A few words of explanation are needed before I begin my first review, so skip this paragraph if you just want to read a psychoanalysis of Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign advert. I am the Spud Man, and one of the purposes of this blog is to evaluate the psyches of political and celebrity figures in the most empirical way that I can without actually talking to them personally. The reviews that you will read on this page are all done at face value, and I do not mean to imply that anything I say is true about their actual personality. Rather, my analyses are over the public fronts that they present to us, the viewers of whatever media they are displayed upon. The only real sources for these personae are these public appearances of their respective characters. By character, I mean that public front. I do not mean to imply that all of the subjects of my reviews are actors in the strictest sense, but that I am simply discriminating from their personal and public lives. With that said, let us turn our attention to Governor Rick Perry (R, Texas) and his apparently homophobic ravings present in the included video.
Transcript of campaign ad:
I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I'll end Obama's war on religion. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. I'm Rick Perry and I approve this message.
This commercial is as blunt as I can imagine. Gov. Perry is expressing that he is opposed to homosexuals being permitted to openly serve in the United States Military and that he believes that faith in the Christian belief is what the country needs to return from an apparent lapse in power. He also accuses President Obama of enacting legislature to outlaw religion, specifically Gov. Perry's personal faith. The truth of this claim is covered to what I consider a satisfactory extent by the Amazing Atheist in his video here. (NSFW, language, alcohol reference) However, whether that claim is true in any sense is irrelevant to the psychological state of the one stating it.
It is evident, at least to me, that the Rick Perry we view in this advert is exhibiting strong narcissistic and neurotic traits. He believes, to the point of paranoia, that there is some force beyond his control that is determined to undermine and outlaw his personal faith, withal evidence to support the accusation. The narcissism is apparent in his condemnation of homosexuals having the right to serve in the military being juxtaposed with the lament that children cannot pray openly in schools (again, this is false and also covered in the Amazing Atheist's video).
Consider if this behaviour was present in a group of children. Gov. Perry would fill the role of the larger, perhaps misunderstood, child that the others fear to an extent. He will have a close-knit group of friends joined together initially by that fear but ultimately because of an adherence to similar beliefs. Now, introduce another student that disagrees with this group's assumption that blue is the best colour (an arbitrary example). In the mind of the governor's character, this discrepancy is a personal attack against something that he holds very dear to his identity. At this point, it is impossible for the child to be reasoned with into seeing how this other child with a favourite colour of green could easily coexist in the same classroom without confrontation. Perry's group will begin by alienating the undesirable through teasing in an effort to prevent other, neutral groups from siding with the greenie. If this fails to change green's opinion, then the group will openly wage a type of 'war', to the best of a child's extent, against him (an increasing frequency of bullying, refusal to even speak to him, etc.). Green's retaliation is to explain the situation to their teacher, who scolds Perry and the blue group for their lack of acceptance (assuming that public school policies haven't changed since I visited one last year). Instead of the positive punishment immediately molding Perry's behaviour, he develops more disdain for Green and all he stands for as the source of the punishment.
Now comes the time for my personal opinion to be introduced. Please note that the previous speculation is just that, and I have attempted to withhold my political and social beliefs from the equation until now. The references to the Amazing Atheist's video are matters of opinion, but I believe that it is possible to differentiate fact from opinion in his work.
I have a hard time believing that Gov. Perry agrees with a single one of the statements that he presents in this advert. Rather, I see this all as an appeal to his voting demographic's being predominantly Christian. To a logical-minded republican, I would assume that these statements and accusations will raise a red flag to the likelihood of him being elected in any campaign against President Obama. Even if he could somehow scrape through the primaries with a majority vote, he would be labeled as a bigot and prevented from ever standing a chance against the whole of the democratic party and the considerable number of republicans refusing to vote for him. I wouldn't be surprised if this advert was simply Perry attempting to commit political suicide without appearing to be a coward by dropping out of the race altogether. It is an odd sense of morality that we Americans hold when we place cowardice as a worse sin than illogicality. Not to mention that, as the title of this post suggests, it is entirely possible that his condemnation of homosexuality is merely a front for him to simultaneously expose himself to the culture without appearing to be subscribed to it (much like the alcoholic attending an AA meeting not to become better, but to remain tied to the culture whilst prevented from partaking in it). In short, the man owes me a new gaydar.
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