Oh, ale, my ale. How can we not see that the new world of social media has turned professorial statements into boring whining to the average voter? You’re just talking to yourself.
The average voter elects the president, not a privileged college-educated voter who thinks in complete sentences: subject, object, verb, dependent clause, final punctuation.
I listen to and watch Yale history professor David Bright (my teacher who gave a week-long seminar on slavery at NEH in 1992) and Timothy Snyder on CNN and MSNBC. . Both lament the threat of former President Donald’s “authoritarian” tendencies. President Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
Who do you think Yale students are talking to when they’re interviewed on TV? Their history students in Linsley-Chittendon Hall?
And as a Yale graduate myself, I ask that question. He is a 1980 graduate of Yale Divinity School. Thankfully, I grew up as a “townie” in New Haven and Hamden and haven’t lost touch with what it’s like to be “outside” Yale.
It is this external feeling towards “higher” educational institutions that morphs into a silent anger that flows like magma under the emotions of the electorate and threatens to explode like a volcano.
This externality raises the following questions: Is learning outside the hallowed halls of academia therefore “lower” learning? It smells like that to many people.
The word “authoritarian” used in Dr. Bright’s and Dr. Snyder’s calm, logical, and perfectly written sound bites has the effect of a limp handbag to the average television viewer.
Do Yale professors even watch the TV channels they appear on? The former president has run flashy ads featuring his imposing six-foot figure saluting soldiers, eating with them in a mess hall and commanding attention as flags wave.
The scene in which President Joe Biden stumbles three times as he climbs the stairs of Air Force One and glances at his watch, as if anxious to know what he’s doing, is a patriotic “bite-your-eyes-out” scene. “Ta” scenes are scattered throughout.
And what is he doing? Reflecting on military events with the first lady as soldiers pass by, perhaps at a funeral or memorial service.
The same watch impatience at a major City Hall event decades ago destroyed another president, George H.W. Bush’s hopes of re-election to a second term. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” was the message President Bush sent to viewers as he looked at his watch.
Even more devastating than Biden’s eye being bitten when he tripped on the steps of Air Force One or peeked at his watch, was the aural pleasure the former president’s ads provided listeners with: smooth, catchy backgrounds. It’s music.
Is your name Corny? Does it appeal to emotions? I wouldn’t be surprised if the teachers at my alma mater, Yale, agreed, wiping out professors in an elitist manner. Emotions! “
Dear Yale faculty, ignore emotionally charged ads at your peril.
Social media is already captivating voters. Anyone who wants to win this presidential election should immediately hire a team of 16-year-old screen-addicted nerds to create TikTok campaign ads featuring eyebites and music smoothies.
I suspect one or the other is already doing this without the help of professors attached to podiums by academic umbilical cords.
Do you think it’s a cheap advertising gimmick? The first rule of communication art is “consider the audience”.
So beware of the complete sentence trap. And what if we dare to add a dependent clause? click.
Paul Keene is a retired teacher who grew up in Hamden and New Haven.