by Scott Pinsker, PJ Media:
Post-1976, every single presidential election has either had a Bush, a Clinton, or a Biden (or a combination thereof) somewhere on the ticket. And that’s a 45+-year timeframe of 12 different presidential elections! So, yeah – in American politics, institutional momentum and a politician’s long-term brand identification means a helluva lot.
Eventually, however, all brand identities will mutate. Brand IDs aren’t fixed, static things; they’re constantly evolving – or devolving – and over time, they transform into something dimensionally different from what they once were. For thousands of years, the swastika was a Hindu symbol of good fortune that was wholly disconnected from abhorrent theories of racism, white power, or Nazism. Not so much anymore. And less than 40 years ago, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, a.k.a. the Confederate Flag, was innocuous enough to adorn the roof of an orange Dodge Charger on a kids’ Friday night TV show. Today, there’s not a single TV executive who’d greenlight a kids’ show with protagonists associating themselves with Confederate symbology. Not even in the Deep South (Although they’d approve of it for the villains, of course).
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Symbols don’t stand still; they’re in a perpetual state of flux. So, if you care about a symbol, you must protect it from those who would co-opt its meaning and pervert its identity.
However, symbols also have a secondary value: They can serve as a Rorschach test, revealing hidden truths of its subjects. Since a symbol isn’t a finite, tangible thing, your response reveals the associations, predispositions, and prejudices that color your thinking. It’s a cheat code that instantly exposes your worldview.
But it’s not the only cheat code.
When you meet someone’s spouse for the first time, you’ll instantly learn what they truly value – and what they despise. Sure, they might swear up and down that they truly care about A, B, and C, but when their spouse lacks those qualities and instead embodies D, E, and F, then you’ve uncovered the truth about their actual value system. In fact, just ten minutes after meeting a friend’s spouse, you’ll learn more about their actual values, morals, and fears than you would have over a 20-year friendship. This is because when we make really important decisions, we force ourselves to strip away the hype, B.S., and pretenses and focus instead on what truly matters. Your choice of spouse is one example, but this theory also applies to other big, monumental decisions.
