The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
A nation undecided, not a nation divided
: I think the reason the JibJab animation of Bush v. Kerry singing “This Land is Your Land” has become such a hit and struck such a nerve is precisely because it doesn’t take sides: It’s quite balanced in its amusing disdain for the foibles of both candidates. That, I believe, represents the views of most Americans: We’re each evenly divided trying to decide which we can bear better.
And for their troubles, the outfit that owns the copyright are looking to sue them.
I’d say precisely the opposite — it’s even handed and basically good-natured, and thereby stands out in a national debate otherwise dominated by frothing maniacs arguing about who compared whom to Nazis first.
I think the reason it’s become such a hit is because it’s funny.
I agree with Andrea, the Dean scream kills me everytime.
Jeff,
You’re wrong. Take a look at the comments posted here as an example (and if they’re not reflective of something, stop saying blogs are the future). We’re hopelessly divided, and the divisions seem to be growing more bitter with every act of the government/democrats. Half the country thinks that every act committed by Bush has been for some nefarious ulterior motive, while the other half see him as the only man who can really take a stab at destroying the terrorists threatening to nuke us. History will marvel at how such an insignificant man became such a powerful ligthening rod, but there it is.
I don’t know the solution to this, but I would rather admit it and discuss answers rather than wishing it away.
We are divided about being divided?
Fred, vote the Kerry Ticket, vote Democrat, we believe in one America for all.
Barack Obama: Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America — there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I’m not talking about blind optimism here — the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don’t talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I’m talking about something more substantial. It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!
In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. America!
Tonight, if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do — if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president, and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come. Thank you and God bless you.
Well, I’ll wait till Barack Obama comes to his senses and comes home to the Republican party, or until the conservative moderates in the tradition of Miller and Lieberman become prominent in the Democrat party, thank you very much.
Oh please, the Obama speech didn’t strike me as being All That. It’s more of the same pablum, only coming after speakers like Jimmy Carter made it sound like the second coming of Martin Luther King. By the way, it’s hilarious to see commenters like anne.elk and Franky posting Concerned Missives about how we all need to stop being so divisive and all. Pull the other one.
Why do people just repost long bits they’ve (assumedly) read somewhere else? Start a blog if that’s all you do – it’s pretty ridiculous in a comments section.
Franky: You’re an idiot. None of the comments posted ahead of you here are close to divisive. Your own disdain for Bush (“an insignificant man”), followed by anne.elk throwing a political sales pitch into the mix are the two comments that tried to turn a conversation about a funny Flash file into a political row.
The JibJab thing has become a hit because people like anne.elk had nothing to do with it.
Amen Angus – contrarians by definition desire division (and/or attention, not in that order). I live in DC and couldn’t be more disgusted with “political dialogues.” Mainly they’re just people who like to spew how intelligent they are for “knowing” the issues, when they really don’t, they just have more free time to read all the crap floating around out there and the resulting cloudiness of thought results in verbal diarrhea.
The jibjab thing strikes a chord with moderates. The majority are moderate (i.e., not terribly concerned with anything but major issues and how to pay the rent/mortgage/whatever and thus are willing to compromise more readily because their political positions don’t define them). True believers of either stripe prefer to believe we all view the situation ideologically, and because moderates are, well, moderate, ideologues own and define the debate. But it’s always nice when something comes along and reminds the ideologues how marginal they actually are (relative to the remainder of the 300 million or so of us).
I agree, Jeff. And it not only teases both candidates, but teases American culture in general. Every time I watch it, I find a new thing to giggle at. Even though there are some loud partisans on both sides, I think most of us are in the middle and love the chance to laugh at one party or the other without being accused of being either a commie or a neocon.
When I said “comments here” I meant the blog in general on this site.
And your attempt at an insult proved my point. Thanks
It’s reading words that goes on here, Franky, not reading minds. Like if you read the words “Franky: you’re an idiot,” you understand that an insult has been delivered, not attempted. “You might be a raving nutbag” is an attempt, because it does not offer the reader a declarative statement, only a supposition of the writer’s current thinking.
last word freak, huh?
The genius of the JibJab video is that even when Kerry gets his “say”, it’s funny to Bush supporters. I’d wager it’s probably the same in reverse. Bush sings about how he kicks ass and gives tax breaks; Kerry sings about how stupid Bush is and by-the-way-he-won-three-purple-hearts. Hearing Kerry drone on about how smart and rich he is compared to Bush doesn’t make him look good to people who think Kerry’s a puffed up elitist.
On the reverse, I suppose that a Kerry fan will always find humor in hearing that Bush is dumb, especially in comparison to Kerry, who-by-the-way-won-three-purple-hearts and doesn’t ride missiles. I’m guessing.
They picked their points for the video well. It’s a good send up of the thinnest parts of the current campaign rhetoric and it ends on a happy note, so no one comes out feeling ruffled.
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