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USANews版 - Pavlov's Voters
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话题: pavlov话题: voters话题: political话题: stimulus
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By Carol Peracchio
In the early twentieth century, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian scientist,
became renowned for his landmark research of the digestive system in mammals
.
While Ivan Pavlov worked to unveil the secrets of the digestive system,
he also studied what signals triggered related phenomena, such as the
secretion of saliva. Pavlov became interested in studying reflexes when he
saw that the dogs drooled without the proper stimulus... For example, he
struck a bell when the dogs were fed. If the bell was sounded in close
association with their meal, the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the
bell with food. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, they responded
by drooling.
"Pavlov's dogs" has become a metaphor for the concept of conditioned
reflexes, or the situation where animals (and humans) learn to connect a
stimulus to a reflex. Pavlov's dogs drooled at the sound of a bell. Humans
also experience conditioned reflexes. Let's say your female boss
frequently comes by your desk and berates you. After a few weeks, just the
clacking sound of a woman's high heels in the hall outside your office is
enough to induce a rapid heart rate. It's an involuntary reaction.
I believe that the principle of conditioned reflexes can explain many of the
tactics of the political left. The elite of both political parties, along
with the mainstream media, are convinced that the repeated application of
certain words, phrases, and symbols (stimuli) will elicit an involuntary
response (reflex) in the electorate, who will thus automatically vote in a
predetermined approved manner. To the left, we are all Pavlov's Voters.
For example, last week saw the rollout of the presidential campaign of a
heretofore obscure former Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman. I listened to
analysis of his speech by the mainstream media. Without fail, every one of
them highlighted the fact that Governor Huntsman had launched his campaign
in the exact same spot where Ronald Reagan stood in 1980 to kick off his bid
for the White House.
Obviously the left considers this bit of stagecraft of the utmost importance
. But why? As far as I know, Governor Huntsman was not a particular Reagan
enthusiast before last week. And his speech was the polar opposite of
Reagan's speech at that site in 1980, as Rush Limbaugh highlighted on his
show. Then it struck me.
The left believes that the mere mention of Reagan's name (the stimulus) will
elicit a conditioned response in conservative voters. It goes like this:
Political stimulus: Politician says "Reagan" several times while speaking in
the same place Reagan spoke.
Political conditioned reflex: Conservatives vote for said politician.
Ding, ding, ding! This is how the left views the great unwashed electorate
in America. We're mere Pavlovian mammals, bereft of reason and higher brain
function, helplessly responding to the political stimuli placed before us.
For Democrats, staying in power is a cinch -- merely say the right words or
show the right images, and voters will automatically respond.
I can't blame the left for using Pavlovian political tactics. Let's face it
fact, as soon as a Democrat politician's poll numbers dip, he can be counted
on to ring one of the following bells:
My opponent is in favor of dirty air and water.
My opponent wants to take away a woman's right to choose.
My opponent wants to cut Social Security.
It always worked so well. But since the rise of the Tea Party, a large
swathe of the electorate is rejecting the inevitability of the political
stimulus/conditioned reflex. Liberals keep ringing the same old bells, but
conservatives just aren't responding the proper way. Here are two recent
scenarios illustrating the failure of Pavlovian politics:
Ding, ding, ding!
Political stimulus: Nancy Pelosi led the Congressional Black Caucus through
thousands of Tea Party protesters to the Capitol to pass the hated health
care bill.
Predicted conditioned reflex: Angry white protesters would hurl racial
epithets at black Congress members, all conveniently captured on video to be
played over and over on the nightly news.
Actual response: Angry protesters merely yelled, "Kill the Bill!" (Although
one well-hydrated protester accidentally sprayed a congressman with saliva.)
Ding, ding, ding!
Political stimulus: Public employee unions told voters in Wisconsin that
should Governor Walker's anti-collective bargaining legislation stand,
teachers, firefighters, and policemen will lose their jobs.
Predicted conditioned reflex: Voters, scared to death of fire, crime, and
dumb kids, would overwhelmingly vote out an incumbent conservative judge and
the legislation would be declared unconstitutional in the State Supreme
Court.
Actual response: The conservative judge was easily reelected to the court,
and the legislation was upheld.
It's amazing to watch the left as predictable Pavlovian voters become
desensitized to their stimuli. As their usual political tactics remain
ineffective in moving the polls, their rhetoric and demagoguery is becoming
shrill and apocalyptic. Listen to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the new
chairman of the Democrat National Committee:
The Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it. What they
would do is they would take the people who are younger than 55 years old
today and tell them, 'You know what? You're on your own. Go and find private
health insurance in the health-care insurance market. We're going to throw
you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and
drop you for pre-existing conditions..."
Just in case Ms. Schultz' point was too subtle for Pavlov's Voters, a
liberal group created an ad that shows a Congressman Paul Ryan lookalike
literally throwing Granny, wheelchair and all, over a cliff. Talk about
over-the-top desperation! It's as if Pavlov, expecting his dogs to drool
and not finding one reflexive drop, reacts by continually ringing the bell
at an ear-splitting decibel level.
The good news in the Democrats' ever-increasing rhetoric is that they are
possibly inadvertently desensitizing their own voters. According to Pavlov'
s research:
An important principle in conditioned learning is that an established
conditioned response (salivating in the case of the dogs) decreases in
intensity if the conditioned stimulus (bell) is repeatedly presented without
the unconditioned stimulus (food). This process is called extinction.
So keep it up, Democrat politicians! Keep ringing those bells, media!
According to science, Pavlov's Voters just may be facing extinction.
Carol Peracchio is a registered nurse.
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话题: pavlov话题: voters话题: political话题: stimulus