So, what was Romney thinking when he insulted the London Olympics preparations?

[xiphias]

As much as I dislike Romney, I'm starting to feel my schadenfreude tip into a mixture of bemusement and pity at his whole experience in London these past couple days. And I'm trying to figure out WHAT he was thinking.

And here's what I've come up with as a hypothesis:

Okay, remember back in school when you had that guy who was really socially awkward but who WANTED to be accepted, so he TRIED to pretend like he liked the same things as everyone else, but it was obvious that he was just trying, and fundamentally didn't actually UNDERSTAND what everyone else was doing?

In my case, I WAS that guy, but still. I assume that most of you either knew him, or were him. Or her, I suppose. I only noticed it among guys, but that may be simply confirmation bias. I'm sticking with the male pronoun because that's where I personally saw it most.

So, yeah. That guy who kept coming up to you, and trying to join into your conversation, but fundamentally missing the point.

That's Romney.

He WANTS to be popular. So he does whatever it is the people around him do, to try to be accepted by them. And he goes to London, and hears all the Brits bitching about how screwed up the Olympics are, and how everything's going to be a mess, and nobody on the Olympic committee has the slightest bloody idea what they're doing.

And he goes, "Oh, okay. That's what people are saying. So I want people to like me, so I'll say that, too."

So he says that.

Which fundamentally missed the point -- missed a BUNCH of the points -- e.g., "British people bitch about things that they like," and "nobody beats up my little brother except me."

Honestly, I think that you can fit almost all the events we know of in Romney's life into the narrative of, "I want people to like me, so I'll do whatever it is that they're doing, too."

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I think you're halfway there. He doesn't get tact; at best it's a second language.

And in this case, there really ARE plenty of scary problems with the preparation of the London Olympics. Having made some of those mistakes himself, and not wanting to lie, he figured he'd mention that, in his honest opinion, there are some concerns.

Not the best thing to do when you're trying to craft a pretend persona as The Smiler. His handlers don't want honesty and an accurate portrayal of the world, least of all when it comes to security, or they'd dismantle the TSA and a dozen other institutions. And the UK is itself in the midst of a terrifying internal culture war about security and how much you get to spy on your own citizens, so everyone's extra-touchy about this subject.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

.... omigod HE'S THE SMILER. I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING NOW.

I should get a Transmetropolitan userpic....

[sethg]

I have heard it explained that Britons (or is it just Englishmen?) think it’s bad form to make a conspicuous show of patriotism, because if you feel compelled to go on and on about how your country is the greatest in the world, you must have some lingering insecurity that maybe it isn’t.

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

It's more the English style of understatement. The best thing ever in the history of the world, the most fantastic thing that ever happened is likely to be described as 'well yes, it was quite nice'. We just don't do effusive.

It's really rather embarrassing if we feel moved to more emotional display than that, it's not that we don't feel it, it's just bad form to say it out loud.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Apparently, in WWII, there were some issues with co-ordination between American and UK troops, when calling for backup.

Americans didn't understand that, if a Brit called in calmly stating that "me and my boys might be having a spot of bother here," it meant that over half the soldiers were dead, the rest were injured, they were low on ammunition, and their position was about to be overrun.

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

Well one would not want to make a fuss would one?

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

That's so... perfectly illustrative of the difference between Americans and English people.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

You are a very good writer - I'd love to see your stuff in a satirical magazine or editorial for a newspaper. [ Check out the libel laws first, though ;-) ] In a way, though, it's sad that I keep up with my national news through your blog.