Heed the warning before it's too late!Watch for the tell-

tale sign of corruption!

Is there a nicotine stain on his index

finger?A dime novel hidden

in the corn crib?

Are certain words creeping into his

conversation?Words like “swell?”And “so's your old

man?”

Well, if so my friends,

Ya got trouble,Right here in River

city!

“It’s terrifying that, right now, we let these people [sex offenders] go, and two or three years

down the road they’re on their own”

“Virtually every day we watch the news or pick up the paper and learn of another

life that has been traumatized by a sex

offender”

“Given the startling rates at which sex

offenders are known to re-offend, it is important

that we develop innovative tools to

address this problem.”

“I don’t want to worry that this

person’s going to move in next door to me or that kids can

end up trick-or-treating at their

house.”

The Music ManOn Salesmen and Politicians

Creating a populism of fear

It’s a simple story, really. A traveling salesman goes from town to town, selling band instruments and uniforms. He could do this the legitimate way, using his expertise and knowledge to convince various townspeople to buy his product. The problem, in this particular story, is that the salesman has no expertise or knowledge of bands or music. Therefore, he resorts to trickery. He decides to create a need for a boys band. Once this need has been established, then he can convince the townspeople to purchase his product. In order to create a need for a boys band, the salesman creates a problem. It makes no difference what the problem is, or if a problem even exists, as long as he can convince the town that there is a real problem. He then leads the townsfolk to believe that the “problem” is much greater than it actually is. The greater the perceived problem, the greater the fear experienced by the townspeople. The greater the townspeople’s fear, the more they trust the salesman to solve the problem by creating a boys band. The more they “trust” the salesman, the easier it is for him to peddle his product. Once the fear has been established, he is successfully able to distract the people from the real issue…the fact that he, the salesman, has no expertise. And it is in this way that the Music Man makes his living.

The Saleman…

The Politician…

I will show how the Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, has created an exaggerated fear in order to further her political career. In The Music Man, the target problem was a pool table. In Illinois, the target problem is sex offenders. While it is certain that the analogy does follow completely, I believe it will be evident that the same basic technique was used by both the salesman and Lisa Madigan. I intend to show how the populism of fear affects the people of Illinois and why it should be re-examined in a more objective manner.

The Theory…

• Constructionist– Public Arena

• Drama• Culture• Politics

– Rules• Consistency• Economy

• Labeling– “The deviant is one to

whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label”

– “Being publicly labeled a deviant should increase the probability of future deviance”

Creating the problem…

• The Salesman– Goal

• Sell product• Make Money

– The Pool Table– “Well, either you’re closing

your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community!”

• The Politician– Goal

• Sell self• Garner votes

– The Sex Offender– “Our current sex offender

management system does not do all it can to protect women and children. The woman and children of Illinois deserve greater protection from sexual assault and our supervision system should provide it.”

The Statistics…

• “…one study placed the rate of repeat offense within 25 years of conviction at 52 percent for child molesters and 39 percent for rapists”

• “Even among child molesters, about 18 percent had been arrested for similar offenses before, and only 3.3 percent of those released in 1994 were arrested again for a crime against a child”

When all is said and done, there will be many casualties of political

pandering. The Corrections industry will certainly be among

them.