> IME, he's tremendously effective in communicating
> intellectual ideas to non-intellectuals. It's only intellectuals
> to whom he gives the creeps, precisely because he is
> traducing all our rhetorical mores. But since there are
> many more non-intellectuals in the world, this means his
> style makes him extremely popular and it serves a purpose
> others aren't.
I feel that Michael is right. Frankly, I enjoyed the speech. I guess the what was okay. But the how was pretty good, I thought. Although I understand this is all at a gut level. He hit the right note. To me.
We *learn* very early on to be charmed by certain things and to react with disgust to others. Upbringing. Daring to talk, interact, help and be helped by those who are really different (a hard thing to do for some of us) -- and reflect seriously on the experience -- is the only way to expand our comfort zone with what is odd to us.
We all have speech mannerisms, but because they are ours, we view them as natural. Like heavy accents seem so normal to us, alien creatures.