Wyoming
Horses, hats and political propaganda as Wyoming prepares to vote – WyoFile
If your mailbox is anything like mine, it’s starting to fill up with gaudy campaign mailers from politicians who are trying their damnedest to channel Chris LeDoux (and we’ll tip our Stetsons when that name is mentioned) and failing miserably. It’s comical to watch these dudes and dudettes try to cowboy up just to get the voters’ attention!
I don’t own a television, but I’ll bet a dollar to a donut the same stuff is assaulting your eyeballs from the boob tube screen.
Their mailers and ads show politicians standing nervously next to a photogenic horse, forcing smiles through their fear. That’s because there isn’t enough money in the campaign budget to convince them to climb aboard a critter as big and scary as a horse. They wear a sombrero that looks like it was purchased under the stands at Frontier Days, and a brand new pearlsnap shirt with the price tag still attached.
Or they pose in front of a buck n’ rail fence in some rustic Wyoming meadow, clutching a gun with their trigger fingers outside the guard, as the director instructed. You can almost hear the photographer’s voice off-camera suggesting, “Now, try to look tough.”
What we are seeing in our mailboxes and on our screens is the classic Madison Avenue ploy of manufacturing opinion through an appeal, not to the consumer’s logic or reason, but to emotion and attachment to symbols. The American cowboy is one of the most powerful symbols in the propaganda professional’s toolbox, and he gets trotted out to work his magic every election season.
Decades ago, I worked on several Marlboro commercials as a wrangler and background model. The producer, from Leo Burnett advertising company of Chicago, told me that the image of the Marlboro Man was worth several billion dollars a year to the tobacco company, because the cowboy symbol sold cigarettes to folks in countries like Libya and North Korea who hated America but loved cowboys.
Think about that for a moment. One simple image is powerful enough to sell a carcinogenic American product to millions of people who hate America but identify with cowboys. That is the psychological power of advertising symbols.
Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s nephew, is widely regarded as the godfather of modern advertising, public relations and propaganda. Bernays understood, in the early 20th century, how symbolic images and slogans could bypass critical thinking and implant a message directly into the subconscious reptilian part of the human brain, where instinct and emotion rule. When that part of our brain is stimulated, we act instead of think. We just say “ditto!”
That is precisely how political media manipulation works on us.
The political advertisements, resplendent with drugstore cowboy politicians, that bombard us every election are the direct lineal result of Bernays and the public relations/advertising/propaganda machine he created, and it has made vast fortunes and influenced our society for over a century.
The irony is that these mailers and videos never show politicians doing real cowboy stuff — like indulging in a three-fingered dip of Copenhagen, drinking Wild Turkey 101 straight from the bottle or getting bucked off into cactus and rattlesnakes. Images like that aren’t very mythological and won’t gather many votes.
But I digress. Every election season, we become lab rats in an ongoing experiment in politics and psychological manipulation, and the laboratory is our own brains. We are inundated with evocative pictures and slogans intended to short-circuit our intellects and engage our emotions. We are force-fed politicians who wrap themselves in appealing images and focus group-approved slogans that are intended to make us switch off our brains.
We confront Edward Bernays’ ditto-ism machine whenever we open our mailboxes or look at our screens. With every political advertisement, we are invited to suspend our intellects and just go along with the crowd.
A real cowboy would call bullshit on that nonsense.
So, it is critically important that we understand how and why political advertisers try so hard to make us act without thinking. Knowing the forces at work during a political campaign, and how they try to worm their message into our noggins, builds a healthy immune system that can resist manipulation by seductive but meaningless symbols.
A healthy skepticism toward political messaging is a necessary component in a functioning bullshit detector. Here endeth the lesson.
JACKSON, Wyo. – Jackson Hole Public Art (JHPA) is proud to announce the
public installation of 250 Portraits, a community art project featuring self-portraits created and submitted by Wyoming residents from across the state. Launched in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the project invited Wyomingites of all ages and backgrounds to submit portraits of themselves or other Wyoming residents, resulting in a vibrant and deeply personal collection of artwork.
Portraits were submitted by artists ranging in age from 5 to over 80, representing residents from 16 of Wyoming’s 23 counties. Participants included individuals, families, school groups, and educators who worked with their students to take part. The result is a wide-ranging snapshot of the people who call Wyoming home, from young children just beginning to express themselves through art to lifelong residents reflecting on decades of experience and identity.
The portraits are now on display in five large-scale grid installations located throughout downtown Jackson. They can be found at the Center for the Arts, JH Book Trader, the Antler Inn, the alley at Pinky G’s, and the Jackson Hole Elks Lodge. The exhibition will remain on view throughout the summer, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to take in the full collection at their own pace.
The exhibit, 250 Portraits, was designed to highlight both individual identity and collective belonging, weaving together faces from communities large and small into a single, statewide visual portrait of Wyoming’s people. By placing the work in accessible, high-traffic locations in downtown Jackson, JHPA hopes to spark conversation among residents and visitors about what it means to be part of a community that spans such a wide and varied landscape.
A self-guided walking map is available to help visitors navigate between the five sites and experience other public art projects throughout Jackson. For more information and to access the 2026 Public Art Map, visit https://www.jhpublicart.org/art/2026map.
Pair your portrait with an audio story! Please consider adding your voice to another state-wide project celebrating the stories of everyday Wyomingites: Re-Storying the West.
All over Wyoming, there are little free libraries in neighborhoods for those who are looking for a new book. The process is simple. Take a book and leave one for others to experience.
READ MORE: Wyoming’s Little Libraries
We also have neighborhood food pantries for families in a pinch who need a little help. Again, the process is easy. Take a meal, and when you’re able, leave one for another family in need.
READ MORE: A New Local Neighborhood Food Pantry System in Wyoming
Several of the North Platte River’s access points have loaner life jackets. Once again, it’s simple. If you need a life jacket, take one, then return it to another access point for others who need it.
READ MORE: Return The Loaner Life Jackets After You Use Them
These are fantastic programs across the state that show how much communities care about others. I found another program that I think would really fly here, and it’s already going strong in some places around the country, like Montana.
The process, just like these other programs, is simple but very effective. With Wyoming fisheries being so popular, these could help make it an even bigger global sensation.
Flybrary – Take a fly, leave a fly.
I saw this article on FlyLordsMag.com and thought it was fantastic.
Montana artist Brandi Massey is passionate about fly fishing, and she used her own experience of leaving her fly box at home when leaving for a fly fishing trip. After that experience, she remembered seeing a “Flybrary” on her social media timeline and decided to jump into action and do her own version of the “Flybrary” to ensure other fly fishing trips don’t get ruined because of not having any flies.
She had her dad build the box, got her permits, and put up her first “Flybrary” on the Blackfoot River, and has more in the works.
In the article, Brandi explained why she decided to do it.
I’ve been fly fishing since I could hold a fly pole in my hand. Always trying to catch more fish than my dad. I love the fly fishing community and this is a great way to stay connected to the community. I’m an artist and this is an amazing way to show a piece of myself to the world.
Have you ever seen a “Flybrary” out in the wild? LET ME KNOW HERE
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