Yes, the admiration of human beings is a dangerous business. Why not back off? I remember when The Ladies Home Journal used to produce lists of the 10 "favorite heroes and heroines" of boys and girls, something I blogged about back in 2005, with a photograph from my copy of the 1977 best-seller "The Book of Lists":
Henry Kissinger! And yet:
The first page of "The Book of Lists" is a set of seven lists of "The Most Hated and Feared Persons in History" for the years 1970-1976. Hitler comes in Number 1 for all the years except 1972 and 1973, when Nixon comes in first! In fact, 1972 was a good year for Hitler, when he made it all the way down to fourth place. Idi Amin and Mao Tse-tung were, along with Nixon, more hated and feared. Satan was in fifth place that year. Amusingly, by 1976, Nixon is off the five-person list altogether, and Jimmy Carter is on, tied for fourth place with Count Dracula.
How could Nixon be worse than Hitler? And yet he was. Things near in time seem more important. How will Trump look as he fades into the distance? But I'm getting ahead of myself, because I don't know if he's in the process of fading right now or the process of bouncing back. He is very bouncy.
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33 comments:
"He is very bouncy."
A man is a reflection of his hair.
I consider myself to be smooth.
I could see enough people not choosing Hitler simply because he was dead. Harder to explain how Nixon scored higher than Mao and Idi Amin. That's just partisanship making people stupid. As it does.
Because by 1972, Hitler had been dead for 27 years?
To be fair, the kids in the LHJ poll were given a checklist. Otherwise it's damned hard to understand why boys were ranking Chris Evert and Mary Tyler Moore in their top 10. But I do think it's funny that the girls had Chris Evert and Billie Jean King on their top 10 and the boys only had Chris Evert. That's some virulent lookism, I believe.
"I do think it's funny that the girls had Chris Evert and Billie Jean King on their top 10 and the boys only had Chris Evert. That's some virulent lookism, I believe."
The heart wants what it wants.
But I do think it's funny that the girls had Chris Evert and Billie Jean King on their top 10 and the boys only had Chris Evert. That's some virulent lookism, I believe.
maybe it's just homophobia? OR;
Billie's Not interested in Them, They're Not interested in Her
I really really don't want to deal with him again. He did his job, and then began making things worse, and now we need to get him out of the way. We can carry on.
No tradition or institution is respected by the Elite if it can be used for immediate gratification and affirmation for the Left in its blind pursuit of Trump. You know, the more they do to prove to us that Trump is an ahistorical aberration posing a yuuuge danger to democracy the more they reveal just how hollow their hearts are and how they love to hate him so completely! The lack self awareness is truly amazing.
It's the Trump bounce
Elitists hate Trump because he stood up for the little guy — the men and women who work with their hands, the small business owner trying to make payroll, folks like these.
...it says something that one of the most prominent polling firms cited by the dominant media is so biased that they would choose not to do a poll, and break a 74-year tradition, if they expect not to approve of the results politically.
It's long past the time to be surprised Gallup and the other pollsters have been suppressing polls that don't favor their political narratives. If you don't get it by now...
Otherwise it's damned hard to understand why boys were ranking Chris Evert and Mary Tyler Moore in their top 10
No it isn't.
Seeing O.J. at the top of the lists reminds me of while his murder case was so traumatizing. There weren't that many celebrities who were as loved and loveable as O.J.
His guilt was obvious, which is hard to take when it is someone you thought you knew.
In 1976 I was six. My sister and I would role play the BJK- Chrissy rivalry. It was a big deal at the time.
How could Nixon be worse than Hitler?
I guess it is the same reason that Trump was worse than Hitler, as was GWB, Dick Cheney and other Republicans.
On the other hand, Obama was greater than Jesus.
Such polls are very helpful in understanding how the media narratives filter down to young minds. No doubt those active in trying to shape America have used results to inform their work and will continue to do so. The polls rose in prominence with the rise of modernism and the nationalization of everything from media to branded products. I understand them for what they are - a reflection of the effect of wide scale proselytizing and propaganda. Before modernism’s dominance in the 20th century there would have been much more regional and local influences on results. Religious (Jesus, Gandhi) and historical figures from America’s past (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, etc.) would be on the top 10 list. Also titans of industry (Edison, Carnegie, Ford, etc).
Looking back it seems odd to some that OJ would rank so high but he was aggressively marketed as a “clean” black man before he was replaced by Obama.
I don't think even Elton John was Elton John's hero in 1976 based on his biography.
Maynard said...
How could Nixon be worse than Hitler?
I guess it is the same reason that Trump was worse than Hitler, as was GWB, Dick Cheney and other Republicans.
On the other hand, Obama was greater than Jesus.
To people who think the NYT's and WAPO are sources of information, it is a total mystery.
MikeR: "I really really don't want to deal with him again. He did his job, and then began making things worse, and now we need to get him out of the way. We can carry on."
Uh, no.
The republican establisent absolutely requires the threat of Trump to even minimally maintain their loyalty to a growing base of lower and middle class workers and working class minorities.
But hey, maybe you are correct and we can have Mitt and Ben Sasse address those folks instead of Trump.
I'm not saying you have to want Trump as the nominee, but you'd better want him around to keep the pressure spun up on The Stupid Party.
I do think it's funny that the girls had Chris Evert and Billie Jean King on their top 10 and the boys only had Chris Evert.
I think it is more telling that only three women were picked at all, and two were tennis players. No women did anything notable or admirable in 1976 besides hit a ball?
"How could Nixon be worse than Hitler?"
Primacy of domestic policy. Hitler, good socialist that he was, is useful to tar "the right," and to avoid listing the likes of Stalin and Castro among the evil-doers, but the American left stays focused on its main goal, namely to achieve power at home. Even sorta-liberal Nixon stood in the way, so: worse than Hitler.
Elton John?! How the hell did he get in the Top 10. Seeing OJ Simpson up there was funny too. People forget how beloved OJ was. Or rather the image we given of OJ. Black, intelligent, good looking, and a good pitchman and comic actor.
Then he killed two people with a knife. Oops.
And I agree, Henry Kissinger? That's almost as puzzling as Elton John. I guess people just thought he was some supersmart guy who was negotiating all these super important treaties, so he's admirable. I know one guy who would've put Kissinger as NO. 1 - Jerry Ford. One of Ford's idiocies was his constant praising of Kissigner and proud claim that he consulted Kissinger on EVERYTHING. He never understood that people want a POTUS who's in charge, not a Sec of State.
It took me a few long seconds to realize that the list Hitler topped was of the most hated and feared people in history, so my first reaction was to think, "OJ Hitler, Elton John, Robert Redford. We sick Seventies kids had some weird heroes."
The tennis "Battle of the Sexes" was in 1973. Girls would remember that Billie Jean had played and beaten a (significantly older) man and rated her accordingly. Boys would have done the same. But no male tennis players made the list. Only four athletes did and half of them were female.
Gallup and the rest of the media are in too deep. They can't back away from Trump hatred because if they do they will think that they are celebrating Trump and hastening his return. They also fear that the new Trump might actually be the angry monster that they told us the old Trump was.
Wouldn't it just have been better to take the poll and let the chips fall where they may, rather than have Trump claiming that he really would have won and relitigating this for the next four years.
"But I do think it's funny that the girls had Chris Evert and Billie Jean King on their top 10 and the boys only had Chris Evert. That's some virulent lookism, I believe."
Oh, most definitely- as a teenager, I watched Chris Evert play on television every time I could.
The longer Biden is in office, the more admirable Trump appears to be.
Didn’t the Grauniad (ht/Instapunit) recently cancel some sort of poll when horrendous TERF JK Rowling took the lead? There’s a portion of our society that is very busy dancing on an ice floe…
Love it!
Back when OJ was every white person's favorite black man, only to be replaced by Wayne Brady : )
'maybe it's just homophobia?'
Back then, nobody knew about BJK.
But just like a dog can sense when people are uncomfortable around them, somehow everybody knew.
Given the kinds of people that repeatedly showed up on top of those Most Admired lists, it seems that the persons being polled weren't being given a list of possible names to choose, but were instead asked to come up with names on their own. As a consequence, the results always seemed to favor whoever was being given heavy and favorable press coverage, such as the Pope, sports stars, the First Lady, and the current President (except Nixon, the Bushes, and Trump). Less famous, but more admirable people like award-winning scientists seldom were named frequently enough to make the list. Assuming that is the survey's methodology, it wouldn't be a bit surprising if Trump was on top of this year's poll. After all, he has a HUGE number of determined followers, his name is still constantly in the news, and there just aren't that many people who would say that they actually admire Joe Biden. Likewise, the current Pope may not be as unpopular as Biden, but he still doesn't have a lot of American fans.
oldirishpig, that's right. If the public doesn't give you the correct answer, just pretend you never asked the question.
So Gallup cancels itself preemptively?
They must really have it in for this Trump fella.
The Democrats would pay Trump to run.
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