Democrats and the left have their own hot button phrases and dog whistles. Here are a few:
- Nukular = This is a recurring punch line among Democrats that means “Republicans are stupid.” Democrats are actually demonstrating their elitism since “nukular” is a regional pronunciation and is not specific to Republican presidents.
- Fox News = By attributing a right-wing thought to Fox News, Democrats are saying that Republicans don’t think for themselves. In fact, it’s a way of shutting down an argument without offering a legitimate rebuttal.
- Fairness = If the outcome leaves someone in worse shape than another, unfairness is at play whether or not anyone was actually treated unfairly. The outcome is the measure.
- Equal Opportunity = Even though the left points to outcomes to prove inequality (see Fairness above), they will go ballistic if you point out the differences between equal outcomes and equal opportunity.
- Social Conservative = The left believes social conservatives are simply racist homophobes under a friendly euphemism. Since “racist homophobe” is politically incorrect, the left thinks, the right is more comfortable calling themselves social conservatives.
- Illegal Immigrant = “Illegal” is an unfair judgment on anyone, and use of the phrase “illegal immigrant” is clear evidence of racism. Preferred Democratic alternatives include “undocumented worker” or “ gardener” or “Democrat voter.”
- Cut = Turning to economic issues, when a Republican wants to cut something, the left hears the word “ban.” Cuts to federal funding for abortion, birth control, or Planned Parenthood are effectively bans, even though abortions and birth control remain available and Planned Parenthood remains open.
- Reduce growth = To the left, reducing growth is a cut. To reduce the growth of a government program from 5% to 4%, they say, has cut the program. Even though the funding for the program will still rise by 4%, Democrats will claim that Republicans have cut funding.
"Nukular" is not regional, it's incorrect, and it's hilarious that you don't know this. It's a running gag on The Simpsons (Homer has been saying it since the 90s, "correcting" people with this pronunciation).
ReplyDeleteFox News exhibits sharp conservative bias, unlike any "liberal" media outlet that presents both sides as if they are somehow equal (when conservatives are usually clueless), so... what is the problem with pointing that out? The internet is full of thousands of examples of Fox News getting it blatantly wrong. This is an evidence based observation: people who watch Fox News have no clue what the fuck is actually going on in the US, and they're even more clueless as to what's happening in the world.
Your ideas on "equal opportunity" are borderline retarded. You should get tested, you might be eligible for in-home care.
I have no problem pointing out you Republicans elect racist homophobes (who are also misogynists, by the way). A "Social Conservative" is a racist, homophobic misogynist who has camped their bullshit in actual code words, like "States' Rights" or "frivolous lawsuits."
I don't get why liberals are up in arms over the term "illegal immigrant." I'm happy to point out that an illegal immigrant is breaking the law... in the same way that an escaped slave before the Civil War was a criminal. The problem isn't the name we give them, it's the archaic and racist immigration policies in the US that are the problem.
Again, with "cuts" you show your apparent retardation. People know what cuts are, and they don't like that their taxes are going to kill brown people in the Middle East and not to help fellow Americans. You're a moron for not seeing this.
I've never even heard of the term "reduce growth." I read about politics daily, and I would never have included such a vague and meaningless term on a list that doesn't even include common liberal staples like "the rich should pay their fair share" or "something, something, diversity, something."
I'm thoroughly unimpressed with these. Would you like me to do your job for you and do a post actually criticizing the cliches of the left?
I'll chalk up your entire comment as ad hominem and assume you are incapable of offering a serious rebuttal. Feel free to try again.
ReplyDeleteNukular:
ReplyDeleteNukular is a regional pronunciation of what? There is no such word. Is spasqetti also a OK, since it is the specific vernacular of a certain group? If Bush used that word, would he also be exempt from criticism? “Ain’t no,” “git something nice,” “I caynt do it,” et. Al. are all regional also. People are not making fun of Republicans for saying "Nukular." They indirectly make fun of Republicans for electing a president who does not know how to pronounce the word “nuclear” and other words, and it is not because the president was stupid, per se, but because he was uneducated and somewhat less intellectual than you would expect a president to be. I think you know all of this, but I am not sure you do, so I thought I would help out.
FOX NEWS:
As for attributing something to FOX News, it is more of an exclamation. If FOX says something that is patently absurd, you would expect intellects to avoid repeating eat, but they don't (See Dave Dubya's post on Fox's Mission, which is not journalism for further details).
Fairness:
There are two or more people to whom fairness can apply in any transaction. Democrats look at both parties. Republicans tend to look primarily at one side of the issue and ignore the other. There is a discrepancy in the basic understanding of each other’s concept of fairness. For further data, see Grandpa's Coins at Mysterious Things.
Equal Opportunity:
Equal Opportunity is not merely a theoretical concept. Donald Trump and I have an equal opportunity to buy an Island. However, Donald Trump can buy one and I cannot. No effort on my part will ever change this. You also will never be able to buy an island. An opportunity is not equal if it is impossible for one person and available with a mere decision for another. My grandmother and I have equal opportunities to carry a 100 pound piece of furniture across the room, but Granny do it. Liberals and Conservatives simply have different definitions of the term "equal." The conservative definition is mathematically false.
Social Conservative:
The left unfairly characterizes the right, and I think mostly because they partially don't understand the position of the right and partially because they are appalled by what they do understand.
Illegal Immigrant:
Fortunately, both sides use this term and both sides have tried to curtail illegal immigration.
Cut:
Many republicans do want to ban abortion, not cut it. Some want to ban birth control, not cut it. The GOP has trained liberals to hear what they mean. If they don’t like the training, they should retrain.
Reduce growth:
To the left, reducing growth is a cut.
Both sides do this. When Obama suggesting reducing funding to certain aspects of Medicare (and to fund other Healthcare related things), the GOP called it a cut, not a reduction.
Nukular: It's a regional pronunciation of "nuclear." It is not a sign of one's intelligence, but Democrats like to throw out the word as an example of Bush's stupidity. I don't recall anyone claiming Jimmy Carter was stupid for using the same pronunciation. Personally, I don't like the pronunciation, but I recognize that smart people across the country have all kinds of different pronunciations than me, so I don't assume they are stupid. Your friend Dave Dubya routinely uses this term as short-hand for Republican stupidity.
ReplyDeleteFox News: You used this technique just the other to avoid offering a rebuttal to T.Paine. Instead of a rebuttal, you said he needed to stop watching Fox News. You may not like Fox News, but shouting Fox News is not the same as offering a counter-argument. It's as bad as "tea party talking points" and "racist."
ReplyDeleteCuts: Yes, some Republicans want to ban abortion. But cutting funding for abortion programs is not banning abortion. Democrats know this, but are dishonest about the debate.
ReplyDeleteYou used this technique just the other to avoid offering a rebuttal to T.Paine.
ReplyDeleteAbsurd analysis. I used it to antagonize T. Paine, but I initiated the rebuttal. There were was no dispute until I initiated dialog. Therefore, is asinine to say I used it to "avoid rebuttal to T. Paine," which would have been achieved by not starting a dialog. Can anyone say "Confirmation bias?"
I do feel that someone should never quote a tabloid to document a claim about another other than that the tabloid made the claim: and this includes Fox News.
Try to muddy the waters all you want. You quoted a remark and your only response was "Stop watching Fox News." That's no kind of rebuttal, and you know this.
ReplyDeleteTry to muddy the waters all you want.
ReplyDeleteYou once told me that your main knowledge was marketing, which in no way rebuts T. Paine's argument. This is no kind of rebuttal and you know it.
If you are confident in your opinion, you will not need to wrap it in a straw man.
Well done. Well done.
ReplyDeleteNukular - Using an incorrect pronunciation of a word to attack someone is an idiotic approach by anyone. That being said, usually when I hear this people are specifically making fun of George W. Bush's education, not Republicans' education in general. Maybe you hear it in different circumstances.
ReplyDeleteFox News - Fox News is incredibly biased. It really is. While it's a good place to find breaking news, both the opinion shows AND the news shows themselves are very right-wing, and this is blatantly obvious to anyone who pays attention. MSNBC has a lot of bias as well in its reporting, but I sometimes feel that Fox directly misleads viewers to promote their point of view. That's coming from an independent. Democrats use Fox's bias as an ad hominem attack quite often, which is obviously a poor rebuttal, but I've also seen them use it when a person clearly has gotten false or misleading information from Fox News (especially about Obamacare), and that's a legitimate argument.
Fairness - I'm not really sure which side of the argument you come down on here. I can't tell if you're writing from a "this is what Democrats thing" perspective or not. It sounds like you saying that the ends are always more relevant than the means, which I disagree with totally.
Equal Opportunity - I agree with you here. Democrats tend to believe that a person should be elevated to the same level as everyone else, when people are inherently unequal. However, the trick is trying to give people equal opportunities. A hard-working, intelligent person born in the ghetto is much less likely to become an astronaut than that same person born in a wealthy suburb, due to the difference in opportunity.
Social Conservative - I don't think that the left believes social conservatives are inherently prejudiced; I just think they don't understand how someone can be socially conservative without prejudice. I had a friend ask me the other day how someone could possibly oppose gay marriage unless they were religious or homophobic, because he honestly could not think of a legitimate reason other than those two.
Illegal Immigrants - I laughed when I read "Democrate voter." Democrats don't like to use "illegal immigrant," because it weakens their argument by showing the flaws of the people they're defending. It's just like how they refer to convicted felons as "prisoners" when arguing about prison conditions, and how Republicans almost always call the rich/wealthy "job-creators."
Cut - I think this is an example of (probably) unsupported slippery-slope fears, like "If we let them cut our birth control budget today, what are they going to do to it tomorrow? Also, if someone wants to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, because we can't afford it, they're being frugal, but if they CHOOSE to cut funding for Planned Parenthood over another possible organization, it's possible and likely that it's because they disagree with the organization's goals. Let's face it - Republicans cutting funding to Planned Parenthood are probably doing so to hurt Planned Parenthood as well as save money. Republicans do this too in a slightly different way; I can't tell you how many times I've heard something like "Democrats don't support our troops" or "Democrats are letting our country be open to attack" when Democrats suggest cuts to the defense budget.
Reduce growth - I've never seen or heard this particular phrase, but it can be true in some circumstances. If a program was scheduled to have 5% more funding and someone reduces that to 4%, that is a cut in the projected funding, just not in the actual funding. Just like how if you always get a 2% raise yearly to combat inflation, not giving that raise is semantically the same as decreasing your pay.
As always, a thought-provoking post!
When I typed that in Notepad, it had better spacing for readability that somehow got lost in the copy/paste process. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteYou missed the trump card: Racism
ReplyDeleteThe word has been almost totally denuded of the strong and useful meaning it once had. It's the new Godwin's law, except it applies outside the internet. The longer or more often something is discussed the likelihood of someone charging racism approaches 1.
(right now it's usually liberals, but I reserve the right in the future to include others if it gets common with others)