This is all moving so swiftly now that we will note, appreciate, and attempt to capture not the truth of the messaging, but the astonishing variation in speed, intent and effect (intended and otherwise) of what is saturating our senses.
If you have been out doing errands, parked at the corner bistro or purchasing some of that extraordinary new cannabis-based products now available at the places we used to go for Marlboros, we will try to catch you up.
The Big One first: You may have heard there is a general election coming up in three months to fill hundreds of critical positions in the US Government, once the most powerful on this spinning globe. The senior one of those jobs is the Presidency, currently filled by a fellow from Delaware who has held a number of senior positions for well over a half century.
He was useful, based on some parts of his resume, to be useful for whoever it is running our government, who suddenly found that his equanimity to al sorts of things was not being exploited just by them, but by his family who has some behavioral challenges. They apparently sent him to debate an argumentative and sometimes entertaining fellow who used to occupy the same office. That event was so disastrous to his credibility that some of the messaging suggested it was intentional.
We won’t go into the scheduling of the event, quite early in the campaign cycle, or the inconsistent application of the medication they find snecessary to maintain his public composure. There are, of course, a couple messaging streams in progress about that aspect alone which are now overcome by a few dozen other exciting news cycles. But suffice it to say, either whatever condition is afflicting him was allowed to be displayed or it was just worse than the powers that be- whoever they are- decided it was time for a change.
That sort of brings us up to the messaging of the moment. If you looked in, you may have observed the Director of the Secret Service embarrass herself, her office and the agents under her command the other morning. Fierce partisans from both sides castigated a performance that seemed either aloof, uncaring or incompetent. Or all three.
She was forced to cast herself aside later the same day, apparently the designee for larger collective blame in an astonishing abrogation of ordinary duties.
That was apparent, since even the scheduling of her appearance before the House of Representatives, currently held by the Red Team, had her scheduled before that of another Director. That would be Christopher Wray, whose performance resembled that of a competent, thoughtful law enforcement bureaucrat.
By that, we mean he appeared to have a reasonable familiarity with a major crime that has already been investigated for more than a week, and gave some general assurance that a report of some kind to explain the sundry mysteries will be revealed at some point. Perhaps those will be issued even sooner than the final results of the investigation into President Kennedy’s accident 60 years ago.
The minor controversies surrounding the recent one were echoed with a call reported this morning for enhanced security for other government officials. These would include the Justices of the Supreme Court, also castigated not just on strident legal but personal grounds. One of them had a young man with a weapon arrested in front of his home. Another had a possible assailant detained near hers and yet another just experienced a car-jacking attempt against US Marshalls on the block where she lives.
That fact alone startled us a bit, but these are strange times, aren’t they?
We could drift off into some of the downstream messaging on the other stuff just from yesterday. The replacement candidate for the incumbent was designated by a few people in Washington the other day to get ready for the convention scheduled to occur on 19 August in Chicago. That was to ensure the preservation of our Democracy by being able to present the appropriate candidate before anyone had an opportunity to actually vote for one.
To enable that in a seamless and plausible manner, the sitting President made some brief remarks last night from the Oval Office. There had been some minor controversy about the brief Tweet announcing his withdrawal after a possible medical event in Las Vegas reported on local law enforcement radio. That obviously is another of those packaged messaging events that leaves some befuddlement, since he had remained in seclusion for a week after the digital announcement.
We tuned in last night to see a highly publicized public announcement. We are pleased to report he looked great. Well groomed, tie straight, hand gestures well-choreographed to the calm words slowly tracking across the glass screen directly in front of his rigidly focused eyes. Once we know what to look for in these presentations, it is easier to concentrate on the whole milieu of the event.
It is apparent he no longer writes these scripts, and is not responsible for the presentation or emotion contained in them. But it went well and we were comforted that whoever is running all this seemed well-organized and prepared to do the same for the new and exciting candidate of color & gender (CoC & G).
The messaging on that matter- for and against- commenced in earnest as well, but both our Legal and Marketing sections advised us to just go with a teaser on that for tomorrow’s dynamic episode on who is prepared to do what to stay in control of the white marble monuments on the other side of the bright grey-brown river.
The graphic that introduces this one sums up what they say we can tell you, since neither of them know anymore than the rest of us. We are certain about this:
“Socotra is Brat.”
“Brat” is a word that is less noun than concept. When first heard, we thought of a steaming sausage slathered with kraut and topped with bright yellow mustard. But it is actually the title of Charli XCX’s sixth studio album. She terms it with more current message realism. A “brat,” she declares is someone who has a “pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra.”
We are prepared to go with that at least through the rest of this news cycle.
We are also fully prepared to handle our own make-up, and will be sure to move our eyes convincingly when we are reading.
Brat!
Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com