M. Simon's post about the hypnotic qualities of Barack Obama made me recall something which might be of interest, and which may or may not shed light on the human perceptions involved.

Basically, I found Barack Obama interesting at first, and the fact that he had a more pleasant voice than Hillary made me favor his dulcet tones over her shrill screechiness. Not that I ever contemplated voting for him in the general election, but if I have to endure socialism, I'd at least prefer not to have to listen to shrill voices all the time. I have a real problem listening to unpleasant sounds, especially grating ones, and it gets worse as I get older. (This is not sarcasm, but a true statement.)

Yet I don't think this means I am being lulled into a false sense of security by the pleasant tones, much less hypnotized. I am one of those people who cannot be hypnotized (yes, it has been tried), because my overwhelming sense of skepticism is aggravated by the fact that hypnosis is a form of manipulation, and when I perceive that people are trying to manipulate me, I do not go along with them, even when I agree with them. (Hell, I couldn't even meditate when I tried, for which I was gently chided by a meditation expert who was conducting an MCLE seminar.) My friends consist of people who do not and would not try to mess with me or manipulate me the way so many people have over the years -- especially those who claim to want to "help." (My favorite bumpersticker is "DEAR GOD, PLEASE DON'T LET THE GOVERNMENT HELP ME ANYMORE.") So, for me, Obama's words don't have any sort of hypnotic effect. He's easy to tune out, though.

The problem I have with him is that I have already grown sick to death of him, and he hasn't even been elected yet.

Funny, because I found Mikhail Gorbachev refreshing too. Put a nice, fresh, pleasant face on Communism, eh? My father (a retired officer who had served in World War II) warned me that he could end up being far worse than the mean-looking guys, and that we would be better off with a scowling ugly Russian -- especially ordinary people who need to clearly understand the nature of the enemy. I noticed that leftists felt the same way about Ronald Reagan. They hated his likeability for reasons similar to my father's. Republicans were supposed to be mean and ugly like Nixon. Not avuncular and happy like Reagan.

I don't know where the hell I'm going with this, because it is not my purpose to compare Obama to Reagan or Gorbachev, or any of the three to each other.

But as to hypnosis, fortunately the conventional wisdom holds that people cannot be hynotized to do things against their will or against their better judgment. The people who want to be hypnotized by Barack Obama can go ahead and be hypnotized.

For me, his curtain of change is soundproof.

MORE: Speaking of Ronald Reagan, here's David Bernstein:

The last thing the U.S. needs is a left-wing Ronald Reagan, but that might well be what we get.