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Well said John,
Although I would never fall into this trap (gulp) certainly I have heard others doing it!
And I agree that the most strident do not even vote – much less find out opposing viewpoints, debate versus argue, look for the long term solution etc…
It is disheartening to watch this all played out in the media where so many go to get the truth.
Truth is such a slippery slope.
As always enjoy your posts – thanks for not writing every day!
Miami
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Hey John, that’s just what I needed to hear.
Thanks,
andy moose
I may not be able to tell your political persuasion by looking at you, or by the type of business you’re in… but as a professional dog trainer, I can tell a lot more about your personality, your belief system and your self-image by your choice of pet and how you interact with it. 🙂
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John,
You bring up great discussion points as to why America is great.
Her people…the constitution…the age of reason…
Would you consider saying that the Founding Fathers understand the nature of man and government in a unique way? Just a question for thought.
To respond to the blog I must say I agree with you holeheartedly! I have learned the hard way that speaking out my idealogy without considering the listener is wasteful and many times destructive.
Many relationships have been thwarted on occasion because I did not show the RESPECT for my listener. I shared my beliefs before discovering their point of view and reference point.
Everyone has their own “worldview.”
“Worldview” being what they believe, why they believe it and what they do because of it. I agree that you can not take for granted what you may “think” they believe.
You have taught us to know those to whom we market.
One of the best way to accomplish that is by asking questions, reading what they read, going to sites they blog on to uncover where THEY are coming from.
Thanks for making a clear statement today to remind us!
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John,
You must have been reading my mind. When I was growing up in the sixties the mist amazing comment I heard my father make was telling me to look at all sides of an issue. This I felt was strange because my father was a career military man who during his life served in 3 wars and several police actions. I was recanting a popular view about the antiwar movement when he said this to me. Another point about understanding what is going on is as you say to look at both sides. In high school in the sixties we were taught about Karl Marx and communism in school. The thought then was that in order to stand against something you had to ubderstand it first. That’s all for now. Would be willing to discuss politics at any time with you without any animosity.
ps There is one thing that makes us different as a country and that is our constitution.
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AMEN!!!
John, are you psychic?
I talked to my wife just last week re: the same issue(s).
I thought I was the only guy in the country who thought this way.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across people who don’t mind telling me extremely tasteless and just plain cruel jokes that target people from different cultures, religions and philisopies just because I happen to be a middle aged white guy who lives in a “nice” middle class neighboruhood.
I’m a college educated man who has travelled extensivley around the world and have come to admire and deeply respect the different peoples of our planet.
Going forward, I hope all of us (regardless of what political stripes we wear) try to become more accepting and understanding of the people we share this planet with.
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John,
A Socialist business owner? Wow.
I enjoy debating with family and friends in our own private email forum. It’s not both sides… it’s all eight sides.
The others are often wrong (that is when they disagree with me). But it’s always fun.
John
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John,
Wow!
Very intuitive post John.
Joseph Ratliff
http://www.dynamicwebcopy.com
Hi John,
Very good stuff. I know the trite old phrase, assume really means: make an a** out of u & me. I know this isn’t spam filtered, I just choose to respect you. The insight I find the most fleeting in dealing with people is the loss of that insight when assumption takes over.
Politics is a tricky game and a very fun one if you play it like one and man were those founding gathers great at playing! Read the Federalist Papers recently? It’s not just what they say, it’s the need to say it and battle it out in words to convince so many different people who just wanted to be left alone to stand up and do something.
Spin doctors, persuasion doctors, copywriting beasts and the best of them win this round. What will the product be they convinced them to buy?
Great post, thanks as always,
David
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LOL. It’s common for people to contradict themselves, but to do it in the same breath is major accomplishment. You tell people to stay neutral about politics then say this about people who don’t vote.
“I think people who hold themselves ?above? voting because politics is ?too corrupt? are wallowing in useless cynicism. Of course politics is corrupt. It?s an imperfect system.”
Way to go John you just slammed of the majority of the Country.
It’s called passive resistance, and it might be the most effective form of protest there is. But then again what did Gandhi know it’s not like he ever accomplished anything.
Like business, politics is driven be the bottom line, and the bottom line for a politician is votes. If it wasn’t for all these people drinking the patriotic duty kool-aid, and voting despite their utter despise for the parties involved maybe, just maybe these asshole politicians would change their tune.
What choice would they have?
I don’t “hold my self above voting”. I’m just waiting for a politician to come around with the right pitch. Until they do I’ll be right here “wallowing in useless cynicism”.
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Cool insights John. Love the fact that as marketers, copywriters and advertisers we sell to everybody. Although individuals come in all stripes it is opportunity to remember that although we are targetting niches, we want to keep our appeal as broad as possible.
Bernie Malonson
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It’s amazing how many entrepreneurs straddle this tightwire. I was at the dentist just last week, and, like most of the time, my dentist starting talking about politics while I was…not in a position to respond much…just listen.
Luckily he’s not abrasive with his opinions, and he and I share most of the same views. But it occurred to me that perhaps other of his patients might not.
So your post is certainly sound advice, especially in these polarized times.
John Ritskowitz
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I sent out a email a couple of weeks ago that said…
“This is so easy, even George Bush couldn’t screw it up”.
Indeed, I did get a few pissed off people for it. However,
if I was really concerned about it I would of never wrote that.
I don’t mind polarizing the crowd sometimes.
Heck, after watching CNN, MSNBC, and even FOX I assumed
I was going with the good numbers. With approval ratings
that low I wasn’t too worried. The email made money.
In fact, making money in politics was the very first internet
venture I dived into.
Talk about a passionate niche!
You couldn’t find a riper/angrier mob to sell to back in 04.
If only I knew how to market back then I would of gotten
rich instead of working on the street corners slanging t-shirts
and bumper stickers and making a few occasional sales on ebay.
It sure would be a treat for these politicians to get something
constructive done in Iraq during the next 2 years. Sadly, I don’t
think they got it in them
The only people that I think could win the hearts and minds
of the Iraqi’s are…
SALESMEN!
Screw fighting this war with military dudes.
Give me a mastermind group of the 20 hottest copywriters
and we could start changing some minds really quick.
I think Jason’s point there about polarizing the group makes a lot of sense.
But is probably limited to personality-driven niche marketing.
What I mean is, I don’t know if polarizing would work for John R.’s dentist (see post XIV above). Dentists have a limited marketplace (50 block radius?) and it could make their marketing days a lot more difficult if they were turning off too many people.
But, who knows, maybe it would work.
I’m up in Canada, and I rarely hear a good opinion about Bush — so Dr. Moffatt could always set up his clinic up here.
John
http://www.RealityCopywriting.com/free_ezine
[…] Said that to say this…in this day and age, it’s hard not to have some really strong opinions, and can be equally hard to keep them in check.? So John’s commentary about how it behooves us all to do so, or we risk pulling the proverbial rug out from profitable business relationships.? Great post–I highly recommend it.? No matter what side of the spectrum you fall on, it’s a really good reality check. […]
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