Interesting article on the tactics used by conservative groups to sway people to vote against same-sex marriage in California and Maine. When two political consultants who led the campaign against gay marriage first started in California, they noticed that polls were showing that voters tended to not have a problem with gay relationships. With the help of focus groups and surveys, they soon discovered a new way to reframe the issue -- by focusing on education. Before the strategy was to focus solely on the idea that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. This new tactic seemed to be very effective: Approve same sex marriage and children will be taught homosexuality in school. Voters were inundated with ads showing what would happen if same-sex marriage was legalized -- students going on a field trip to a lesbian wedding (are you serious?! Kids don't presently go on field trips to heterosexual weddings), elementary school kids reading books featuring gay couples (they read books featuring bear families! Does that make them want to marry bears?), and kindergarteners learning about homosexuality from their teachers ('ok kids, everyone sit Indian-style on the sharing mat with your crackers and apple juice, I'm going to tell you how two men make love...'). This blatantly misleading, fear-mongering ad campaign was found to be effective in California and was repeated in Maine. (Full Story)
The official unemployment rate is 10.2%. However, when you include the millions of people who have given up looking for work, as well as part-time workers who want to be working full-time, the unemployment rate is 17.5%. That means one out of every six workers were unemployed or underemployed in October. (Full Story)
This is crazy. Virtual goods -- the "presents" you can buy people on Facebook (e.g., a $1 pixelated image of a birthday cake) or items you buy to help you get ahead in online games like FarmVille -- are bringing in a lot of money. Analysts estimate that these virtual goods could bring in a billion dollars in the United States and approximately $5 billion worldwide. Aside from the time it takes an artist and a programmer to make these virtual goods, it costs nothing to produce. These companies pretty much make 100% profit. One of the investors in virtual goods companies said that giving people virtual presents on sites like Facebook is a great thing: "It's not about the good itself, it's about the underlying human emotion or desire. The person knows the recipient took time, picked something meaningful, and spent money on it." Yeah, I don't think so. Took time? Something meaningful? Are we talking about the same things? And, really, nothing says "I love you" quite like a spending a dollar to give someone a .jpg of some flowers. At that point of laziness and cheapness, you should just do a google image search for pictures of real flowers and send that via e-mail for free. You're going to get the same amount of brownie points for that (none). (Full Story)
There was a point this summer where I knew more people unemployed than employed. That is just plain crazy.
ReplyDeleteIt's so discouraging to see the effort people put into the hateful campaigns against same-sex marriage. I was really hoping it would turn out better for Maine.