Masks and Monsters

Mark · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1240

I recently thought about something that has been true for years without my paying any attention to it: U. S. elections are held less than a week after Halloween and share several similarities beyond the time of year.
Halloween blends multiple cultural and religious threads. The name comes from All Hallows' Eve(ening). All Hallows refers to All Saints' Day, which is followed by All Souls Day (in Mexico, the two days of The Day of the Dead). There are centuries of pagan and Christian traditions from multiple countries, plus many accretions in the last couple centuries. It continues to evolve. Just in my lifetime, the threat side of "trick or treat" has waned considerably and trick-or-treating has also changed. We saw a couple hundred trick-or-treaters where I lived a couple decades ago, but saw zero this year. At least part of the decline in trick-or-treating came from many warnings a few years back about dangers to trick-or-treaters.
Modern Halloween could be said to be about children, masks, monsters, treats and tricks.
The current U. S. presidential campaign brings the same keywords to mind in a different way. This election has seen more than the usual degree of a candidate wearing masks: Right-Wing-extremist Romney (a monster) of the GOP primaries somehow morphed into Moderate Mitt for the general election, evidently believing that the electorate consists of children who will forget what he said months ago and believe whatever he says now. Since poll after poll shows he stands a chance of getting elected (unlike a recent poll showing that in Europe 90% of people prefer Obama to Romney), there must really be some pretty widespread Romnesia. I suspect the real Romney (if there is one under all the masks) is the one secretly recorded telling an audience of the richest 1% that he disregards 47% of the U. S. population.
Once one's mind connects Halloween and elections, all sorts of comparisons come to mind:
ALL politicians say they will treat you and their opponents will trick you.
Most politicians wear masks most of the time.
Many politicians are monsters under innocent masks.
I will leave more as an exercise for the reader.

dick · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2248

Hey, that's a remarkably valid comparison which gave me quite a few chuckles. Just this AM I read a journalist's assessment of the way his speeches have changed in the last week; he's trying for the "common" touch.

Brought back some memories too about the trick parts of Halloween. Remember the one wherein one stuck a tableknife under the clapboard, pulled it out and let it go? It would sound like somebody was using a jackhammer on the house. That's not possible anymore, so many houses have vinyl siding.

southplains · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 19

Is there a politician in existence who DOESN'T wear a false mask? I know I've never seen one.

Mark · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1240

I'm afraid I never heard of the jackhammer sound effect trick. What I heard about (never actually saw) growing up was TPing a house or yard.

I said most instead of all for political masks because I think there are a few rare honest public servants.

southplains · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 19

Yes, I think there may be a few rare (VERY rare) honest public servants left out there. Problem is, the honest ones never make it high enough on the ladder to do as much good as they might have otherwise. Certainly I've seen NO honest presidential candidates in many, many years. I don't know if they really are growing more and more dishonest, or if I'm just getting better at discerning liars as I get older.