The Politics of Incongruity

With the DNC starting, we are clearly in the thick of campaign season, and with it an assault on our symbolic reality. Campaign managers will serve as symbolic pyromaniacs for the next ten weeks -- throwing their matches of ideas to see what catches and spreads like wildfire among the populous. With these efforts, we're going to see a lot of political and symbolic incongruity. A broad example is Biden's about face from the primary season to now partnering with Obama; or McCain running against Bush's agenda and now trying to legitimize himself among conservatives by supporting the Bush agenda. As a bit of a cynic, I'm used to these, but do find them funny.

What's harder for me to take is when an individual chooses to sum up their beliefs in bumper stickers (arguably the symbolic cue of the fantasy themes and dramas that comprise that person's symbolic reality). In the case of one of my neighbors, s/he has two bumper stickers on their car. The first says "Got Experience?" -- that was the pro-Hillary, anti-Obama drama. Fair enough. But then the next bumper sticker is Al Franken for Senate. For those not familiar with the MN Senate race, satarist Al Franken has no experience as an elected official. It's hard to take your bumper stickers seriously when they demonstrate a lack of political consistency or the good sense to remove one when that drama has died.

The problem with airlines? The customers.

Listen to the story from NPR about airfares and other hidden costs associated with a failing business model. Listen to the jackass about 3:00 into the audio portion. It's you. Yes you and your travel sites that are destroying the airlines. You and your pragmatic searches for a low cost. You're letting the terrorists win, but showing what a free market can do to the poor widdle airlines.