Mind Boggling!
I heard it this morning, listening to the radio. From somewhere on the radio waves emanating from an American station. Obviously, a station that loves its pranks, its little practical jokes, its unfortunately successful forays into the idiocy of public opinion. Here's how it went:
A roving reporter, in a public space, querying passers-by at random in a variation of these two questions: 1. What do you think of Barak Obama? 2. Is Barak Obama a threat to the United States?
Seemingly without hesitation the responses shot back with confidence. Men and women, young and old, cultivated voices, rough parlance, they all averred in one way or another that the named was a threat to the United States. Barak Obama, think fast now. Um, sounds kind of like Osama bin Laden. Right!
This person-on-the-street interrogation as a flawless measure of the general state of awareness, involvement and responsiveness of a random sampling of one of the world's strongest, most committed participatory democracies. An informed, well-educated public, after all, is the best guarantee of the democratic principles preserved for posterity...right.
The responses were somewhat varied, sometimes offhand, sometimes expansive, but all, every one of the responders acquiesced to the notion that Barak Obama was a threat to the United States. Oh yes, and to the world at large, another thoughtful respondent added. Some younger voices said they weren't staying up nights sleepless over him, but they didn't trust him, no, not at all.
One woman thoughtfully summed up her opinion by pointing a finger of blame at the U.S. administration, saying that they would like the people to be frightened, to keep them in their place, to enact restrictive anti-privacy, anti-rights legislation, but she could see right through their pretences. He was a threat all right, but so was the administration, in her considered opinion.
It is entirely possible that the sampling heard over the radio, some twenty or so respondents, didn't represent the entire body of responses, that some people questioned might have laughed and said: Barak Obama, are you kidding? He's a United States two-year Senator, highly regarded, being touted in some circles as a contender for the 2008 presidential elections - and definitely for the 2012 elections! What're you trying to pull off?
Wouldn't we like to believe that most people responded in a variation of that tenor, a recollection of who the man is, what he does, the kind of reputation he has among political pundits...?
A roving reporter, in a public space, querying passers-by at random in a variation of these two questions: 1. What do you think of Barak Obama? 2. Is Barak Obama a threat to the United States?
Seemingly without hesitation the responses shot back with confidence. Men and women, young and old, cultivated voices, rough parlance, they all averred in one way or another that the named was a threat to the United States. Barak Obama, think fast now. Um, sounds kind of like Osama bin Laden. Right!
This person-on-the-street interrogation as a flawless measure of the general state of awareness, involvement and responsiveness of a random sampling of one of the world's strongest, most committed participatory democracies. An informed, well-educated public, after all, is the best guarantee of the democratic principles preserved for posterity...right.
The responses were somewhat varied, sometimes offhand, sometimes expansive, but all, every one of the responders acquiesced to the notion that Barak Obama was a threat to the United States. Oh yes, and to the world at large, another thoughtful respondent added. Some younger voices said they weren't staying up nights sleepless over him, but they didn't trust him, no, not at all.
One woman thoughtfully summed up her opinion by pointing a finger of blame at the U.S. administration, saying that they would like the people to be frightened, to keep them in their place, to enact restrictive anti-privacy, anti-rights legislation, but she could see right through their pretences. He was a threat all right, but so was the administration, in her considered opinion.
It is entirely possible that the sampling heard over the radio, some twenty or so respondents, didn't represent the entire body of responses, that some people questioned might have laughed and said: Barak Obama, are you kidding? He's a United States two-year Senator, highly regarded, being touted in some circles as a contender for the 2008 presidential elections - and definitely for the 2012 elections! What're you trying to pull off?
Wouldn't we like to believe that most people responded in a variation of that tenor, a recollection of who the man is, what he does, the kind of reputation he has among political pundits...?
posted by Pieface | 4:43 PM
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