Obama and His Village

Obama, the prevaricator and ideologue clearly has no shame when it comes to lying. But the ObamaCare "Got Insurance: Let's Get Physical" ads that are now being targeted to the millennial generation hit a new record for sordidness.

I have heard that it takes a village to raise a generation. If society is supposed to protect its young, we are failing big time.

When Sarah Palin spoke about being a grizzly mama bear, many Americans responded positively because the first instinct when a child is being attacked is to fiercely defend the young no matter what cost, no matter what the struggle.

Wake up mama and papa bears.

Families across the nation are being targeted by the Obama administration. The marriage penalty in ObamaCare makes no sense except to destroy the sanctity of marriage. How does taxing married people help health care?

Now the young are being kidnapped by Mr. Cool Prez as he mesmerizes them with hip and cool slogans. In reality, the ObamaCare advertisements reflect yet another invasion into their private lives -- which is, of course, the embodiment of tyrannical rule.

But with young people innocently permitting violation of their own privacy via the various social media sites, it is no wonder that Obama and his minions think that ads that pander to easy sex, thug culture, and the idea that "girl power means they never play it safe" will attract the attention of these rather naive young folk.

Letting it all hang out defines far too many of our societal expectations. It is time to sit down and start a conversation.

Mrs. Leah Kohn has written that a

common misperception about modesty is that it is old fashioned -- even Victorian.
In reality, modesty can be a way of protecting your inner life, that which is the real you, that which is part of your soul. This is the Jewish perspective on modesty,... [which] empowers the woman with tools that help her enjoy the physical realm without defining herself by it.

This is what is most startling and disgusting about the ObamaCare advertisements. The implication that sexual encounters are "easy" and without consequences is the first point that comes across in these flagrantly insulting advertisements. The fact that the only thing that this young woman has to do is seduce the "hot guy" now that she has her free birth control promotes promiscuity and impulsive behavior. Emily Shire at The Week has no problem with the featured "two women excited about putting their birth control pills to use" since she claims that "it is fine" but her complaint is that they are made to look "exceptionally dopey and irresponsible." So in Shire's estimation, that makes "the ObamaCare ads for millennial women... actually worse than the Brosurance ones."
And she claims that "they also foster some unsafe sex myths." You think, Emily?

In Judaism there is a value known as "Tz'ni'ut or modesty, simplicity, a touch of bashfulness, and reserve. But above all these, it signifies privacy." It is because "modesty is about more than what one wears -- it refers to discreet habits, quiet speech, and affections privately expressed." It is meant to avoid "grossness... and raucous behavior" the very opposite of what the ObamaCare ads are selling.

The ObamaCare ads pander to the lowest common denominator. It targets black and white young men via beer drinking. Through "Brosurance" one learns that "Keg stands are crazy but not having health insurance is crazier." Funny how the ad never talks about the enormous cost it will have on a generation that is already burdened with debt and diminishing returns. Clearly, the men in the ObamaCare ad do not subscribe to the "Gentlemen of Quality" who are exemplified in this piece about Black men who are "striving for excellence and battling society's negative stereotypes."

And, of course, in Obamaland, young Americans cannot speak properly so that in one ad we learn that ObamaCare will afford "Stress Relief" because "before we got my health insurance me and my girl really sweated paying our medical bills."

The vacuous ad proclaiming that "[n]ow that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition, let's run away together" is a masterful display of pseudo-profundity -- but, will our young understand how they are being linguistically bamboozled?

In short, women are being very hurt by ObamaCare. Celia Bigelow at the Blaze explains how Obama "may have won the farcical war on contraceptives," but because there is insufficient push back from conservatives, Obama continues, in fact, "[to wage] his own war on [young women's] pocket books."

In reality, "Obamacare is simply the latest instance of generational theft being perpetrated against younger Americans." Have these young people been informed that the Obamacare "incentive to limit a 'full-time equivalent' work force" now means that they "who might have been hired will now likely be passed over?" Do the young people realize that "youth and good health will no longer serve as factors that qualify an individual for less expensive coverage?" Do they understand that they will have "a difficult time finding doctors to treat them in a timely fashion?"

Will the roller blade ObamaCare ad have millennials rushing headlong into disaster or will they be equipped with knowledge, information and a foundation upon which to fight back? On the positive side, Michael Tanner asserts that "younger Americans are increasingly disillusioned with government and cynical about the political process" but is it enough?

Advertising has always nudged up against the grey area in promoting a product. Weasel word, opinions disguised as facts, and allusions to superiority when none exists are standard fare in seducing a consumer. Vance Packard in his seminal book entitled The Hidden Persuaders describes the eight marketing techniques used to sell a product. Of the eight, the "selling of creative outlets," and the "selling of ego gratification" are seamlessly incorporated in the ObamaCare ads. I would add another element which is "selling us against them." Government protects its young but parents might frown on our daredevil behavior.

Though a thinking person may counter that these ObamaCare ads would shame the smallest Mom and Pop store owner and have zero chance of attracting anyone, it is important to remember that the intended audience is a generation who has grown very accustomed to the Nike ad mentality of "just do it" as explained in this Mini case study from the Center for Applied Research. Nick Gillespie queries "Will Sh***y ObamaCare Ads Get Young People to Buy Insurance? or will millennials reject the ad's celebration of sex and booze to promote a health plan?

Playful, fun-loving, impulsive -- the ads don't sell a product per se; in fact, the ads that far too many millennials have grown up emphasize anything but an actual product. But the ObamaCare ads' lingo captures the way so many young people speak. In a word, ObamaCare is cool because Obama is cool even though I have no idea that I will be shouldering a financial burden that I couldn't even afford before -- but that's a tomorrow worry. And, moreover, the "sexually suggestive" ads turn me on!

There is no stigma attached to the behavioral promises implicit in the ads. That is why ObamaCare's marketing tactic is gambling on the idea that the generation on whose shoulders the entire ACA rests, will sign on and be seduced by the marketing. And though the entire ObamaCare law reflects "rank incompetence" how does one explain the vast number of millenials who still are totally uninformed about this law?

Currently the thug in the White House knows how to reach them. But the nurturer in all of us (childless or otherwise) knows better. It really is time for the adults in the room to stand up and speak. After all, Obama has been conducting "an energetic war on the young" for a long time now. Robert Knight of the Washington Times explains that "[m]ost students are primed to have their ears tickled about what a great future they're going to have if only the government gets bigger and more powerful." Though it is "precisely the younger Americans who should be most distressed by Obama's agenda" most have no understanding of the onerous debt and financial burdens Obama is bestowing on them. Their mathematical skills are so deficient that most of my college students, for example, do not realize what 4% or 45% of something means in real dollars.

Besides the nuts and bolts of ObamaCare, it is incumbent upon all of us to analyze these ads and explain that "the concept of modesty does not imply a rejection of the body." Instead it is to "respect the body" and "preserve the sanctity of the inner human being from assault by the coarseness of daily life." Thus, "dignity comes not from exposure and indecent exhibition, but from discretion and the assurance that the human being will be considered a private, sensitive being, [and] not merely a body."

Obama certainly does not care about those whose bodies are failing them. If he did, he would have never endangered the care of patients stricken with cancer. Why, then should he care about the inviolability of the spirit? His is an attachment to death be it the death of a baby of a failed abortion or the death of an elderly woman whom he has determined no longer has the right to life. How dare he?

The Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 3b) reminds us that "a man should always be watchful of the possibility of moral abandonment... for it will cause all he owns to go to waste... as a worm in a sesame plant who eats everything within, without anyone noticing it, and all that is left is the shell."

Obama is that worm and as the perennial Pied Piper, a symbol of children's death by plague or catastrophe, he has come to steal our children.

So while Mr. Obama intimates that mistakes were made, he will never, ever admit that the law should be made null and void. Rather this is the trajectory he desires as he destroys the country bit by bit. Capturing our young is as evil as it gets.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com

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