Today we got our first political phone call of this election cycle. It was a pre-recorded message from some fear-mongering group posing as some sort of ‘family defense’ group (I didn’t catch their actual name) complaining about Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s policies on policing. Apparently she’s not strong enough to defend the poor scared suburban middle classes. Or something like that.

But politics I vehemently disagree with aside, I was struck by the didactic tone of the message. I’m used to the pre-recorded messages at least making some attempt to engage the listener, usually by starting with a greeting. This one launched into a tirade without any introduction whatsoever. I couldn’t help but feel like the person scripting it wasn’t used to real human interaction.