CAPTIVE NOVELS, CAPTIVE IDEAS, CAPTIVE FREEDOM

The recent McCain use of marketing technology reminds us once again that politics not only can make for strange bed fellows but that the scalliwags still reign supreme.

This blog will not follow the traditional linear paradigm of having a beginning -middle- end. So you have been warned and do not get mad at me. But wait- what is a scallywag anyway?

scallywag - a white Southerner who supported Reconstruction policies after the American Civil War (usually for self-interest)
scalawag
bad person - a person who does harm to others
2. scallywag - a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
knave, rapscallion, rascal, rogue, varlet, scalawag
scoundrel, villain - a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
3. scallywag - one who is playfully mischievous
scamp, imp, monkey, rapscallion, rascal, scalawag
child, kid, minor, nipper, tiddler, youngster, tike, shaver, small fry, nestling, fry, tyke - a young person of either sex; "she writes books for children"; "they're just kids"; "`tiddler' is a British term for youngster"
brat, holy terror, little terror, terror - a very troublesome child

This is a challenging blog to write for as the campaign trail heats up from being just warm to solar flare intensity one does not know where to begin. Perhaps no more heated however than the 1802 accusation that Thomas Jefferson was a liar and a criminal ( I will get back to the scallywag mention)



The original accusation that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings, according to the Richmond, Virginia Times Dispatch, grew from seeds of the controversy “sown 200 years ago. In 1802 scandal-mongering journalist James Callender published a story in the Richmond Recorder claiming that Jefferson was sleeping with a slave named Sally Hemings and had, in fact, fathered her first child, Thomas.



The charge at the time was an effort to defeat Thomas Jefferson’s bid for the presidency by accusing him of what, at that time, would be considered “monstrous behavior.” Why? Because, of course, that bahavior would violate not only the laws of God, but the laws of the State of Virginia. The Times Dispatch reported: “‘By making any connection between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, you are calling him a liar and a criminal, because it was against the law to have sexual relations with slaves,’ said Jefferson descendant Matthew Mackay-Smith.” Besides, Sally Hemings was also Jefferson’s sister-in-law. He inherited the Monticello estate, and its slaves, including Sally, when both his wife and her father, who also was the father of Sally Hemings, died.

Now that is what I call playing the race card.



When Sally Hemings had her first baby, whom she named Thomas Woodson, she was 17 and 47 year old Thomas Jefferson was George Washington’s Secretary of State. In any time, even in today’s era of rampant moral decay, if a powerful 47 year old politician, got an unmarried 17 year old girl employee pregnant- well you get the idea.



This is a challenging blog to write for as the campaign trail heats up from being just warm to solar flare intensity one does not know where to begin.

Although Alexander Hamilton did not run for president, the race card and alleged polluted ancestry was played during his life.The self-made man and the immigrant who achieves success are figures dear to American culture. Hamilton, alone among the prominent Founders, was both. Chernow writes, "no immigrant in American history has ever made a larger contribution than Alexander Hamilton." Hamilton, who became one of the first American leaders to call for the abolition of slavery, grew up in the Caribbean slave societies of Nevis and St. Croix. He was the illegitimate child of James Hamilton, the younger son of a Scots laird, and Rachel Faucette, a woman of British and French Huguenot descent who had fled from her first husband. (Chernow's extensive research has uncovered nothing to substantiate claims that Hamilton, by way of his mother, was partly black.)



This is a challenging blog to write for as the campaign trail heats up from being just warm to solar flare intensity one does not know where to begin.

You have seen the Britney-Paris-Obama campaign marketing technology at work. I am insulted among other things. Okay ,perhaps Obama is a celebrity. But why not compare him to Muhammad Ali, Charles Barkely, Oprah Winfrey, Wesley Snipes, Bill Cosby, Nelson Mandela or Jesse Jackson ( opps delete that last suggestion)

Even Naomi Campbell if the McCain marketing men were looking for a controversial tempetuous comparison would have been an appropriate choice. (after all both Naomi and Obama are often seen with cell phones).

Certainly tax-saver wannabee Wesley Snipes would have been an excellent comparative choice, given that the marketing commercial is supposed to be criticizing Obama's position on taxes. Or how about Dennis Rodman? Come to think of it though, the McCain folks might not be too knowledgeable about non-white celebs- so I won't hold that against them.( For that matter I am not too knowledgeable about white celebrities either- so we all have our blind spots)

Speaking of taxes what did the Spears and Hilton images in the 21st century electronic painting have to do with taxes anyway? But I digress.

I mean there are a bunch of celebrities that the McCain marketers could have chosen with sullied reputations to compare Obama to. But Britney and Paris ?

Hey I have nothing against white people or white women but Britney and Paris.

Stay with me.


This is a challenging blog to write for as the campaign trail heats up from being just warm to solar flare intensity one does not know where to begin.

As Rev Wright would say the cauldron of American History burns , consumes, refines and illuminates.
( Okay maybe he did not say that- but since everyone is exploiting everyone else's fame and fortune and misfortune I suppose I have become somewhat contaminated as well)




I was reading the other day about Edward Bernay and watching some videos about him. Bernay's vision was of a utopian society in which the dangerous libidinal energies that lurk just below the surface of every individual could be harnessed and channeled by a corporate elite for economic benefit. Through the use of mass production, big business could fulfill the constant craving of the inherently irrational and desire driven masses, simultaneously securing the niche of a mass production economy (even in peacetime), as well as sating the dangerous animal urges that threatened to tear society apart if left unquelled. Bernay was also useful from an international policy perspective as illustrated in the videos below.







This issue of fear keeps on arising in my mind. I could not help thinking (call me paranoid) but the juxtaposition of Obama with white young women just seemed strange. ( Even Janet Jackson would have been a more rational choice )

Yes these two individuals are not Helen of Troys or Joan of Arcs or Mary White Rowlandson (more about her later- Yes There is More).



Paris and Britney can be dismissed as frivolous and even decadent in their behavior but their visual exploition strikes me as nefarious and intentional.

Reflect on the not too long ago days of the culture wars and assaults by former secretary of education Bill Bennet , Pat Buchanan , Pat Robertson and the "latter day saint" John Haggee, not to mention Newt Gingrich and dare I say, the junior Senator from Connecticut Joseph Lieberman .

Could the intention of this 21st Century Political Cave Painting be to accuse the Democratic Party in general and Obama you the Man by affiliation to be responsible for the cultural decline of America? Is there an embedded and implied threat that if elected the downward spiral into the abyss would continue if not accelerate ? ( By the way you have seen already the presumptive Democratic party nominee having to disavow the rapper Ludicris.)



Political Parties have always represented composites of regional,cultural and vested interests. Remixed blends of lifestyles and beliefs. Parties are like a regional gumbo or regional fruitcake. Or dare I say like Corporate Kentucky Fried Chicken mass produced, franchised and "factoried" versus Southern Fried chicken prepared in individual boutique gourmet kitchens by hands that picked cotton, some not far from the nearest out house but finger lickin good, long before we became bombarded with the ad agency slogan and resultant monied juggernaut stealing our blues. If a deeply seated ethnic and cultural culinary creation could be highjacked by a White Haired Colonel then lord help us -but I digress.

It is fair to say that more hip hop lovers are Democrats than Republicans. Probably more symphonic music lovers are Republican than Democrat. My point is that Republicans probably blame the Democrats for cultural anarchy and the current decadence in the creative marketplace from their perspective.( Democrats probably blame the Republicans for the current decadence in the creative or should I say financial instrument marketplace.)

I know I am really going overboard with generalizations but I could not help thinking that the insertion of Britney and Paris was really a dangerous decision. Is it possible that the ad agency and ad industry trained production decision was designed to convey subliminally that the Democrats have been responsible for creating the public atmosphere which has allowed , stimulated and tempted our precious young ladies to engage in not so lady like public behavior?

But back to Bernay, If you still feel like reading or watching, view the video below.







So who was Mary White Rowlands anyway for those of you who scored high on the SAT's or believe that the SAT's have predictive value and utility?

Mary White was born in England to parents who immigrated in 1639. Her father was, at his death, wealthier than any of his neighbors in Lancaster, Massachusetts.

In 1676, near the end of King Philip's War, a group of Nipmunk and Narragansett Indians attacked Lancaster, burned the town and captured many of the settlers. Rev. Joseph Rowlandson her husband was on his way to Boston at the time, to raise troops to protect Lancaster. Mary White Rowlandson and her three children were among them. Sarah, 6, died in captivity of her wounds.

Rowlandson used her skill in sewing and knitting so she was useful while the Indians moved around in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to elude capture by the colonists. She met with the Wampanoag chief, Metacom, who had been named King Philip by the settlers.

Three months after the capture, Mary Rowlandson was ransomed for £20. She was returned at Princeton, Massachusetts, on May 2, 1676

Her book was written to retell the details of captivity and rescue in the context of religious faith. The book was originally titled The Soveraignty & Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Commended by her to all that Desire to Know the Lord's Doings to, and Dealings with Her. Especially to her Dear Children and Relations.

The book became an immediate best-seller, and went through many editions. It is widely read today as a literary classic, the first of what became a trend of "captivity narratives" where white women, captured by Indians, survived over overwhelming odds. Despite the overall emphasis (and title, in England) stressing "cruel and inhumane usage... amongst the heathens," the book is also notable for conveying an understanding of the captors as individuals who suffered and faced tough decisions -- as human beings with some sympathy towards their captives (one gives her a captured Bible, for example). But beyond being a story of human lives, the book is also a Calvinist religious treatise, showing the Indians as instruments of God sent to "be a scourge to the whole Land."







Edward Louis Bernays (November 22, 1891 – March 9, 1995) is considered one of the fathers of the field of public relations along with Ivy Lee. Combining the ideas of Gustave Le Bon and Wilfred Trotter on crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays was one of the first to attempt to manipulate public opinion using the psychology of the subconscious.
He felt this manipulation was necessary in society, which he regarded as irrational and dangerous as a result of the 'herd instinct' that Trotter had described. Adam Curtis's award-winning 2002 documentary for the BBC, The Century of the Self, pinpoints Bernays as the originator of modern public relations, and was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century by Life magazine.[1]

This is a challenging blog to write for as the campaign trail heats up from being just warm to solar flare intensity one does not know where to begin and what about those scallywags?

Let's reach a deal, this is a blog- Email me what you think about the scallywags of today, whoever they are, and while you are at it, think about the marketing campaigns which used the technology of the day to broadcast commercials such as The White Man's Burden, Manifest Destiny and Go-West Young Man !

( added on Wednesday August 6, 2008)

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die