The Teacher
6th October 2011, 17:25
I think we can all agree that the way we use language has a vast impact on social discourse.
Take the US for example, we used to have a "working class" and "wage earners." Now we have the poor, something that no one would admit to being part of. The term poor automatically conjures up a manufactured notion of a drug addled welfare mom, not the people who work two minimum wage jobs just to get by. Every worker who can claim middle class status does so, no matter how ridiculous the stretch. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say "Middle class people like us..." and I'm quick to point out that I have never been middle class and don't know any middle class people. I only have marginal chances of becoming so. Hearing a cleaning lady refer to herself as middle class only shows how far the people at the top have gone in their reshaping of political language.
That being said, the important thing to remember is what people hear, not what you meant. If you are trying to spread a message or educate people, you have to use language that isn't compromised.
My entire elementary school education consisted of "Communism is bad. We are better than the Russians" I think a great many people have had the same experience. That kind of indoctrination can't be fought head on.
The same with anarchy. No matter how many times I explain it, people refuse to accept that anarchists are not arguing for a world of chaos and violence. I've met people with anarchist views who refuse to call themselves that because they equate anarchy with chaos and mob violence.
What I'm getting at, in a long winded way, is that the Left must define itself in a way that is understandable to people and doesn't get tangled up in the multiple strawmen that have been constructed to discredit the idealogy.
We need a new vocabulary, a new "marketing scheme" if you will. Educating people about leftist thought will be nearly impossible without it. This is a new century, we need an updated set of symbols, slogans, and most of all new ways of explaining what we believe. We should make it harder for the capitalists to deride us, not easier.
Any thoughts on this? Agree, disagree? Suggestions?
How would you explain the left to someone who was, like most people, completely ignorant of politics.
Take the US for example, we used to have a "working class" and "wage earners." Now we have the poor, something that no one would admit to being part of. The term poor automatically conjures up a manufactured notion of a drug addled welfare mom, not the people who work two minimum wage jobs just to get by. Every worker who can claim middle class status does so, no matter how ridiculous the stretch. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say "Middle class people like us..." and I'm quick to point out that I have never been middle class and don't know any middle class people. I only have marginal chances of becoming so. Hearing a cleaning lady refer to herself as middle class only shows how far the people at the top have gone in their reshaping of political language.
That being said, the important thing to remember is what people hear, not what you meant. If you are trying to spread a message or educate people, you have to use language that isn't compromised.
My entire elementary school education consisted of "Communism is bad. We are better than the Russians" I think a great many people have had the same experience. That kind of indoctrination can't be fought head on.
The same with anarchy. No matter how many times I explain it, people refuse to accept that anarchists are not arguing for a world of chaos and violence. I've met people with anarchist views who refuse to call themselves that because they equate anarchy with chaos and mob violence.
What I'm getting at, in a long winded way, is that the Left must define itself in a way that is understandable to people and doesn't get tangled up in the multiple strawmen that have been constructed to discredit the idealogy.
We need a new vocabulary, a new "marketing scheme" if you will. Educating people about leftist thought will be nearly impossible without it. This is a new century, we need an updated set of symbols, slogans, and most of all new ways of explaining what we believe. We should make it harder for the capitalists to deride us, not easier.
Any thoughts on this? Agree, disagree? Suggestions?
How would you explain the left to someone who was, like most people, completely ignorant of politics.