JOE BIDEN: “WHO WE ARE”
ANALYSIS BY ASHLEY VANDENBERG AND KENDRA KEAHBONE
During election years, our televisions and radios are filled with political ads. People who vote for the president have a feeling (which they may subsequently backfill with “logic” or “thought”) for who they believe is the right president and who is not. These ads are meant to sway people with Death Reminders, Apocalyptic Visions, Holy Longing, and Threats to Value. Both candidates have made sure to use this to strengthen their political agendas. All these types of ads are extremely powerful ways to get voters to transition from one presidential candidate to another.
Joe Biden’s campaign has use these themes to bolster his base and lure independent voters. In particular, we can see Apocalyptic Visions and Death Reminders. His ads are meant to show the terror that can be drawn from the republican party, especially his opponent Donald Trump. The ad portrays Joe Biden in a bright light as if he is the Savior that has come to deliver us from Evil. Concomitantly, Donald Trump can be seen with a darker light or looking very aggressive and terrifying. In Joe Biden’s “Who We Are” ad, he states “If we give Donald Trump 8 years in the white house he will forever and fundamentally change the character of this nation.” While he is saying this, a clip of white supremacists holding torches can be seen. This not so subtle image is meant to strike fear in the heart of the viewer. When they hear the name Donald Trump their minds go to the people holding the torches and fighting one another, which is meant to invoke terror and the notion that, if Donald Trump is elected, we will all die violently.
These political ads contain many subliminal messages that are meant to instill fear and heroism in the Presidential Candidate that it favors. For this ad, Joe Biden wants to be seen as the hero that will save America from the threat of Donald Trump. This ad definitely does its job in showing that the America Donald Trump brings is one filled with violence, terror, and death. According to the ad, Joe Biden will make sure that his vision of America does not have this and that we can rest easy and vote for him as President.
Ashley VanDenBerg will graduate from Fort Lewis College with a B.A in Psychology, Criminology and Forensics. She wants to work with the criminal justice system in pursuit of different ways of rehabilitation. She also wants to work with the police department as a victim’s advocate. Ashley will then seek her M.A in Forensic Psychology from the University of North Dakota and, eventually, a PhD in Forensic Psychology in order to become an expert witness.
Kendra Keahbone will graduate from Fort Lewis College with a B.A. in Psychology, Forensics, and Criminology. She then wants to pursue her M.A. in Forensic Psychology from California Baptist University, with an FBI internship. Following her master’s, she will seek her Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology.