The thing that's at the top of my mind right now is Vice President Harris's running-mate pick, but that's not what this post is about. I'm writing this on Sunday morning, and knowing what I do about the news cycle – not to mention Murphy's Law – I'm a tad concerned that any speculation I make might be moot by the time this hits the interwebz, and I'd have to junk it and write something else anyway. So let's talk about a different politically related thing. (I'll write about a non-political topic next week, I promise.)
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No matter who Harris picks, we have to give props to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for being the first to call the Republicans weird. "These are weird people on the other side," he said on MSNBC. Not only does former President Trump say weird stuff (sharks and batteries, whut?), but their platform is chock-full of weird ideas. And his running mate, JD Vance, says weird stuff, too: "My God, they went after 'cat people.' Good luck with that! Turn on the internet and see what cat people do when you go after 'em."
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| rogistok | Deposit Photos |
Walz's phrasing has gone viral. Even the Harris campaign is calling Trump, Vance, and their minions weird.
This has been going on for a couple of weeks now. So of course the moderate-to-liberal punditry is trying to steer the conversation back to their favorite topic: Trump is way worse than just weird; his reelection would mean the end of democracy. The Washington Post has run two opinion pieces along those lines in the past week: one by Jennifer Rubin and one by Colbert King. Other papers' columnists are doing the same thing.
I mean, they're not wrong. But the chattering class has been warning us about Trump's existential threat to democracy ever since the guy first rode down his golden escalator in 2015. Every election since then has been THE MOST IMPORTANT EVER!!! And yet every election has seen democracy prevail.
It's not that we haven't come close to losing it. It's that something has always intervened to save us.
And so when Americans who don't live and breathe political coverage hear, yet again, that this year's election is once again THE MOST IMPORTANT EVER!!1!1!! – they might tune out.
But "weird"? That's a concept everybody can relate to. Plus it's funny. And it's annoying the crap out of the other side.
We're all familiar with the story about the boy who cried wolf. When the wolf finally showed up, nobody took the kid seriously. Would the town have been saved if the boy had changed his messaging?
Marketers of all stripes know that emotions drive engagement, and fear is a particularly useful emotion in that regard. Both parties use it: Republicans use migrants and crime in their scaremongering; Democrats use The Handmaid's Tale and Project 2025. Whether any of those claims are true is beside the point. What I'm saying is that the parties use them as tools to get voters on their side.
Joy is another emotion – one that marketers don't often rely on. But we've all seen the power of joy over the past couple of weeks. Democrats are fired up for Harris. There's been a lot of laughter and dancing. And we've had a lot of fun by calling the other side weird.
I know some of y'all don't believe in woo-woo stuff. But back in 2022, Druid priest John Beckett wrote about a ritual he participated in at the Mystic South convention that year. In the ritual, a seeress channeled Loki, the Norse Trickster god. Loki was very clear that His messages needed to get out into the world. One of His messages was this: Cultivate joy.
As soon as He took over the Seeress Bergrune, Loki began laughing and dancing – including asking questioners to dance with Him. And then in a tone that was both light-hearted and deadly serious, He said:
"Joy! There must be joy and we must make sure in this time that is dark and growing darker with war and disease and death and all the rest, joy or else my son [Fenris] will eat the world."
(In Norse mythology, Fenris, also called Fenrir, is the wolf prophesied to kill Odin at Ragnarok.)
And now here we are, doing just as Loki asked, and making politics fun. Weird, huh?
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Pop quiz for my friends from Kevin's Watch: How does Foamfollower defeat Lord Foul in The Power that Preserves?
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These moments of bloggy weirdness have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Cultivate joy!
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