Jesus Will Come on Time, Doug Batchelor is Running Late

2005-03-20T19:53:00.000-04:00

In George Lakoff's Don't Think of An Elephant he presents framing as a new and exciting concept, the political innovation of the 21st century and to some extent this is true. But framing is not new. Framing is a new name for an old practice. Framing is to use the right words; words which mean things without actually saying them. George Lakoff's work is less the discovery of a new phenomenon so much as the dissection of the language of a specific group of people– con artists. Con artists of all shapes and sizes have been conning people since the dawn of time by using framing. George Lakoff gives us a name for this, and he gives liberals a roadmap to battle the conservatives who do this, but he doesn't actively help us– the marks.

Lakoff wants to teach liberals to become con artists like their conservative counterparts, arguing that in this brave new world which we now live, the only way for progressives to survive is to adapt to the over-information age where well-organized mass deception is the only way to disseminate ideas. Sadly, I think he is correct. But even if you don't, there is still a very important lesson to be learned from Lakoff's lessons on framing: how to not be a mark. For over one hour on Friday night, I was a mark.

I had decided to attend a Prophecy Code meeting at a Seventh Day Adventist Church. I'm a devout agnostic, but college is a time for doing whacky things and besides, as an avid politico, I felt should learn more about Midwestern traditions, considering their impact on the last election. The Prophecy Code seminar is run by the president of Amazing Facts, Doug Batchelor, a televangelist who reaches across the United States through miracle of satellite television. The Seventh Day Adventists of Florence were projecting his giant image and fancy graphics onto the wall. It was all very smooth, except for him.

Doug Batchelor was having technical problems at the beginning of the show. His teleprompter was down so he had to read off a palm pilot. He lost his train of thought at times. He thought that his website might have this meeting on video archive, but he couldn't be sure. For a preacher who spoke across the United States, he was rather uncertain, but that is because he was small time. His five kids did not join him on stage, but his wife did and they talked. It was intended to be a scripted talk, but he kept talking when she was supposed to and she kept having to remind him what to say. When talking about unlocking the secrets of the Bible, Batchelor told a lengthy, unnecessary anecdote about his wife got locked out of their apartment just before the show. His behavior, her guest appearance, their bizarre pseudo-lively conversation, his boring anecdote all seemed very unprofessional.

It wasn't until I got home and re-read their pamphlet that I understood that I had just been taken for a ride. Doug Batchelor's Amazing Facts ministry got 1.66 billion in tithes last year. Doug Batchelor does not live in an apartment; Doug Batchelor does not need to make mistakes.

He chose every mistake for the impact it would have on his audience. His mistakes were a sort of framing. But to fully understand the frame, one must understand his audience. In honesty, I knew I was not a part of his audience before I got there. But when he showed the map of the United States with a blue dot for every church or home that was receiving this video feed, I was shocked to see heavy blue clusters covering the coasts with just a handful in the midwest. The northeast was a giant blue abyss, and I was surrounded. I may not have been his audience but my neighbors were.

My neighbors were sitting there watching this man speak about Jesus, the Rapture, and how Doug Batchelor knows that the world will soon end from studying prophecy. They were his audience for several reasons. Doug Batchelor's pamphlets concerning September 11th explained that the attacks were caused by Satan, as is divorce, cancer, theft, kids dying, and anything bad. When the Rapture comes, Jesus will imprison Satan once and for all and bad things will never happen again. What a brutally seductive message. It is a message powerful enough to attract the vulnerable. And Doug Batchelor's framing and clever conning was powerful enough to keep them.

Doug Batchelor knows his audience; otherwise he would not act bumbling small-time. His audience is the previously unexploited, those who find typical televangelism too far removed from their normal concepts of church. Doug Batchelor did not scream and shout brimstone, he said apartment and five kids. The significance of these words can not be understated. The word apartment was presented in an accidental anecdote, one that he told simply because something reminded him of this. Perhaps that is the case, but Doug Batchelor was going to find some way to tell his audience that he lived in an apartment with five kids and his wife.

Apartment has a very particular frame. People rent because they can't afford to buy, therefore Doug Batchelor can't afford things. Doug Batchelor has five kids and he can't afford things; it must be difficult at the apartment. It must be crowded and he and his wife must be very strong to get through things. Why can't he afford things? Because he is a small-time preacher, because he is here today speaking honestly with us. He is sacrificing. If he were speaking to make money, would he live in an apartment? Of course not, therefore his apartment is making him honest.

Honesty was the cornerstone of Doug Batchelor's sales pitch. These vulnerable northerners were ready to accept Jesus, but they would not accept Doug Batchelor as easily. He needed to convince them he was honest, not that his message was solid, or that he knew what he was talking about. He only needed them to think that he believed his own words. If they think he is truthful and honest and poor, they will help to contribute to the 1.66 billion which Amazing Facts will make this year.

Has Filler Ever Been So Filling?

2005-03-20T18:34:00.000-04:00

Nope

Bad Proletariat

Jesus Will Come on Time, Doug Batchelor is Running Late

Has Filler Ever Been So Filling?