Why is everthing now "desperation?" (polls, election, elect)

[Sporin]

A dozen threads a day postulate that one side or the other are "desperate" or in "panic mode"



It is three Weeks to voting day, national polls are tight, a few key swingstates are in play and will decide the election, both campaigns are pulling out all the stops and charging towards the finish line.

Just because so and so says X or this campaign launches Y that doesn't mean anyone is reeling or desperate, or panicked... they are campaigning to win! They are both doing whatever they can to motivate their voters, tip undecideds, and beat their opponent.

That's not desperation, or panic, that's called campaigning.

I know it's a lot to ask of the ultra-polarized C-D, but do people really believe this "desperation" hyperbole?

[banjomike]

I don't think most people buy into it, but fear and anger are two of our strongest emotions, so they are always overplayed. People react to those stimuli faster and more strongly than love (the other big emotion) or rationality.

If anyone is walking down a path and thinks they see a snake, they jump first and look closely afterward. If the 'snake' turns out to be a twig, we are patterned to forget it as quickly as we were alarmed. But if the snake is a snake, no matter if it is harmless, most of us will still fear it, even if we know it won't hurt us.

If a person encounters 300 harmless snakes on that path, he soon learns to pay little attention to any of them. Fear turns into indifference or even irritation. Same goes with over-hyped political talk.

The loathing lasts far longer than the fear.