If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.-- George Orwell
Common wisdom says the political left is where you will find all the college professors and the majority of authors, journalists and pundits – the people who make their living with words. So then why is it that for decades now, the right has creamed the left in the creative manipulation of language, while the left stands by with their collective thumbs in their mouths?
Here are just a few examples: death tax, right-to-life, Patriot Act, no-child-left-behind, death panels – I’m sure you have your own favorites. Mostly these are strong, evocative phrases that allow the right to simplify and own the conversation about an important, complex topic. I can’t think of an example where the left has done the same. They prefer language like “women’s reproductive rights,” which may be an accurate label, but which has the emotional punch of a phrase from an IRS publication.
Perhaps the most successful right-wing co-opting of language is what was done to the word “liberal.” Most politicians today would rather be thought of as a baby seal killer than as a liberal. (After all, who would want to be seen as “1. favoring political reform and progressive government. 2. tolerant 3. generous”?) And to paraphrase another great Republican use of words, here they go again.
“Progressive” is the new liberal. Glenn Beck and the Tea Baggers are hitting this one hard. In their view Progressives are behind all the evil in the world today, and Beck in particular never misses a chance to say so. But I don’t think they’ve reached the tipping point on this yet, and Teddy Roosevelt remains an enduring and popular representative of the progressive movement.
It’s not too late to fight back. If they aren’t for progress doesn’t that make them “regressives,” or people who want “to return to a previous, inferior state?” Who is going to represent them -- King Ludd?
Let’s put a label on them for a change: Republican = Regressive. Right = Regressive.
Pass this post, or at least these thoughts, on to others who may wish to see the concept of human progress continue to be an aspiration in American political life.
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