"The right-wing in America has mastered a particular skill over decades—taking progressive concepts, redefining them into something unrecognizable, and turning them into villains in their narrative of American decline.
Think about it: the word "progressive" itself has been transformed from its literal meaning of supporting progress to some kind of insult. The irony is palpable."
How about such words as "liberal," which originally implied "open to change"? Or better still, "anti-Semitism," which has nothing to do with the policies of a Right-wing government? The bottom line is that the Trumpistas and their allies are extremely adept at perverting the meaning of words...
And it's not just Trump and his gang, Lenny. Both parties are calling pro-Palestinian people anti-semitic. It's getting hard to effectively communicate the way the language is being garbled.
Thank you for an important essay the underscores the power of language and the Right's skill at perverting various terms. The Democrats have failed to grasp this concept, and until they begin to articulate their message effectively, they will continue to lose elections (assuming we still have any). I could site a number of examples, but yours will suffice: "[e]quity [as opposed to equality] means ensuring everyone has what they need to succeed despite different starting points and historical disadvantages."
Sadly, most voters do not comprehend this point, because no one has been able to present it in a way they can understand. People find it so much easier to follow the Fox News mantras -- i.e., that "Mexicans are taking your jobs," "Blacks on welfare are driving brand new Cadillacs," "Haitians are eating your pets," et al.
Similar messaging happened with "Defund the Police."
Then again, the great United States that hates communism only exists because it borrows so much money from the world's largest communist nation, where Trump's American Bible is printed: China.
You give an excellent example. I have met (and attempted to reason with) people who screamed, "You see? You want to de-fund the police, but if you cut out funding, the cops won't be there anymore, and all hell will break loose on the streets and highways!"
Wikipedia has an interesting but imprecise explanation: << In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan advocating for reallocating funds from police departments to non-policing forms of public safety and community support initiatives, such as social services, youth programs, housing, education, healthcare, and other community resources. >> Nowhere does this indicate that ALL funds be cut, but the term itself ("defund") clearly implies "to withdraw financial support from, especially as an instrument of legislative control."
Ironically, Trump is defunding SO many organizations these days...
Thanks for this important piece of writing.
"The right-wing in America has mastered a particular skill over decades—taking progressive concepts, redefining them into something unrecognizable, and turning them into villains in their narrative of American decline.
Think about it: the word "progressive" itself has been transformed from its literal meaning of supporting progress to some kind of insult. The irony is palpable."
How about such words as "liberal," which originally implied "open to change"? Or better still, "anti-Semitism," which has nothing to do with the policies of a Right-wing government? The bottom line is that the Trumpistas and their allies are extremely adept at perverting the meaning of words...
And it's not just Trump and his gang, Lenny. Both parties are calling pro-Palestinian people anti-semitic. It's getting hard to effectively communicate the way the language is being garbled.
Thank you for an important essay the underscores the power of language and the Right's skill at perverting various terms. The Democrats have failed to grasp this concept, and until they begin to articulate their message effectively, they will continue to lose elections (assuming we still have any). I could site a number of examples, but yours will suffice: "[e]quity [as opposed to equality] means ensuring everyone has what they need to succeed despite different starting points and historical disadvantages."
Sadly, most voters do not comprehend this point, because no one has been able to present it in a way they can understand. People find it so much easier to follow the Fox News mantras -- i.e., that "Mexicans are taking your jobs," "Blacks on welfare are driving brand new Cadillacs," "Haitians are eating your pets," et al.
Similar messaging happened with "Defund the Police."
Then again, the great United States that hates communism only exists because it borrows so much money from the world's largest communist nation, where Trump's American Bible is printed: China.
You give an excellent example. I have met (and attempted to reason with) people who screamed, "You see? You want to de-fund the police, but if you cut out funding, the cops won't be there anymore, and all hell will break loose on the streets and highways!"
Wikipedia has an interesting but imprecise explanation: << In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan advocating for reallocating funds from police departments to non-policing forms of public safety and community support initiatives, such as social services, youth programs, housing, education, healthcare, and other community resources. >> Nowhere does this indicate that ALL funds be cut, but the term itself ("defund") clearly implies "to withdraw financial support from, especially as an instrument of legislative control."
Ironically, Trump is defunding SO many organizations these days...
You just gave me an idea... Kash Patel and others are "defunding the police" in a way...