Now at Reason.tv: Are You the Change You've Been Waiting For? (And If So, Aren't We All At Least a Little Disappointed?)

 

You are the change you've been waiting for, declared Candidate Barack Obama.

We weren't exactly sure what that meant, so on the evening of January 19, just before Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Reason.tv's Dan Hayes and Nick Gillespie talked with Obama supporters in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C.

Some came to throw shoes at a giant inflatable effigy of George W. Bush and some came just to take in the sounds and sights of a chilly January night.

And some talked to Reason.tv about whether they would change anything now that Obama was about to take office.

Approximately 2.30 minutes. Shot and edited by Dan Hayes.

Comments

[I\'mgonnahelp!]

I'm all for people getting involved. Even if they are mildly retarded and about as clueless as my dog. You have to start somewhere, unfortunately it appears many will be starting at the very bottom.

I'd be interested in how the raw footage was edited or just the raw footage. It would be interesting to see a break down of answers in a more statistical and meaningful manner.

[givethemsomerope]

I love how the participants are taken aback by the McCain question. They are unprepared for the seemingly simple idea of conduct as a constant rather than the nexus of some temporary enthusiasm.

And why do all the Obama supporters where goof-ball hats? The ones with the string and tassles that look like really bad Nordic Gay Chic.

[John Thomnas]

LOL, Change my arse! Its politics as usual in Washington. The rich will get richer and the sheeple will just get shafted. Business as usual.

RT
http://www.web-privacy.pro.tc

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I can't decide which type of response to the McCain question I found more amusing: a confused and bewildered "Oh, yeah I guess." or a flat out "No."

[Frank]

IT's all bull shit. I recently finished "Atlas Shrugged"; what's with all this "service" and non-profit bullshit? It's mindless and insidious. So glad I'm not a Democrat any more.

[Jamie Kelly]

You have to remember that 98.4 percent of people are so fucking stupid that they can't wipe their ass without a flowchart.

Then you don't have to agonize about why we elect fucking big-eared socialist fuckheads to the presidency. The people are SO easy to fuck with and bullshit.

[andrew]

It's obvious you guys are desperate to see this as making fun of Dems - and as willing as I am to laugh - at anyone - I fail to see anything remotely funny about this. All I got from this was Obama inspired some people who wouldn't have been otherwise. How could you get anything else from it? Why would someone help McCain if he wanted to go in the opposite direction Obama would have. You guys listen to too much Rush (not the band - the fat ass).

Frank, great you finished "Atlas Shrugged" (do you get points on this board for being literate?), don't forget to pass in your paper to your teacher.

Jamie, did you agonize after Bush was elected TWICE!! The country couldn't get any lower after that so WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???

VermontAccidentalShooting says "I can't decide which type of response to the McCain question I found more amusing: a confused and bewildered "Oh, yeah I guess." or a flat out "No."
Um, yeah, funny - ask a yes or no question and then laugh when the answer is yes or no. Is that how people pass time in Vermont when they aren't fantasizing about shooting a trespasser?

Fuck, I'm glad I outgrew my teenage years and am no longer a libertarian. GROW UP PEOPLE.

[Isaac Bartram]

Fuck, I'm glad I outgrew my teenage years and am no longer a libertarian. GROW UP PEOPLE.

Godammit, the H&R drinking game will be the death of me yet.

Cirrhosis of the Liver, here I come.

[andrew]

...and of course you're still playing drinking games. Wait until a few years after college before you think you might have something useful to say - that's all I meant buddy.

[Isaac Bartram]

andrew

You weren't even born, hell, it's possible your parents weren't even born, when I was in college.

Perhaps, you should think about keeping your whole tiresome "I'm so glad I am no longer a libertarian" schtick to yourself until you have something useful to say.

Just between you and me, sonny, I doubt if you ever were a libertarian.

[andrew]

Ouch, you got me - my face is all red.

Maybe you should then keep the whole tiresome "I'm going to get sick from all the drinking I do to your comments" schtick to yourself and stop trying to impress all the college kids here.

Just between you and me, creepy old man, I doubt you were ever accepted to college.

[Curious George]

Issac was one of the trolls they interviewed at the Wacky Barracky rally. Talk about clueless.

Liberatarian means not having to say no to drugs ever.

[Paul O\'Pinion]

Very funny. Let's face it, though, these are members of an enthusiastic and young crowd.
As far as getting involved goes, those who volunteer (fund raising, soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity and others, etc.)will continue to volunteer. If the Prez inspires someone to do such, great! Some folks are just drawn at an early age to do things for others, some develop these traits as time goes on and some are inspired by others. Of the "inspired by others" crowd, I doubt that the big contributors are inspired by any politician.

[jtuf]

I can't believe this. Who would let election results direct their altruistic behaviors?

Homeless guy ask a liberal walking by, "Spare something to eat, man?"
Liberal responds, "Sorry, you'll have to wait until a candidate inspires me."

[Lefiti]

Just between me and you deluded punks, I'm beginning to doubt whether or not I ever existed.

[Isaac Bartram]

Oh, dear me, andrew, what an earnest young man you are.

Perhaps, like your libertarianism, your earnestness will eventually pass and you will develop a sense of fucking humor.

By the way, the Hit and Run drinking game is a long standing joke around here.

[JW Gacy]

The I'mgonnahelp! says: "I'd be interested in how the raw footage was edited or just the raw footage. It would be interesting to see a break down of answers in a more statistical and meaningful manner."

This type of comment needs a name. The old, "we need an econometricaly sound double-blind study with proper push-pull variables for causality testing," comment.

Yeah. That would probably be informative, but life is short. We can derive meaning from this, even if we're not able to see how representative these people are of the greater population. We hear a point of view. We can then test this observation by looking for the perceived problem elsewhere in our lives. We don't need a lab experiment, since we're living in the lab and we're all informally collecting data.

Sure, sure. Confirmation bias. But that's how most thought works. We're not human adding machines. We use experience and heuristics to analyze things far more frequently than we use empirical data. It's not always accurate, but neither is empiricism, which relies on properly collected data -- which is in short supply.

Anyway, to read the rest, please see this month's newsletter. We'll be discussing the evils of Scientism and Demon Rum.

[Stillgonnahelp]

You derived all that from my passing interest in taking a more analytical look at the answers? I'm no fan of the current calculus masturbation techniques being practiced in today. I just find quantifying stupid amusing.

[JW Gacy]

No. I didn't derive it all from your comment. In fact, you don't quite fit the Cult of Empiricism mold.

[Doctor C]

Fuck, I'm glad I outgrew my teenage years and am no longer a libertarian. GROW UP PEOPLE.

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[desiretohelpwanning]

"...and of course you're still playing drinking games. Wait until a few years after college before you think you might have something useful to say - that's all I meant buddy."

"Arlington, Virginia May Ban Backyard Drinking Games"

Coincidence? I think not.

[Sean]

Let's face it, these people are not going to volunteer more, they're not going to write to their congressman more, that chick isn't going to buy a friggin' hybrid (now that gas is $2 a gallon.) They all voted for Obama because it's what you're supposed to do in college; fight for taking from the "have"s and giving it to the "have not"s. I'll give 10-1 odds if you said Obama was going to take their A in History class and drop it to a C so some "well-deserving" failing student in their class could pass they'd be marching in the streets... for letting people KEEP what they EARN.

[R C Dean]

Let's face it, these people are not going to volunteer more, they're not going to write to their congressman more, that chick isn't going to buy a friggin' hybrid (now that gas is $2 a gallon.)

Two thoughts:

(1) True.

(2) Dude, you're paying $2.00 a gallon? I just filled up for $1.55.

[Good vid]

These hit pieces are awesome. You send a video team out to challenge the beliefs and actions of a bunch of liberal youngsters, specifically kids at a protest of some sort where they're throwing shoes at Bush dolls, and then you get to laugh at their underdeveloped political philosophy. It is good footage.

Of course, you could do the same thing at any Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee rally, and edit to include young energetic kids to make Libertarians or conservatives look like retards too. Kids say the funniest things, after all.

But everyone knows that the party that is animating them has the momentum.

[Dumb Dems]

givethemsomerope said earlier:

"I love how the participants are taken aback by the McCain question. They are unprepared for the seemingly simple idea of conduct as a constant rather than the nexus of some temporary enthusiasm."

This idea of challenging lib kids whether their do-goodism would fail to exist under a McCain presidency, it never does fail with that contingent to freeze them like deer in headlights. It's funny to watch them calculate on the spot how much their beliefs are situational slogans, to plumb their cheery souls for the origins of their dumb "hope".

But after you slap yourselves on the back about their shallowness, it's worth reflecting that politics and politicians really do inspire different things sometimes.

For example, think of the McCain political rallies that inspired such blindness that, in one famous and widely disseminated case, McCain found himself explaining to *his* deer-in-the-headlights (but old instead of young) supporter that Obama was not a Muslim after all, and actually *was* an American with a patriotic, if different, agenda for the country.

We can derive meaning from this, even if we're not able to see how representative these people are of the greater population. We hear a point of view. We can, if we choose, apply our brush to the greater population too.

It's not hard to imagine a McCain-Palin win having turned off these rabid Obama-loving brats. Because after all, many people really are just shallow enough to be motivated, to good or ill, by dumb slogans and directives from on high. Half the job of politics, after all, is to motivate the people who are not as engaged as the leadership or the party faithful.

At least the young, dumb, and ignorant are more pleasant to look at than the old, dumb, and ignorant. Their blind idealism is more fun to watch than the blind anger you get from the worst of their demographic opposites.

Also, you could sort of tell that most of these kids couldn't give one shit what the Libertarian dude with the big microphone and the gotcha bullshit question thought of them, and you gotta like that.

[heshaojie]

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