November 2020

Women: no longer such a big deal

It’s not uncommon to see in the news, especially if you follow a LinkedIn news feed, stories about women breaking new ground or being the first to do this or that. There was definitely a time when it was more unusual for women to be doing various things like piloting commercial airplanes or playing professional sports. But that was a while ago. 30 years ago, I was one of three men in a 30 person marketing class. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with, or for, women at every level. In my lifetime, it’s just been normal. I appreciate that…

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Enough with the cleaning already

It’s very difficult for people to build up immunity to the world around us when you have all these people sanitizing the hell out of everything all the time. Though I’m not sure we actively acknowledged it at the time, there was some good in our children’s desire to touch and lick and eat everything around them. The exposure to bacteria, germs, and viruses helped them build a strong immune system. It’s an ability that serves us throughout our lifetime. As we go on, we get exposed to more new germs and mutations of old ones, and hopefully in…

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Term limits

Back in the 1990’s, the idea of putting term limits, or limiting the number of terms a Senator or House Representative can serve started to gain a little traction and pick up steam. Of course, with the people who need to be term-limited in charge of voting on such a change, it didn’t happen and was never going to happen. Fast forward to now, and I think we have confirmation as to why. It’s never been clearer in my lifetime that our politicians have sold us out. They don’t represent the best interests of the American people. They serve…

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Mr. von Higgenbotham

There are rarely extinction level events in a lifetime. Changes happen one little event at a time. As I sit and watch the lack of respect so many kids have for our institutions, the parents and community who raised them, and the older people who’ve paid their dues and sacrificed, I think about how we got here. It’s not a simple reason. It wasn’t one event. It was a series of small things. It was giving trophies for showing up. It was telling them how unique and special they are without having done the work to earn it. It…

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2020 hindsight

It’s Thanksgiving, and though the list of things for which to be thankful may be shorter this year than past years, I think there’s a useful exercise available to all of us. Every experience is a good experience, whether it’s pleasant from start to finish or an unrelenting hell. In either case, we have the opportunity to learn, grow, and experience new things, and that is what life is all about. This year, for Thanksgiving, take a minute to dial in on your hindsight until it’s 2020. Take stock of what happened this year. Evaluate some of the more…

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One option, not three

Somewhere along the line, some client or marketing director somewhere decided that instead of asking their agency or internal creative department for one creative idea, they wanted three. Since that time, internal and external clients across the land have been asking their creative department or agency for three creative ideas. Likewise, agencies and creative people simply expect to provide three ideas whenever they’ve got to present new creative. Not my creative teams. Ever since I started my creative career, no matter where I’ve worked, I’ve always insisted they’ll get one idea. Sure, I’ve been asked for three ideas. They…

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The answer stares us in the face

For 30 years, I’ve been wondering why the Republican Party is so spineless and reluctant to stand up for… well, anything. And I know I’m not alone. Hoping for the Republican Party to step up, put a stop to the nonsense, and do the right thing is an endless exercise in frustration and anger. They simply never show up. They never take a stand. They never put their foot down. They never make a bold move. Most importantly, they never represent the people who put them there – their voters. And after four years of Donald Trump, we finally…

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Conservatives are more informed

They have to be. Americans are inundated with liberal-biased news and information. Every single television news source that isn’t Newsmax or OAN all parrot each other’s talking points. They didn’t just get the memo. They wrote it. Likewise, every newspaper publication and website are delivering the same message as the television news networks. But liberal news talking points go well beyond television and cable news. It’s everywhere. To hear the latest talking points on climate change, transgenderism, how horrible Donald Trump is, Republican white supremacists, and how dangerous COVID is, you basically just have to log in to social…

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The gaslighting continues…

Yesterday, the nation posted this tweet suggesting that our nation has descended into an aggregation of bullies, conspiracy theorists, and meanies. And the gaslighting of 2020 continues. Ever since President Trump descended the golden escalator, Democrats and the American media (one in the same) have hammered on Trump and his supporters nearly every minute of every day. That’s four straight years of exhibits a, b, and c, on to infinity, proving, in their minds, that Donald Trump is the worst man alive. Using acts of bullying (belittling, name-calling, and harassing Trump supporters and administration members), spreading conspiracy theories (Russian…

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Third party

Ever since the Tea Party movement in 2009, there’s been a low buzz within conservative circles about leaving the Republican Party and starting a third party. Democrats have never paid attention enough or showed the intellectual curiosity necessary to realize that the Republican Party has never been the home of conservatives. Many, or most, conservatives dutifully vote for whichever GOP candidate we’re served because there’s never a better option (unless we’re feeling frisky that year and vote for the Libertarian). But rarely, if ever, does that GOP candidate espouse, articulate, or fight for real conservative. Instead, they latch on…

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