Friday, April 20, 2012

Surveys

There was no snow after all.  I finished the story about the 1970s early this morning, edited it and posted it at Black Coffee Fiction at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com Take a few minutes and check it out. Then I outlined the next short story, "Love in the 1980s" which I must finish in the next two weeks. Wade and I agree that our blog is inspiring us to do better work. We've begun to select stories for a book we intend to publish by October.

But that is not what is on my mind today.

Yesterday, while I was trying to work, I was twice interrupted by pollsters.  These polls are always conducted by either the Republican Party or by Political Action Committees supporting the GOP.  I am hit with these "surveys" at least twice a week and sometimes three times asking how I intend to vote in the upcoming election to recall Wisconsin's unpopular Republican governor. These calls took over from the calls about the primary election.

Why am I hit with so many polls?
1.  If the GOP keeps polling, sooner or later they will come up with a positive response. They can use these results to convince people who think in Packer football terms that to be with the winning team, they should vote Republican.
2.  They survey this area because it is known to be conservative and the district usually goes to the GOP.
3.  I am of record as being a senior citizen and senior citizens are usually conservative, though I am not.
4.  Years ago, someone in the Methodist church turned the church directory over to the Republicans and I've never been able to shake them.  The Democrats, when asked, removed me from their list, but this is beyond the GOP.

Many of these surveys are not surveys at all. They are there to suggest things, such as do you support the governor or do you want higher taxes.  They are cleverly worded to convince people that the GOP way is the only way. As a wordsmith, I know exactly what they are doing.

I finally had enough a few weeks ago, and instead of simply hanging up, I answered the questions, but with boldfaced lies. If an actual human is asking the questions, I am a female, unless I decide to disguise my voice.  If it's an automated call, I have even more fun.

So far, I have been a young mother with progressive ideas, an unemployed African American male, a 22 year old Hispanic male who was a retired shop steward, and a few others.  Today, I made a mistake.  I was a 17 year old male college student and just like that, the interviewer hung up.  Obviously, I couldn't vote.

I've never been able to say I was going to vote for Walker however.  Just couldn't do it.  I usually throw in some other name entirely.

Now I look forward to the next survey call, and even scribble down ideas of who I should be the next time. A concerned cat owner?  A devoted party member?  A drunk driver who wants a ticket fixed?

The GOP wants to waste my time.  Why not mess with them?






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