| WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO? Click a photo below... | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Campaign 2012 – The Year the Robocall Jumped the Shark
Lynn | May 24, 2012 | Comments 4
We are registered on the No Call List. I think that means we should be free of irritating robocalls. I thought wrong.
Mike Huckabee called me this week...
In the past few days 90% of the calls to my home followed this script, “Hi, this is [insert name of well-known person], calling to ask for your support for [candidate's name] in the upcoming election for [insert office].
There have been two exceptions to that script. One was a reminder about early voting and the other a robocall from a present elected official saying they did not endorse another official in their primary bid. I listened to a bit of the first call because I knew the person who was calling and thought – for a moment – that it was a real call. Wrong again. Hung up.
Celebrities Call Me Everyday!
My husband answered the other robocall. I didn’t listen. The number of celebrities who have called my house (well, not in person) in the past week is both ridiculous and obnoxious. Tactics that are original can be very succesful. However, once everyone is using the same playbook it’s time to design another play.
There’s an organization that is compiling a list of folks who want to be removed from political robocalls. Since I haven’t yet taken the time to see if it is legitimate I did not give them my personal information. Instead, I decided to air my grievance online. You’re reading it.
Political groupies and/or political ideologues will not be swayed by an inconvenient fact or a robocall. When I choose a candidate I hope for verifiable truth, experience relevant to the role he or she seeks, a plan for change, and behavior that doesn’t bend and sway every time the political wind changes. There must be a plan for change. If change isn’t needed then why would someone run for office? (There are other reasons but none worth my vote.)
Politics: Only perfect people need apply (or else!)
The most important discovery I made when I ran for office is that the folks most qualified to serve can’t get elected and the ones who get elected are seldom qualified to serve. People who achieve the greatest success are those who have also racked up a series of failures. Each failure is a learning experience but becomes fodder for negative ads and personal attacks. Who needs that headache?
Robocalls do not permit dialogue. Politics should be, if nothing else, a dialogue. Robocalls are no longer unique and probably not as effective as they once were. I respectfully ask all you celebrities out there to please stop calling me. I already voted.
Share and Enjoy
Filed Under: Commentary and Opinion
We mostly get calls from research companies and companies who want to ensure our credit card is safe (right). I fully expect the ‘vote for…’ calls to start shortly.
There used to be a time in our younger days when we looked forward to the phone ringing because it meant hearing from a friend or family member. Now, we cringe when the phone rings.
Sad.
Dan
I’m with you, Dan, I don’t relish answering the phone or going to the mailbox. Last week I got a really interesting call from “Microsoft” about the malware on my Windows 7 computer. I asked which computer that might be since there is more than one in the house. The caller couldn’t be more specific but asked me to go the “Windows 7 computer” so he could walk me through the steps of fixing my machine. Nice try, but no cigar. What’s next?
Lynn
I feel left out. No celebrities have called me, and not even the Tea Party nor the Republican Party called me prior to the primary here in Ohio. I’m a member of both, so you would think that somebody would have called, but nobody did. And nobody sent me anything in the mail prior to election day; not even a sample Republican ballot. I had to do online research just to find out what the issues were going to be. I guess the automated calls are annoying, but I would have like to have had the issues and candidates on paper prior to my going to the poll.
Oh, Marie, I would be so happy to forward some of the calls to you along with the junk mail. There’s really no way around the online research even with all the campaign activity. You simply cannot take what a campaign puts out at face value. What one candidate says is a wonderful half-full glass the other guy says is a shockingly half-empty glass. Maybe after Tuesday this will settle down for a while.
Blessings, Lynn