Posted on 01/21/2015 11:49:17 AM PST by Doug Loss
Why the disconnect between conservative electoral wins these last thirty-five years, and how leftward American culture and law has slithered? How did it come to this?
Thought being the father of action, ineffective efforts spring from flawed worldviews. Our ballot box wins having proven at best delaying actions against the Left’s Borg-like assimilation of the United States, it is time for conservatives to take a hard look at how conservatism views itself and the Left.
Ultimately, much of the problem results from certain conceptual metaphors inherent in modern conservatism. Change those metaphors, and different, more effective actions will result.
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As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson discuss in their groundbreaking work on the subject, "Metaphors We Live By," we see markers of conceptual metaphors scattered throughout our language. Because our culture views argument as war, we seek to win/em> debates, attack our opponent’s position, claim their position is indefensible, and probe for weak points in the other side’s argument. With such a metaphor, it is not surprising that arguments are often very charged in our culture.
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[Conservatives view leftists as stupid or foolish.] A better conceptual metaphor would assume that leftist wins are transient. It would also give us a mindset on equal footing with the Left’s own weaponized conception of us.
Try this: Leftism is Trash.
As a verb, trash can mean to damage or destroy something. Dysfunctional government and divided society being leftism’s legacy, it is correct to say that the Left has trashed America. Trash as a noun is something that is broken or of little worth—something that should be discarded—and here it works especially well as a metaphor for leftism. Something so damaging as leftism, and what has resulted from it, naturally should be thrown out.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
The leftism is trash metaphor also allows the Right to more effectively combat what flows from the Left’s conservatives are evil mindset. It’s hard to take a bunch of naïve fools seriously as a threat. Vandals destroying your home, on the other hand? That’s something people will fight with all their hearts against, and it’s something that would result naturally from a leftism is trash conceptual metaphor.
Moreover, the trash metaphor would keep the Right focused on repairing and improving. This is in contrast to the Left’s metaphor which makes its acolytes focused simply on hurting us, ignoring the collateral damage their efforts have on society and themselves (as recently demonstrated by Harvard faculty who supported Obamacare, and are now suffering under it).
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Aside from thinking the metaphor too harsh, some readers may wonder if all this talk about conceptual metaphor is a bit too out-there. If you do, consider that George Lakoff (one of the researchers mentioned above) has written about the use of metaphor in politics, focusing on how the Left can use it to its advantage. If the other side cares about metaphor, we should as well.
Additionally, we know the power of metaphor in framing retail politics. A given welfare program is likely to get broad support if sold to the public as “an investment.” The same welfare program will not garner much support if we are using a less charitable but no doubt more accurate metaphor such as “pissing money down a hole.” How much more powerful the metaphors that control how and whether we fight?
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We have to believe that leftism is debris that can be removed, that it deserves to be removed, that the Left’s gains are only as permanent as litter that simply needs to be picked up, that the damage it has done can be repaired for something better to again stand in its place, and that far from uselessly shouting “stop” we can win. Only then will our actions change, only then will we fight with the intensity of men that have hope of victory.
A new conceptual metaphor is the means by which we can do this.
Please read the entire article. I’ve just hit the high points.
” Dysfunctional government and divided society being leftism’s legacy”
And over the past 20 years, a Republican legacy, as most conservatives have been purged from the GOP in D.C.
The trash metaphor is interesting. It’s what Reagan used so much more eloquently, when he said communism would go on the “ash heap of history.”
And I remember how the left went insane bonkers when he said it (partly because it was similar to a famous quote from Trotsky about the Menshivicks).
Somebody needs to start the meme rolling. Who would you propose? And how do you propose to gain traction when all communication outlets, including Fox News, do not exactly have our best interests at heart?
Exactly. The left tells us what hurts them by their response. The old saw, “If you’re taking flak, you’re over the target,” is exactly correct.
We’re starting the meme rolling right now, just by pointing it out. To further it, tell it to all your friends, and tell them to tell it to theirs, ad infinitum. And when responding to leftists in any forum, or by any means, be sure to make it clear that their ideas are trash and will be swept aside by all normal, rational, thinking people.
bkmk
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