The right wing has become so removed from the mainstream that it's begun to create its own culture. I can sum this new subculture up in one unsurprising word: dumb. Complex issues are boiled down into simple talking points (many of which don't really have anything to do with the issue), repeated ad nauseam, and digested at an entirely emotional level. In right wing world, messages are aimed straight for the gut, not the head, and the result is that those messages are accepted by people who don't use their heads to make decisions. In other words, dumb people. This is why we're finding a new species of pseudo-celebrity rising on the right -- the accidental spokesperson. Think Joe the Plumber; dumb as a stump, unwilling to learn anything, and everywhere.The newest version of the accidental celebrity is Miss California, Carrie Prejean, who gave a painfully inelegant answer to a question by a pageant judge and celebrity news blogger. Take a moment to compare the reactions to these two D-list celebrities on the left and the right. The right embraced Carrie Prejean, whose fumbling answer has made her the spokesperson for "opposite-marriage," as practically the reincarnation of Thomas Paine. For the left, celebrity news blogger Perez Hilton is still just annoying. Where Carrie Prejean automatically became the face of the right's opposition to marriage equality, Hilton remains an online scandal sheet writer of no great consequence. We really don't care about him one way or another.
But the right sure does. Every hero needs a villain and the mean man calling the pretty lady a "bitch" works well enough. He'll work for a villain, but not much of one. The hero's worth is defined by the strength of the villain and Perez Hilton isn't exactly a powerful enemy. So you've got to build the guy up a little.
Here's Prejean from an interview with James Dobson, via US News & World Report:
I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, "Do not compromise this. You need to stand up for me and you need to share with all these people... you need to witness to them and you need to show that you're not willing to compromise that for this title of Miss USA."
If God were in your head, you'd think you'd be a little more eloquent. But Satan was tempting her with the question and Hilton asked it, therefore Hilton is either possessed by, a minion of, or the earthly incarnation of Satan. Now there's a villain... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
