It's as simple as Trump calling Hillary a "nasty" woman. That confounded Democrats who were familiar with the lady and her education and experience. But to those who'd felt abused by globalization, the epithet resonated. They felt bad, it had to be somebody's fault.
That's why Biden is in trouble. All his support is intellectual. Trump sucks, we've got to beat him, let's do the math and nominate Joe. But without emotions, there's no passion, and you can't get massive support.
This is the essence of music. Good beat, good changes, terrible lyrics. IT DOESN'T MATTER! If it touches someone's core, that's all that's needed. It's got to resonate with someone's insides, not their brain. This is how Taylor Swift lost control of the narrative. At first she was a geeky outsider delivering her truth to the bullies, the hip kids. But once she became the cool kid, sans the life experiences of the peons, she did not know how to adjust. She turned up the diss to ten. Then she tried to cover it up with friendships. But it doesn't FEEL right to the audience anymore. They're not aligned with her, irrelevant of who works on the records, what they sound like.
People feel good about Drake, because he's not totally narcissistic. He put out his playlist "More Life" featuring other people's material.
Madonna has lost the plot completely. She doesn't see that she comes across as an aged star willing to do anything to stay relevant, with attitude to boot. She's the queen of narcissism. And it hurts her. Younger people don't care, it's only her old fans who still do, if they do.
And then there are hard rock bands like Aerosmith and the Stones. The tracks hit your groin first, it feels like sex and revolution and debauchery and that appeals to you in your straitlaced world, where you want a release.
Elizabeth Warren can't win on policies alone. She has to be seen as human.
This is the key to Howard Stern's success. Oh, he's got a high opinion of himself but he keeps putting himself down, about the size of his penis, his inability to do math, his anxiety in social situations, to the point where he appears an everyman.
Hell, your brand can be smart, we all love to admire and revel in the thoughts of intellectuals. This is how Elon Musk was anointed. Wow, look what he could do! But then he lost the plot and got into Twitter wars and we realized he was unstable, and no one wants to have faith in the unstable.
Even Ozzy... He's the king of poking fun at himself.
Or Letterman. That's why Fallon fails, we don't see the vulnerability, we just see someone striving to entertain us, with no edge, and we all abhor being sucked up to.
So, the facts can be clear but the people still won't believe them. Like on vaccines. The "New York Times" published an exhaustive article on Tuesday with facts, from research. Your odds of getting measles is way higher than having a reaction to immunization. But to some people, that doesn't FEEL right. Intellectuals who've been robbed of power by billionaires believe this is a way they can stand up to the man. They can go their own way, they can have their own beliefs. Hell, that "Times" story featured a pic of a kid with measles, with spots all over him. Circulate that photo. Hell, if you've ever been to a Body Worlds exhibition and seen the lungs of the person who smoked you will never inhale again. The facts may not reach you, but the vision of someone who's dead with decrepit lungs will turn your stomach.
I'm not saying facts are bad, just that you can't sway people on them alone.
What the right does so well is speak to people's emotions.
The left acts wounded and counters with facts and it does not work. But they keep doing the same thing over and over again.
It's kinda like impeachment. Pelosi and her pals look at polls, research, the facts say not to do it. But if they took action, they'd speak to people's emotions, get them excited, bond them to them. Right now they're just unwoke wonks. But, if they were to do this, to impeach, they'd have to have a plan to respond to the right's hate, to Trump's denunciations. But they keep relying on process and lose the narrative. Hell, everybody on the right thinks the President has been fully exonerated. And impeachment is not even specifically about Trump, it's about unchecked power of the executive branch. John Oliver delivered this message with humor and intensity. The Democrats just back away.
And this is why if you're not an aged superstar you're gonna get in trouble with slow ticketing, extracting as much money as you can. It makes you look greedy, people feel ripped-off. Sure, you're combating the scalpers, but they're the act's enemy, not the audience's. As a matter of fact, people love StubHub, they can get the tickets they want at the last minute. And they're willing to pay for them, the upcharge is seen as convenience for what you want. Who knows what you'll be doing a year later, when the tickets initially go on sale.
This is how rock lost, all the anti-internet wankers. Turns out those who were trading friendly won, like John Mayer. The audience doesn't want to hear you bitch, they were screwed under the old system.
And now rockers appeal to your head, not your heart. So many of these bands are making wimpy music with wimpy singers and those on the other end of the spectrum purvey lame riffs no better than those of the progenitors, in an era where the progenitors' music sits right alongside.
People's emotions are torn. They want comfort, but they know the future is always coming, and it will be new and different. Everything dies, and there's resistance to the future until there's an embrace of it. Play it safe at your peril. The bleeding edge always wins. Maybe not right away, but eventually. Sure, you can be too soon. But right now everything's up for grabs, we're looking for leaders, in art, commerce and politics. Now is the time for the new. Which is how Trump won. Which is why you've got to be scared of the DNC and its media partners, they just want to preserve their power, they're out of touch with the emotions of the public.
People feel abused, ripped-off. Anti-Trump is not enough, you've got to speak to how people feel, you've got to make them believe things will get better. That's what swept Obama into office, hope. Where is the hope today?
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