viernes, 28 de octubre de 2016

MercatorNet: The best political advertisement of 2016

MercatorNet: The best political advertisement of 2016

The best political advertisement of 2016



The best political advertisement of 2016

It's not angry; it's not smutty; it's not vicious.
Michael Cook | Oct 28 2016 | comment 1 


This is being acclaimed as the best TV advertisement of the 2016 election. Not for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for the US Presidency. Not for Donald Trump, the GOP candidate. For Gerald Daugherty, the incumbent County Commissioner for Travis County, Precinct 3, in Austin, Texas.
County Commissioners do boring stuff like keeping down taxes, making sure that transport systems work and “fighting boondoggles”. Mr Daugherty is running for his last term as County Commissioner.
Note that the advertisement does not mention Mr Daugherty’s political party (he is a Republican). In fact, it doesn’t mention politics at all. It portrays him as a statistic-obsessed Mr Fix-It who will drive his loving wife mad if he is defeated and starts helping her with the laundry.
Isn’t it odd that the most successful ad of this bitter and dirty election year is one which is funny, depicts conventional gender roles, and sweeps ideology under the carpet?
Mr Daugherty’s campaign philosophy is simple: “"Good public servants should know what to do: Roll your sleeves up, do what you say you're going to do, and deliver the best service you can to this community." Is there a lesson here?
Michael Cook is editor of MercatorNet.


MercatorNet

The disappearance of moral consensus from Western society has turned us all into social scientists spouting the latest study to support our values. But not even “data” can end arguments over issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex parenting.
Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, knows that better than most people. More than four years since his New Family Structures Study on same-sex families was published, he continues to be criticised, indeed vilified, by peers and activists alike for findings which contradict a cosy consensus that there are “no differences” between the children from same-sex and opposite-sex households.
However, he is not about to give up. In today’s Public Discourse essay Professor Regnerus explains carefully and dispassionately the shaky ground on which the consensus rests. It will be worth your while to memorise a few critical facts from this piece for your next after dinner debate or letter to the editor.
Also today: Michael Cook introduces the best political advertisement of 2016 (video, none of the usual suspects); Emily Watson reviews a C.S. Lewis classic; Alistair Nicholas plugs for The Donald; Matthew Hanley fills in some gaps in breast cancer information; and Marcus Roberts contemplates a gloomy population outlook for Spain.
Enjoy your weekend!


Carolyn Moynihan
Deputy Editor,
MERCATORNET



Hijacking science: how the “No Differences” consensus about same-sex families works
By Mark Regnerus
The data tell a different story.
Read the full article
 
 
The best political advertisement of 2016
By Michael Cook
It's not angry; it's not smutty; it's not vicious.
Read the full article
 
 
Till We Have Faces: How C.S. Lewis redeemed a Greek myth
By Emily Watson
A retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche.
Read the full article
 
 
The Choice
By Alistair Nicholas
Whatever you think of The Donald, he's a better choice than Hillary Clinton
Read the full article
 
 
Breast cancer awareness: errors of commission and omission
By Matthew Hanley
Don't we deserve to know all the facts?
Read the full article
 
 
Spain in 2050
By Marcus Roberts
Older, more single and smaller
Read the full article
 
 
Aren’t four legal parents too much of a good thing?
By Andrea Mrozek
Ontario deletes 'mother' and 'father' from its proposed multi-parent law.
Read the full article
 
 
Children are at risk when they exist only to enact parents’ beliefs
By Denyse O'Leary
Transgender tots? Part III: the sad lives of poster children
Read the full article
 
 
Those who think Marlowe co-wrote plays with Shakespeare may Kyd themselves
By Darren Freebury-Jones
Number-crunching is not the only way of determining authorship.
Read the full article
 
 
Real insights about porn and marriage
By Nicholas H. Wolfinger
Is a causal relationship between pornography and divorce conceivable?
Read the full article


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