Vernacular alert, OWS edition
Here's Erik Erikson, fuming that the GOP's apparent nominee only pretends to be insane but isn't really:
...once he loses, Republican establishment types will blame conservatives for not doing enough for Mitt Romney, never mind that Mitt Romney has never been able to sell himself to more than 25% of the GOP voters. It’s not his fault though, it is the 75%’s fault.
Never mind Erikson's argument that Romney will lose the election because he's not a real conservative. I'm not convinced, but from his mouth to God's ears. What interests me is his turn of numerical phrase, "the 75%'s..."
We have a new way of framing subsections of the national community: "the XX%." The 99%, the 1%...pithy. And heartwarming. We all have multiple percentile siblings. College grads: the 32% (more or less). The uninsured: the 17%. American children living in poverty: the 22%. Evangelicals: the 26%. Dog owners: the 37%. Nonvoters: the 45%. Residents of millionaire households: the 7%. People with IQs under 100: the 49.99999%. Above-average Lake Wobegon children: The 99.9999%.
Maybe a social network can take this up. Invite members to tick off percentile groups in which they claim membership. Virtual numeric communities! Who says that social cohesion is slipping away?