Posted on 03/28/2021 5:08:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
There’s an old saying in a debate that those who define the terms usually win the argument. That truism has been playing out on the political stage now for at least half a century, as the Right consistently concedes the language to the Left. If it seems like we’re always losing the argument, perhaps that’s because we’re always playing on their home field.
Of course, it’s true that language evolves naturally over time. Think of the word “hood,” which once referred only to a head covering. Now it’s also applied to the front of a car—the part that covers the engine. That’s a natural and logical evolution.
It’s when such shifts in meaning don’t occur naturally and aren’t logical that problems arise—when words are manipulated intentionally to make them mean things they didn’t mean before or aren’t supposed to mean. And this manipulation of language, otherwise known as propaganda, is something the Left is quite good at. In fact, rhetorically speaking, it might be the only thing they’re really good at—their entire game plan—since their arguments are rarely based on logic or fact.
Indeed, most of their arguments, like those for abortion, gun control, and “systemic racism,” are demonstrably illogical and contrafactual. But if they can get us to agree to their terms upfront, which we often do without even realizing it, then they can probably win the argument, anyway. Heck, at this point, it sometimes seems like they’ve already won the argument and all that remains for our side is rear-guard action and damage control. (But that isn’t necessarily the case).
A classic example of what I’m talking about is the word “capitalism” as used to describe our economic system. We conservatives are fond of calling ourselves capitalists or saying that we support capitalism. But in doing so, are we even aware that we’re accepting the Left’s premise—using their word? It was actually Karl Marx’s term for our system, one that he did not coin but did use extensively in Das Kapital (see?). And he certainly did not mean it in a good way.
Adopting the term as our own allows the Left to brand us as “greedy capitalists.” They can then invent pithy if nonsensical bromides like, “Capitalism is only for people who have capital.” Of course, every one of us has capital of some sort, if only our own hard work, that we can trade for goods and services in a free market economy. But since most people associate “capital” with money, it makes for a good slogan. The implied message is that capitalism is just for people with money. Everybody else can go to hell.
That’s why the other term I just used is superior: “free markets.” Free markets are something everybody can get behind because the operative word is “free.” Marxists might be able to argue that capitalism is for capitalists—it really isn’t, but that sounds convincing—but free markets are for everyone. That’s why, instead of talking about capitalism and playing right into the Left’s hands, conservatives should constantly drive home the benefits of a free-market economy.
Another example involves the labels leftists apply to themselves: “liberals” and “progressives.” I can’t imagine anything more illiberal and regressive than modern-day leftism, which seeks to deprive us of as many civil liberties as possible—including those guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, like freedom of religion and speech—and re-create a system led by the elites in which the rest of us are, in Friedrich von Hayek’s memorable phrase, “on the road [back] to serfdom.”
That’s why I always cringe when I hear conservative commentators refer to today’s leftist radicals as “liberals.” They’re certainly not classical liberals—i.e., libertarians—nor are they even old-fashioned, Jimmy Carter, Sunday-school-type liberals. It is vitally important, and becoming more so each day, to call them what they really are: Marxists, Stalinists, and Maoists. Besides accurately describing their policy preferences, such terms offer the rhetorical advantage of associating those policy preferences with some of history’s worst people, and deservedly so.
Lately, the Left has become so audacious in their manipulation of language that they’ve begun calling things the exact opposite of what they really are. Take “anti-fascism,” for example, as represented by the group Antifa, whose tactics closely resemble those of Hitler’s Brownshirts. And “anti-racism,” which is itself nothing more than a form of blatant racism.
Speaking of which, there’s another great example of language manipulation. The word “racism” literally means discrimination on the basis of race. But for the Left, only one race, whites, can be guilty of racism, because they define the word purely in terms of power. And in their Marxist worldview, in which everyone is either a victim or an oppressor, only white people can have power.
That, of course, is ridiculous on its face. In today’s America, many black people hold positions of power, from local school boards all the way up to the White House. But beyond that, the bastardization of the term allows the Marxists to claim victimhood for people who are not victims and condemn as oppressors those who have never oppressed anyone.
Indeed, given such a narrow definition of “racism,” it’s not much of a leap to assert that ALL white people are racist—because, remember, only they have power in the Left’s warped universe. And of course, that is exactly what the Left is asserting today. It is the basis for “Critical Race Theory,” that vile, hateful, racist (in the true sense of the word), viral ideology now infecting our schools and other institutions.
But it all begins when we as conservatives accept the Left’s lexicon. That’s why the front line of the current culture war must be at the level of language. We cannot simply argue policy; we must also contest vocabulary and refuse to let the Marxists set the terms of the debate. Otherwise, we’ve already lost it.
I disagree with the author's premise.
We do not necessarily accept the Left's lexicon. The lexicon is pushed on us by the Media, the education establishment, and the Tech Oligarchs.
They use the lexicon and insist everyone else accept it.
As they control most of the public uses of words, they force those changes on the public.
This is an important article...everyone should know about words and the meanings that are used today..
language has deteriorated among us..I was in a short disagreement on here about the f word... used as a swear word. I detest that word and took issue with the frequent casual use. how did it become a swear word? who started it and why. why that word over other words...
I have 2 grandsons who like to play those games with other players on line. the youngest is forbidden to be playing with kids who use bad words. it frustrates him that they lace their sentences with swearing...he tells them to stop and they don’t stop. its rude and unnecessary.
we’ve lost the use of some ordinary words... and it seems easy to hear words and use them in like manner.
like everything else ... manners have gone south.
Bookmark
One of my pet peeves about contemporary society. Even in conservative publications and Internet postings, I am seeing conservatives adopt the Left's terminology. For example, "gender," a term that not long ago was confined to linguistics, seems to have largely replaced "sex" in conservative writings. Once you accept "gender," you are open to the notion that there are multiple "genders" while there are only two sexes.
And I've noticed that when writing dates, "BCE and "CE," once found exclusively in Communist and atheist publications, are replacing "BC" and "AD" even in conservative writings. When someone uses "BCE" or "CE" on a FR thread, I always correct it using the HTML strikethrough tag.
The word capitalism is not derogatory. Accumulation of capital is a requirement for increasing total productive ability, which is necessary for economic progress, which is necessary for higher standard of living of the country as a whole.
We accept it.
Often we swallow it whole.
The one time conservatives did not we held onto the tern PRO-LIFE instead of accepting their term ANTI-ABORTION.
And it took a lot of work.
Capitalism and free markets occur naturally when the government just gets the hell out of the way. It’s called freedom.
Conclusion: Black Lives do not matter.
Black Lives Matter is semantic word play to gain a political advantage. The word play is inherently racist
All, and more, are capital - that help you in your productivity:
math
reading
writing
tools and equipment for farming, gardening, kitchen, repair and shop work, transport
tools and equipment for health maintenance, including sanitation
All of that, now effectively defined by The Progressive Party, to be CANCELED and/or punished, because progressives claim that capital causes “global warming” and “racism.”
Great article. A few of mine “States Rights” God doesn’t bestow states with rights. Wages are subject to the income tax. not in any pre 1952 dictionary. Right to vote. sorry rights are God given. This one is bestowed by various governing systems.
Two examples that I notice often are “mainstream media” which is not “mainstream” but hard left.The “Corrupt Liberal Media” is a more accurate description.
And then there is “progressive” which was used for years by soviet communists to describe communist police states as “progressive”. It fell out of favor with western “liberals” after WWII after the Quisling Progressive Party of Henry Wallace lost badly in national elections and the term was replaced by “liberal”
The “F” word has always been a swear word. Can’t believe anyone would argue otherwise.
“Those who control language control minds.” Ayn Rand.
L
My assertion is that people who use a lot of f-bombs have little imagination and/or a very limited vocabulary.
If you want to swear, do it like Captain Haddock from the Tintin stories. He uses colorful, but inoffensive words.
Ayn got that one right.
She sure did.
L
We shouldn’t allow the Critical Race Theorists to command the conversation with their ideological terms.
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