General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumslast night the CBS evening news was comparing twitler's use of twits to FDR
and the fireside chats and even JFK and TV
I just about lost it
stopbush
(24,396 posts)"are half of the American people, who are my enemies, our corrupt intelligence services that have colluded to say bad things about me, horrible Obamacare - which is responsible for saving the lives of many of my enemies - and any government progam whose funds cannot be easily diverted to the pockets of patriotic Republican businessmen."
Yep, I guess Trump is just like FDR...
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)in the sense the most of the big political uprisings and changes over the last 150 years or so have occurred shortly after the release of new technology in the means of producing and disseminating information.
Our own Revolution was immensely helped by the proliferation of printing presses, and the number of newpapers and political tracts being produced and read.
In the 1800's it was railroads and the telegraph that Lincoln used to win the Civil War.
For Hitler, it was command of the radio waves and the emerging use of audio tape that helped him release speeches and talks in numerous towns simultaneously. Luckily for us, FDR commanded the same techology and used it to actually help our nation stave off fascism for a few years.
TV brought us the Kennedy/Nixon debates, Watergate, and eventually resulted in Reagan's election.
Trump is our first true internet/twitter/social media president. He's a disgusting putz, but he knows how to take advantage of the media available to him. Much like the war college studies the maneuvers of the Germans in WWII, where they had enormous military success before the allies learned how to win, we need to study the strategy, tactics, and technology of our opponents to counter their actions.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)I can assure you that both FDR's fireside chats and JFK's television appearances were longer and more substantive than one of Trump's tweets.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)available to use in warfare and politics and also that Trump is using it to great effect for his own benefit.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)Please don't help 'normalize Trump.
shadowrider
(4,941 posts)FDR (Tweet): The japs attacked us. We're going to kick their ass.
Kennedy (Tweet): Russia wants ICBM's in Cuba? We're going to kick their ass.
Truman (Tweet): The japs want us to invade? Watch this.
140 characters cut right to the heart of whatever is being discussed, good, bad or indifferent.
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)FDR and JFK were both attempting to sway public opinion, just like Trump is trying to do. Their job is harder, because it is easier to instill fear and hatred than to inspire people to do good things, in any medium. Trump is trying to morph his position as "King of Tweets" or King Twit into an authoritarian presidency. Our job is to stop him.
Much like any treatment for disease or addiction, moralizing usually doesn't help, it just confuses the issue. Instead of over emphasizing what he is saying, focus on how he is saying it and how we can work to counter it. Just counter-attacking is inadequate, because we are then fighting on his turf. We need to learn to fight back effectively.
Rants may lead to short term better feelings. They don't affect folks like Trump and his supporters, who take as a badge of pride that they don't care what we think about them.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)It's about a lack of substance...You simply can't deliver it in 165 characters. To some degree the medium still IS the message.
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)The OP was wailing that it was somehow wrong to compare FDR fireside chats with Trump tweets. I didn't see the show he was referring to, so I can't comment on that.
But the truth is, as you say, the important thing right now is that Trump has used a new technology for distributing information to his advantage and we need to learn how to counter that if liberalism is to survive. We have the superior message, I'm sure we can agree with that. How do we make people listen? Obviously, flooding the old technology didn't work well enough.
Studying our opponents is basic Sun Tzu. We can't counter them if we don't understand or even admit that they found and used a tactical advantage. There are certainly several other areas where we got out-foxed that need work, too, but this is pretty big.
dhill926
(16,355 posts)and we sure as hell better find a way to deal with this.
whathehell
(29,090 posts)I th I k you may have replied to the wrong poster.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)140 characters is less.
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)It's not about what was said, it is about how it is distributed. We need to counter the twitter wars.
spanone
(135,873 posts)blue cat
(2,415 posts)But is wasn't the only way he communicated so the comparison is full of shit.
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)This is the difference between how Trump and the others regard their fellow Americans.