[lbo-talk] Context for 1984 Reagan campaign advertisement

[Miles Jackson]

Sean Johnson Andrews wrote:
>
> My problem was that I don't want to assume I understood what those 
> assumptions were supposed to be in the advertisement.  I guessed it was 
> supposed to be the USSR, but I could also imagine it being "big 
> government" or socialism in general as an idea, all of which the GOP is 
> supposed to protect us from.  I just wondered if I was on the right 
> track or if there might be some other referent to the metaphor that was 
> more concrete at the time (like Willie Horton).  None of the other ads 
> make any mention of the USSR and the only policy I can see the ad 
> referring to is something like the Star Wars program.  But in that case, 
> why not mention that policy?

It's about the USSR.  During the Cold War, the threat of the evil 
commies was so embedded in the culture that everyone understood that 
bear = USSR.  (I suspect you must be a little younger than me if that ad 
puzzles you--)

Miles