Symantics
Reading this article this morning, I was reflecting on the fact that Mike Huckabee was doing pretty well out there, running almost entirely on the fact that he's Christian and "pro-life." Now, I don't think Huckabee has a snowball's chance in hell of turning into his party's candidate, but the fact that he can prop an entire campaign up on this one point gives me pause because of its semantic power.
If Republicans and other social conservatives can label themselves as "pro-life," then the binary thinking that infects the American consciousness would logically point that those who oppose this viewpoint are anti-life, rather than the 'pro-choice' stance used by supporters of women's right to abortion. Very clever, that. But these are the same people who are anti-gun control, anti-government assistance for the poor, and pro-capital punishment - all very big tools of death and distruction of life. Someone who is pro-life would logically support life in all its forms - that means feeding the starving, restricting easy access to deadly weapons, and rehabilitating rather than killing those who commit capital crimes.
I think it would be much more accurate to paint "pro-lifers" as "anti-abortionists," because that's what they actually are. Such a simple symantic shift greatly undermines the power of the sentiment - suddenly, guys like Huckabee are just dudes who are making a stand on a single law, not championing the sanctity of life itself. By the same token, changing "pro-choice" to "pro-abortion" would be inaccurate, because most pro-choicers believe women have a right to choose, not that fetuses should be disposed of pell-mell.
I think the dynamics of American politics would change greatly if we were more accurage and honest in our language. Guys who run on the platform of anti-abortion, pro-execution, pro-evangelical Christian values would be much more forthcoming about their agendas and have a much harder time winning than if they said they were pro-life, and supported capital punishment and family values. If you want to win this next election, you have to start calling people on their abuse of symantics and take back the war of words for your side.
Reading this article this morning, I was reflecting on the fact that Mike Huckabee was doing pretty well out there, running almost entirely on the fact that he's Christian and "pro-life." Now, I don't think Huckabee has a snowball's chance in hell of turning into his party's candidate, but the fact that he can prop an entire campaign up on this one point gives me pause because of its semantic power.
If Republicans and other social conservatives can label themselves as "pro-life," then the binary thinking that infects the American consciousness would logically point that those who oppose this viewpoint are anti-life, rather than the 'pro-choice' stance used by supporters of women's right to abortion. Very clever, that. But these are the same people who are anti-gun control, anti-government assistance for the poor, and pro-capital punishment - all very big tools of death and distruction of life. Someone who is pro-life would logically support life in all its forms - that means feeding the starving, restricting easy access to deadly weapons, and rehabilitating rather than killing those who commit capital crimes.
I think it would be much more accurate to paint "pro-lifers" as "anti-abortionists," because that's what they actually are. Such a simple symantic shift greatly undermines the power of the sentiment - suddenly, guys like Huckabee are just dudes who are making a stand on a single law, not championing the sanctity of life itself. By the same token, changing "pro-choice" to "pro-abortion" would be inaccurate, because most pro-choicers believe women have a right to choose, not that fetuses should be disposed of pell-mell.
I think the dynamics of American politics would change greatly if we were more accurage and honest in our language. Guys who run on the platform of anti-abortion, pro-execution, pro-evangelical Christian values would be much more forthcoming about their agendas and have a much harder time winning than if they said they were pro-life, and supported capital punishment and family values. If you want to win this next election, you have to start calling people on their abuse of symantics and take back the war of words for your side.
1 Comments:
I've been saying it for years, man. We have to stop letting the conservatives control the dialogue in this country.
Also, we should refer to them as Republican'ts. It's funny and true!
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