does-this-maga-is-weird-commercial-promote-lookism.html
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I know that mud slinging has been in politics since the 1800’s, but all of it still doesn’t sit well with me. It’s funny how when we’re kids we’re taught things like, “If you can’t say anything nice than don’t say anything at all” and yet it’s quickly thrown out the window once we become adults. I’ve always despised how low and debased Trump’s tactics have been, but I’m not gonna lie, it sucks to see the other side trying to match the energy. People will say, “If they go low, you go lower”, but it honestly all makes me cringe. Especially name calling. It’s just such elementry school behaviour. But as I find myself saying a lot… “it is what it is”, I guess.
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While your concern is noted, the creepiness of the ad comes as much from the acting and script as it does from the actors who were skillfully cast and made up to resemble the grotesque collection of right-wing pundits.
Also, pointing out the contrast between the ideals of racial and masculine purity these skull-fondling fascists espouse and their actual appearance is a long-established and effective tactic to mock them.
[Edited by Moderator]
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The goal should be to expose MAGA’s creepy and weird behavior instead of focusing on their physical appearance. Lookism is a bad look.
I disagree. I think this is genius.
The folks who are much more likely to be “lookists” are the conservative MAGA crowd. Jonathan Haidt in his Moral Foundations Theory finds that a key attribute of of conservatives is “ingroup” behavior, which is a kind of tribalism. By suggesting that MAGA folks are weird outcasts, it uses one of their key value traits against them. You can clearly see how this trait resonates with MAGA when Trump famously made fun of a palsied individual at one of his rallies.
Using your opponent’s biases against them is completely fair game. Yes, “lookism” is unfair and cruel and liberals know that. But this ad is not for them. And perhaps just possibly, it will encourage those folks to be less clannish and judgmental.
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A common mistake that the Democrats make is the belief that they can win elections with policy and ideas. People don’t vote for policy or ideas, they don’t even vote for candidates- they vote based on how it’s going to make them feel. Now, some people feel good about voting based on policy, but that’s a very abstract and disconnected feeling.
If you want to drive voter turnout, you need to appeal to emotions. Not all of us are intellectuals who sit around considering tax policy and legal reforms. But we are, all of us, animals with an advanced and complicated emotional brain. And yes, we can use positive emotions to drive things- Obama’s “Yes we can,” combined with his natural charisma worked extremely well. But as Trump has ably demonstrated, you can also use darker, more repulsive emotions.
Harris seems to be doing both. Appealing to the hopes of having a woman of color who isn’t an antique sitting in the Presidency, pointing to optimistic policies of positive change both acted out and potential steps she could take in the role, and… calling her weird, creepy opponents what they are. Pointing out what they stand for, and making them own it, and calling their beliefs weird. Invasive. Repulsize. And tying that visceral repulsion to action: don’t vote for these weirdos. Not because you want Roe V. Wade back (but we do!) but because their stance on Roe V. Wade makes you uncomfortable.
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What? This is basically like one of those documentaries where they don’t show the actual people because they weren’t available because reasons.
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I’d respectfully suggest that you’re comparing apples to hand grenades if you think that “energy” is now being matched by Democrats.
There is a fundamental difference between the kind of vitriol Trump has been dishing out and amplifying over the last 8 years, and pointing out that basing your entire existence around that kind of vitriol is, itself, weird and unsettling.
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I’m a middle-aged white guy who isn’t in peak physical condition and I don’t feel mocked or personally targeted by this ad.
If this hits too close to home maybe it’s time to rethink the policies you support and the way you advocate them.
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For sure, you’re correct. “Trying to match the energy” isn’t the proper term and I apologize for not being clearer. I definitely agree the Right’s vitriol far outweighs anything the Democrats would dare to do. I just personally want to hear policies and that alone is what causes me to make my choices. Trump’s policies alone suck. I was just saying overall it’s sad how mud slinging has to exist. Many people will only pick their side based on emotion and how much drama can be created. That’s the human condition I guess.
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wait, now we have to make fascist adjacent dipsh!ts look better, in as flattering a light, as soft a focus as possible?
Bleep that. They already ran Kari Lake and she lost. Bigly.
Authoritarians HATE IT when they are mocked. More please. Better too.
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How can you tell the Democrat’s ads are working?
The right does this:
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Besides, corporate outlets like the NYT are already doing a lot of heavy lifting toward that end.
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I think it’s a bit of a false dichotomy to think that this isn’t about policy. For me, the goal is clearly to emphasize how abhorrent and actually unpopular their ideas and goals really are. Recognizing that their policy goals are fucking nuts when you say them out loud and not granting them the privilege of being treated like rational adults acting in good faith is a kind of counter-spell, I think.
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I’m happy for surrogates to go low like this. I personally think this particular ad is a bit over the top, but if it works at the margins, great! I do think “weird” is maybe not the best word to lean into. Weird can be fun and cool (Austin, TX’s “Keep Austin Weird” campaign comes to mind).
Creepy. That’s what Trump, Vance, and their enablers and suck-ups are. A bunch of creeps. No one likes a creep.
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How is it mud slinging when you tell it like it is? Weird asshats nobody would want to get near to trying to get revenge on everyone who is not like them or does not want to fuck them? They could try being considerate and nice people, but no, let’s forcibly control other people‘s lives instead.
Heard nobody say that, but „if they go low we go high“ is sometimes just like giving them a free pass.
What exactly is the drama here? People like the ones depicted in the video do exist, and this is their agenda. They are going to vote. It‘s ok to put that out there.
I don’t get what you want to say at all.
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When someone isn’t dealing in good faith, it’s ALWAYS a free pass. We know for sure the GOP doesn’t deal in good faith and hasn’t in at least a decade, probably well more than that.
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… which is just the same vitriol that’s been on AM radio for the last 30 years 
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I like grotesque.
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But see, that’s DIFFERENT, because the Dumbocrats are the only ones with any agency or need to rise above… We can’t expect fascists to not be fascists now, can we? /s
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"I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”― Harry S. Truman
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