I have a new theory. It puts me in the uncomfortable position of defending Governor Sarah Palin - something I swore I wouldn't do after I made a fool of myself defending her foreign policy experience by telling everyone about the trade trips she made to other counties only to discover that practice ended with Governor Frank Murkowski.
In reading Sarah's resignation speech, three times, it occurred to me there was something familiar in Palin's speech pattern. A light bulb went off in my head, and I think I have discovered the answer to the Palin riddle.
Let me preface my theory by saying that speech is something I actually studied at one of the best universities in the nation in that discipline. My education was supplemented by Channel 11 News training by the best television journalist coaches Gottstein could afford. Speech is not about diagramming sentences and using perfect English, it is about being able to convey a message by a verbal medium that the listener will find attractive enough to pay attention to. The emphasis is on how things sound, not how they are written.
Sarah went to school, okay several schools, and eventually landed a job as a journalist at Channel 2 News. This is the underlying reason Palin is beaten up so badly over her bizarre speaking style. Journalists are supposed to be fluent masters of the English language.
Here is where I am going out on a limb, I am going to suggest Sarah Palin may be the victim of misplaced expectations. Her journalistic dream ended with a goal she didn't obtain, being a ESPN sportscaster.
That is the tickle we have all missed, and it is a big one.
Sarah wasn't a reporter, she was trained to be a sports caster. Ever listen to the sports on the nightly news? Incomplete run-on sentences, crazy metaphors, transitionless topic jumping. One would have difficulty deciphering any given night's sports script because all the visual clues as to what the speaker is talking about are missing.
Sarah' speech has a rhythm, a beat, a timing of its own. I am quite confident that when Sarah steps up to the microphone in her mind's eye there is a video feed box behind her right shoulder illustrating what she is talking about. It is how she was trained to speak.
Unfortunately, there is no one running the tape for Sarah Palin.
6 comments:
No matter the pattern, she speaks, she lies. In politics, this person, can never survive.
Interesting thought. Please change the color of your font though, I can hardly read it. Thanks.
Let's all quit making any kind of excuses for her. I am sick to death of her rhetoric, victim speeches, and whining. Time to put her big girl panties on (if she even wears panties...more like a thong a bit too tight) and GO HOME!
Very interesting idea....let's say for argument's sake it's true, why in the world wouldn't she re-evaluate that speaking style and model something more easily understood. When I look at the text of her speeches, it's hard to decipher what she really means. Did the middle of her sentence pertain to the preamble or the end? I wouldn't want to be speaking on behalf of my state or administration and leave my words SO open to interpretation. She's smart - why not make a change?
That is an interesting theory. I have read two other theories having to do with her speech patterns.
One is that she is doing an extended play version of a speech form that works well for beauty contestants.
During the staged interview portion of the contest, they are asked a question to respond to. The answer is not expected to be a well-researched, logical argument listing the pros and cons, with a concluding statement. The most well received answers were delivered in a confident manner, taking the topic of the question and referencing as many related concepts as possible,
I think this style of speaking suited her personality, and she adopted it for a wider range of public speaking.
The second theory has to do with how the brain works. There is a part of the brain that handles processing information in a logical way, and a part that responds to emotions. This is the Left/Right Brain approach, and most people can only process one side at a time.
By introducing several topics at once, and going off in several directions to illustrate her points, logic side of the brain turns off, leaving the emotional side in charge.
Her speech patterns aren't logical, because they aren't supposed to be. She is successful at projecting emotions, and uses words as picture elements, purposefully using generalities.
(P.S. I hope I don't accidentally post this twice, the prompt is asking me for another password...)
Keith Olbermann never forgets she wanted to be an ESPN sportscaster.
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