As a recovering English major, it is actually refreshing to come
across such a brilliant satire as what Harvard
professor Orlando Patterson offers in the Times:
In my reading, the ad, in the
insidious language of symbolism, says that Mr. Obama is himself the
danger, the outsider within.
The trouble is, Patterson isn't being satirical. That 3 a.m. ad? It
was reminiscent of
The Birth of Nations,
another historical document that would have been funny if it hadn't
been so earnest.
Let me introduce to you Professor Orlando Patterson, insomniac
internet user:
I was left with an uneasy feeling
that something was not quite right - something that went
beyond my disappointment that she had decided to go
negative.
At 3 a.m., Professor Patterson is stirred by the feeling of dread
that goes beyond his usual disdain for negative campaign tactics.
Repeated watching of the ad on
YouTube increased my unease.
Indeed, Patterson arrives at the same conclusion as the rest of us
who've all suffered from too much YouTube.
I realized that I had only too
often in my study of America's racial history seen images much like
these, and the sentiments to which they allude.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
To be sure, it states that
something is "happening in the world" - although it never says what
this is...
It could be anything! It could be Washington Irving, or a bomb, or
the final season of
The Wire!
But every ad-maker, like every
social linguist, knows that words are often the least important
aspect of a message and are easily muted by powerful
images.
So goodbye Orlando Patterson, PhD. Ahoy Detective 'Lando, Image
Investigator!
The danger implicit in the phone
ad - as I see it - is that the person answering the phone might be
a black man, someone who could not be trusted to protect us from
this threat.
Obviously, when the phone rings at 3 a.m., we're most worried about
...black men lurking in the bushes
around white society...
Which is why people felt compelled to vote for Hillary because,
once they saw her in her grey business suit at 3 a.m., they knew...
...our loved ones are in grave
danger and only Mrs. Clinton can save them.
In other words: Orlando Patterson has endorsed the only person
capable of saving us at 3 a.m.: Jack Bauer.
topics:
Business, Satire
