Monday, September 26, 2016

the debate! McKelsey defined.

The debate was fun, and I didn't expect it to be - I ran home (FACT CHECK: she lies - she actually took a taxi!) from my class at Ryerson, got in at 9.25 and turned on the TV. What drama! Impossible to believe, as I tweeted, that we had to waste our time, and even worse, that Hillary had to waste her precious time, listening to that moronic narcissistic imbecile.

Many decades ago, when I was in my early teens, my parents learned about a concept called McKelsey - perhaps the name of the social scientist who developed it, such a powerful concept I never forgot it. You could listen to a person's conversation and check their McKelsey rating - which means, the number of times they said the word "I" or talked about themselves only. A person who responds to any question, any conversation, with talking only about themselves has a very high McKelsey rating.

And Mr. Trump is the quintessential, unparallelled superstar of McKelsey. Everything, every single thing, only about himself. Even at the end - he walked off surrounded by his skinny women and his sons Beavis and Butthead. She dove into the crowd and so did her people - Bill, Chelsea et al.

I know from Twitter that EVERYONE was watching - fun to sit with computer and TV and follow them all. I got to follow a lot of smart people, and now I'm watching the Daily Show while eating peanut butter toast. She may have saved the world. Life is good.

"As soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities and nations around the world or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina." Hillary Clinton.

I understand that many people are hurting and want simple answers to complex questions. But truly, if anyone, anyone, can emerge from this debate and still want to vote for an egotistical moron, I will lose my faith in the planet. Hillary, with 100 million plus people watching, was magnificent. End of story.

7 comments:

  1. Beavis and Butthead...ha! ha! That's very funny. Unfortunately for me in France, if I had wanted to watch the debate live, I'd have to get up at 3 am, so I didn't. But I'll catch it all on Youtube. Yes, I agree with everything you say. He's an imbecilic moron and Hillary pulled it off. From what I've already seen from some clips, she had poise, humour, gravitas...and was IN COMPLETE CONTROL.

    Here's the clip they keep showing over and over on TV here in France: the moment where Hillary says to the audience "Here's a man who has called women dogs...and pigs..." and the camera flashes to Donald who looks embarrassed and says into the microphone "I'm sorry." This seems to bring a big hoot here in France.

    Juliet

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  2. It's a profound tragedy of our planet that at a time when so much intelligent thought is needed - to deal with climate change, terrorism, racism, disease, hunger, education, housing, infrastructure - we have wasted an incalculable amount of time on a vicious racist blowhard. However, there he is. Let's assume that after November, the planet can move right along and he'll go back to his golf course and slapping women on the butt.

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  3. Here's the best reader's comment I've seen so far, from The New York Times - "Trump is clearly gripped by a narcissistic personality disorder, and he's been a pathological liar for so long he's disconnected from reality. Inside, he must be a very frightened little boy.

    That said, he's also clueless, mean and petty, and HAS NO BUSINESS BEING ON THE SAME STAGE WITH SOMEONE LIKE HILLARY CLINTON, no matter what her flaws. As the Times editorial says, it's sad that anyone — nevertheless millions of people — are taking this man seriously."

    Juliet

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  4. I confess I didn't watch. Too stressful. But I heard a fair bit from another room and I kept thinking that this particular election is just so ugly. A low point in civilization. No discourse, no balance, no dignified disagreement (which can be healthy...). Just that moronic blow-hard and his racist misogynistic rhetoric (and so many people cheering him on). HRC isn't perfect but man, she is intelligent and prepared and shouldn't have to waste her time with (as my mum would have said) the likes of him and his ilk.

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  5. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-new-manner-which-some-politicians-now-lie-and

    Here is one of the best articles on the Post-Truth Age. Most people don't want to know the truth. Most people want to hear what they already believe... That's the case for us too.

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  6. Thanks, Lynn, looks like a great article.

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