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A number of people mentioned in another thread how the Left had ensured that certain words meant something totally different than they used to, so I thought I'd post this great piece.




1 posted on 08/29/2002 7:13:07 PM PDT by Tomalak
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To: Tomalak
See "And to the Republic for Which it Stands... "Here"
2 posted on 08/29/2002 7:31:33 PM PDT by BADJOE
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To: Tomalak; Diddle E. Squat; Sabertooth; section9; Poohbah; Congressman Billybob; JohnHuang2; ...
Great find, Tomalak.

This lends more weight to some thoughts I've been having. Check this out. I've thought that when we on the Right argue in favor of the Constitution, we're actually helping the Left today destroy it.

Play with that for a bit and see if you can find my logic in that.

And this is to the rest of you, as well. You're some of the sharper ones. Find my logic here.

3 posted on 08/29/2002 7:35:27 PM PDT by rdb3
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To: Tomalak
Well, I think this has a lot to do with the very nebulous nature of the word 'right-winger'.. I'd think if we don't like being called that, perhaps we ought to seek our a label that more accurate describes us. Constitutionalist, libertarian, Christian conservative, free-marketer... take yer pick. They're all better (IMO) labels than "right-winger" because they're all more descriptive.
5 posted on 08/29/2002 7:38:20 PM PDT by AM2000
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To: Tomalak
I like to discriminate and am quite prejudice towards certain things. I'm evil.
9 posted on 08/29/2002 7:56:22 PM PDT by Bogey78O
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To: Tomalak
Dennis Prager wrote a great column on this subject. Not on line, unfortunately.
10 posted on 08/29/2002 7:57:23 PM PDT by aculeus
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To: JanL
I thought you might like this article.
11 posted on 08/29/2002 8:11:48 PM PDT by Dakmar
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To: Tomalak
Excellent article.
12 posted on 08/29/2002 8:19:58 PM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: MrChips
Are you still around? I've lost the bookmark to the lexicon thread you started a year or so ago...
15 posted on 08/29/2002 8:42:19 PM PDT by Semaphore Heathcliffe
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To: Tomalak
Excellent, although I must say that I prefer Hannan's developed thoughts to Prager's sarcastic bullet points.

It all confirms what I've been saying for years or decades since first reading Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" in college or maybe earlier, which was assigned by a leftist prof (actually more than one of them!) and which you should find on the Web and read if you haven't.

Language is central to this battle, and, regretably, even here, there are some who will dismiss any suggestion that it is when you dare to point out the pernicious effect of such terms as "gay" or "choice". "Whatever", they'll say, thinking that people should listen to their entire argument against one or the other, and not knowing that people already stopped listening after hearing such positive, affirmative terms. What can you do?!

16 posted on 08/29/2002 9:02:58 PM PDT by Revolting cat!
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To: Tomalak
Good one
17 posted on 08/29/2002 9:06:08 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead
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To: Tomalak
Let's all be gay, progressive and make a choice, BUMP!
18 posted on 08/29/2002 9:37:55 PM PDT by Revolting cat!
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To: Tomalak
These examples are from British usage, but in the US we can add that a conservative's first name is always 'Arch', and he lives in a 'compound'.
19 posted on 08/29/2002 10:33:21 PM PDT by BlazingArizona
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To: Tomalak
*bump*
21 posted on 08/29/2002 10:37:21 PM PDT by BlessingInDisguise
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To: Tomalak
"The past two decades have seen a semantic shift which has made it almost impossible to express right-wing ideas without sounding faintly disreputable"

. . .'right-wing conspiracy' has done the most damage and with the least amount of effort. Hillary knows her stuff. . .

The Democrats changing their name to all things 'Democratic', irritates me daily.

. . .no question the Left have become their own wordsmiths; the power in the 'word' and it is unfortunate that the 'Right' has been far too slow to respond; and sadly that is typical.

Great post. . .hope it will be shared and passed on. . .

22 posted on 08/30/2002 1:35:40 AM PDT by cricket
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To: Tomalak
Yep, control the culture and you'll control the politics. Television and the educational system have made democracy nearly irrelevant.
23 posted on 08/30/2002 7:24:41 AM PDT by jordan8
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To: Tomalak; .30Carbine; All
Excellent article, Tomalak.

More on the subject of de-meaning the English language, my precious Thirty.

I believe one of the keys to defeating 'the left' is to thouroughly understand this aspect of their strategy (re this article) and undermine it. One way is to use their own redefined words to deflate specific issues/agendas they are promoting. If they wish to redefine violence, for example, then we should aggressively use the word violence to describe and define the basis, objectives and logical results of their agenda. Do so until they are unable to use the word violence to their advantage without looking ridiculous.

Another example would be how to handle the situation such as when gravitas became their backhanded bludgeon for George Bush in the 2,000 election by repeatedly pointing to Dick Cheney's 'gravitas' to insinuate that G. Bush didn't have it. Conservative pundits and columnists jumped on that (rightfully so) and pointed out how that arcane word suddenly became every Democrats favorite descriptor in about 48 hours time.

Alternatively, every conservative politician, columnist and pundit (without making notice of why the word suddenly became popular) could have used the word in every conceivable context to show why Algore couldn't buy gravitas with a truck load of gold bricks. Be the first to use it and use it with greater clarity.

25 posted on 09/06/2002 8:12:21 AM PDT by TigersEye
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