Slogan Society

We've all heard them over and over. "Cash for clunkers." "No child left behind." "Just say no." I think there is this feeling that if we say them enough as we might say a mantra or a prayer, the slogans will make a difference. Then there are the royalty descriptions as though from the Chinese empire of the Kennedy Dynasty, of Ted Kennedy as the Patriarch. What's wrong with "the Kennedy family" and "Uncle Ted."

Is this America, the hyperbole, the simplistic? Even our states have a slogan, "Georgia on my mind," "Missouri--the show me state," and "I love New York." I personally like "Everything's bigger in Texas" and "Virginia is for lovers." Would anyone sign up for the military without slogans? Join the Army, "Be all you can be." Join the Marines, "The Few. The Proud."

I was reading online about slogans, and one writer called it "sloganeering." I was disturbed as I read on about educational slogans, reminding me of how much of my teacher instruction classes were often simplified to slogans. All of life and learning is put in an acrostic poem or rap song with dancers in the background. We are the "Age of Advertising."

More will be continued on this subject at a later time.