Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Philippians 4:8-9 (The Message)
My apologies to my friends in Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, Canada and other countries around the world. First, my heartfelt thanks for being regular consumers of this blog. I appreciate you! My apologies, because I am going to speak today about American political ads.
In short, the political ads are uniformly ridiculous, divisive, and largely, at least to me, completely ineffective. That said, they will continue to be aired ad nauseum until the election in November. I am sure that I am not the only voter who is tired of such negativity. Most voters have long ago decided which candidate they will be voting for (or against), and the ads have zero effect on most voters.
Secondly, the ads seem to treat voters like they are completely unintelligent, and that said voters will be moved somehow by baseless and usually largely untrue characterizations of opposing candidates.
Finally, such negativity breaks down the sense of decency and civility that might still exist in the population. People do not generally want to be pandered to, nor do they want to be subject to the shameless spins and lies that the ads are based upon.
So, to my dear international readers- please do not judge Americans on the ads that our politicians run. If you see one, ignore it. Your life will be better if you never see another American political ad.
Prayer: Lord, help us all to remain positive in a negative environment, Amen
Reflections of a Counselor 