Support for conservatism may be growing among Canadian voters, but the left has one considerable reserve strength that’s going to help them for a long time: language. Through what amounts to propaganda the left has been successful at co-opting formerly non-political words, with the result that now many common, undeniably positive sounding words are in effect free-ranging promo-pieces for the left’s worldview. “Fairness”, “empathy”, “peace”, “equality”, and “the earth” have become political word-weapons, and even the word “conservative” has come to imply an agenda that includes opposition to “empathy” and “fairness” and “justice.”
The same use of language that has allowed media outlets like the CBC and the BBC to posit, without coming out and saying it, that big-state bureaucracy is a synonym for peace and justice and fairness, has also helped enable academic institutions to promote entirely political agendas — who on earth would be opposed to “social justice?” British blogger David Thompson has been amply detailing, in a number of his posts in the last several years, the extent of blatant ideological bias in academia, particularly in Britain and the U.S., and he notes the common use of “fuzzwords” meant to disguise the promotion of an activist agenda. Reading his articles, it becomes disturbingly clear how common it is for universities to demand that students, often those studying to become teachers, toe the line of an ideological agenda as a precondition to further study. The implications go far beyond academia:
I’ve been told I make too much of these academic issues, as if such things are unimportant or indicative of nothing in particular. But given the number of incidents of this kind gradually swelling the archives, I’m inclined to wonder exactly how egregious and pervasive this phenomenon has to be before concern becomes legitimate. After all, if you want to propagate tendentious ideology and make it seem normative, respectable and self-evidently true, insinuating that ideology into schools and universities would be a pretty good way to do it. “Debate” can then be had on what is most likely an unequal footing, thus arriving at the approved conclusions with a minimum of informed and realistic opposition. If faculty and students are obliged to regurgitate that ideology and perhaps internalise it, while mouthing fuzzwords like “social justice,” all the better. Is it enough to bemoan certain socio-political trends or bias in areas of the media if one doesn’t also address the place where many of these things originate? And are we supposed to believe that the ideologues who push for such measures are going to get tired and desist of their own volition, and then politely roll back the idiocy they’ve been so keen to put in place?
Read the whole thing, including the links, and, if you’re inclined, check out his highly entertaining archives.
Brainteaser for SDA commenters: When one hears positive-sounding words like “social justice” or “peace” or “equality” in any political context one implicitly hears “the left.” Are there any words primarily associated, in common usage and across the political spectrum, to the conservative/right, that are universally viewed as positive, or good? Hint: don’t hurt yourself in the attempt.
I for one would like to see “gay” taken back, among others. ‘Gay” equals happy…a meadow full of flowers on a warm spring day sort of feeling, it doesn’t equal having unnatural sex with a leather-clad stranger in a public washroom.
Support for conservatism may be growing among Canadian voters
Didn’t they lose 170,000 votes in this election?
Sure:
Hitler, nazi, fascist, extreme, fundamentalist, egocentric, hypocrite, demonic ..
And that’s just my wife’s description of my views.
“Strength”
Can’t use “military” because, as we all know, we only admire military strength when its used to protect our sorry, flabby asses.
McClelland, you’ve been reading too many stories about fraudulent ACORN votes in the US.
No, I was reading the election numbers. So how does less votes equal growing support for conservatism?
But I AM opposed to “fairness”, find “empathy” highly overrated, and would be delighted to support “justice” had I ever once seen evidence of its existence either in the wild or in captivity.
The much bigger problem is the huge number of shallow careerist “conservative” hacks who feel obliged to publicly embrace such weasel words and concepts as “peace”, “equality” “tolerance” and “multiculturalism”, or pretend to.
Orwell accurately describes the principles and goals of Newspeak. He was wrong, however, in one matter: our Newspeak makes essential use of words, usually polysyllabic, built of Latin or Greek roots, which to some have an educated sound. The rhythmes of our Newspeak also tend to lull the sensibilities, whereas Orwell’s Newspeak is usually rough and jolting. Good for his satire, of course.
Due diligence. That would be scary to the left.
Okay, I’ll bite.
How about ‘freedom’, ‘integrity’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘achievement.’
I have just been looking through Wikipedia’s articles relating to Newspeak. They are very good – true crimethink that no doubt will be rectified by Ingsoc or the junior Senator from Illinois.
I agree that words and phrases like, social justice, peace and equality have been taken up by what you term the left, but I don’t agree that they are universally viewed as positive when associated with that same group.
Social justice I associate with progressive taxation, wealth and property redistribution and an authoritarian state.
Peace – is that peace at any cost? Nothing is worth fighting for?
Equality – equality of outcome – see social justice.
If what you call the conservative/right used these words and phrases, what would they mean to you?
Show me the money….or a link.
At one time, the word ‘presently’ meant ‘immediately’, as in ‘That official from the government will presently see to your needs’.
If you leave words like ‘fairness’, ‘justice’ and ’empathy’ to the Left for a decade or so, there will be no positive connotations remaining to them. Fairness will come to mean talent and drive sacrificed to mediocrity and sloth, justice will mean being told one’s place in the pecking order of victimhood and empathy will be the expectation that your only allowed response to taking it dry is to ask for more.
I’m doing my part.
Calling someone a liberal is an insult where I work, as in ‘Next thing you know you’ll be stealing candy from babies and voting liberal’.
I always cringe at the terms ” raising awareness” and “zero tolerance”. Whenever I hear those phrases, my heart turns cold because I just know I’m going to be subjected to some kind of leftie “bul#s#it.
Of course! Is it more reasonable to believe that there is a vast “left-wing” conspiracy perpetuated by the CBC, the BBC, and all (public? secular?) educational institutions in order to make the “footing unequal” for the political right…
Or that you are simply wrong?
Could it be that the more educated a person, generally speaking, the less conservative (not because of brainwashing, but because conservatism and ignorance share some commonality)? Even Karl Rove said “as people do better, they start voting like Republicans – unless they have too much education and vote Democratic.”
Well I would describe the good qualities of the more conservative people I know as:
Realistic/pragmatic/rational, personally generous, polite (way less foul mouthed), hard-working, self-sufficient, entrepreneurial/enterprising, politically aware and participatory, tolerant/less demanding of others to share their views, droll (’cause I like a dry sense of humour) and usually intelligent (either IQ or EQ).
Election over election, the Conservatives were down 3.1%, the Liberals were down 18.9%, the NDP were down 2.8%, the Bloc was down 11% and only the Greens were up by 41%. Since the overall total vote was down 6%, the only traditional party that suffered badly was the Liberals. The only party on the positive side was the Green Party. Whether that will continue, given the connection between May and Dion, is debatable.
“unless they have too much education and vote Democratic”……I fear Mr Rove has made the mistake of equating time spent enrolled in school with ‘education’.
Interesting……
One word.
Honour.
Positive, ALWAYS a conservative being described.
Note the spellchecker wanted the US spelling….
Re: Carl Rove- I’d guess he’s another Pink Floyd fan.
Here’s an Orwellianism for ya: Orwell was a socialist!
Good thesis EBD, and the answer is, no there are no good words left.
Somebody mentioned “freedom”. Two of FDR’s freedoms were “freedom from fear” and “freedom from want”.
So for 7 decades freedom means “from” bad stuff, not “to” do good stuff on your own with minimal interference.
Conservatism is a grown-up ideology based on the idea of self-reliance. You can’t make self-reliance nice. It’s cold, it’s “you’re on your own, bud”. An impossible sale, politically.
BUT, the world is steadily and unrelentingly infantalzing. Gawd, listen to the way 25 year old women talk: like 10 year olds. If you’ll cut me some slack on the eve of this long-awaited weekend permit me this observation: in their presence I never know whether to feel horny or ashamed.
Finaly, a frightening question: Is Obama liberalism’s Reagan? If so, prepare to be out in the cold for a couple decades at least.
Me? I just started a 3rd reading of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, and no, I’m not gonna summarize it.
I’ll bite also….Integrity, tradition, respect, perspective, EMPATHY……
This one obviously needs some clarification…the left have equated sympathy with empathy…big difference. Those who sympathize assume a superior basic human position over those they feel FOR….In essence sympathizers feel FOR others.
Those who empathize attempt to wear the moccasins of others…if just for a moment..a basic human understanding of what they might feel and their emotional state. Those who empathize recognize that feelings are facts for those experiencing them. They also realize that as sentient beings we all feel, think and act. If I as an empathetic human can assist another human I must attempt to understand their emotional state but I CAN NEVER ADOPT IT.
To assist in a meaningful way I must give care but never care take. Responsibility for one’s own badass self is ultimately self directed.
A hand up but not a handout. Self-redemption can be found only in ourselves.
These are the principles that should be synonymous with small c-conservatism…they are not and in the same way that the CPC campaign defined Dionne’s leadership…we as conservatives need to redefine these terms.
Syncro
This recent American election cycle has made me constantly laugh at how hateful liberals have so loosely used the word “progressive” to describe themselves. So much so that I now always put it in quotes to emphasize my sarcastic intent with it.
Example:
Heather Mallick is not a very progressive “progressive” when she hatefully espouses that Sarah Palin resembles a porn star.
charitable
brave
forthright
tenacious
and FREE
to serve, to strive and not to yield
EBD:
Your right of course. The Socialists view language in a magical context. Change a word like retarded to challenged , than Walla. This is supposed to change not only attitudes on the plight, but the condition itself. This extends of course to political discourse as well. Call it human rights & you can persecute folks, while pretending to the opposite. Quite a trick, but only that. Eventually as seen in the latter Soviet Union all credibility of any sort is lost by politicians or dogmatists. Any thing a government addicted to word games becomes ominous, because no one can know what they mean in truth. Change becomes a purge.
JMO
I would favour using the term “Constructive” to describe Conservatism since everything touched by liberals turns to crap.
EMPATHY – good one Syncrodox
Perhaps we should change “conservative” to “rational” because as we see increasingly, the liberal agenda is quite irrational and therefore increasingly dangerous.
For example, trying to change the world’s weather by altering economic policies strikes me as highly irrational. Accepting that the climate is largely under its own internal direction and on a large scale something we cannot substantially alter is rational.
This is especially clear if the climate happened to go into a strong natural warming trend. Liberals would run around affixing blame, tearing their hair out, while rationalists, sorry conservatives, would perhaps think of moving everything of value up a few feet above sea level while there was still time. They could leave the liberals and make sure there were no free swimming lessons.
success, a subjective word(minus the $) might be an untouchable for them perpetually aerialerals.
It is an interesting question Forian – as I like to put it: How can liberals know so much that isn’t so? I would suggest long periods of time isolated from the real world. Obama is something of a neophyte, yet many people who know he is perfect for president think Palin, with more successful executive experience than him, is an embarassment as VP. (he was chair of a board that dispersed 100 plus million with no effect in improving Chicago’s public schools) It’s because they view him as the smart one. But take their differences on Iran. Palin has said they are the “bad guys” because they like to talk about destroying Isreal and she would not second guess Isreal if they thought they needed to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. Obama seems to have made it pretty clear he would not countanence Isreal doing that, presumbably because he has risen above simplistic good guys/bad guys valuations. Less than a hundred years after “Never Again”, who’s position shares more commonality with ignorance?
My view is that at a certain point of intellectual firepower people become able to impose ideological assumptions onto their perception of reality. The extremely simplistic “war is bad” liberal passes through the Orwell stage where he realized that pacifism means one fascist with a gun rules and comes full circle again when reality, once ignored, becomes “understood”.
…perhaps all the good words are not taken. I think Strength is not viewed as universally good. Obama’s primary attraction is that he seems something like soft.
Accountability, practical, entertaining, victory.
just noodling……free assoc….phrases tags snippets
‘fiscal responsibility”……..’rule of law”….”peace and order and good governance”…..’self made man”….’self reliance”……….’libertarian/anarchic”……’realistic’…’prudent’….’as we did in the olden times’…..’let us wait and see’….
One word: Responsible
I have often wondered what part of progressive political thought is actually progressive.
Productive.
I never knew how powerful words are and how easily people embrace PC lessons until I once had to attend a company diversity meeting. Ironically, the meetings were segregated. In that meeting, we women were taught that the word girl or even lady is considered sexist. There was no discussion regarding context or tone, just words. The scary part was that after returning to work, a few of the women put their new found knowledge into practice and snapped at coworkers that dared to use sexist comments like “Are you girls coming for coffee?” or “Would you ladies please join us for the meeting?”. Because, of course, using only PC approved words guarantees respectful banter. For example, the phrase “One of your *#@%%*# female techs….!!” is a much better use of language. I know that I felt better to hear him using proper non-sexist language.
For real laughs pit a humanities professor against a non PC voc-ag in an Immigration and Ethnicity class. On a good day, that big ole farm boy’s humorous comments could have that prof turning various shades of red. After the giggles, it also made me consider the other side of the issue. Maybe that is what the right needs to do, infiltrate university classrooms with conservative comics.
“Are there any words primarily associated, in common usage and across the political spectrum, to the conservative/right, that are universally viewed as positive, or good?” Taxpayer. heh.
“When one hears positive-sounding words like “social justice” or “peace” or “equality”” I reach for my gun.
“Could it be that the more educated a person, generally speaking, the less conservative (not because of brainwashing, but because conservatism and ignorance share some commonality)? Even Karl Rove said “as people do better, they start voting like Republicans – unless they have too much education and vote Democratic.””
– Forain
Well, my misguided elitist fool, let’s listen to what Jefferson had to say about your type (there’s nothing new under the sun, after all):
“He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man of science, there are thousands who are not. What would have become of them? Man was destined for society. His morality, therefore, was to be formed to this object. He was endowed with a sense of right and wrong merely relative to this. This sense is as much a part of his nature, as the sense of hearing, seeing, feeling; it is the true foundation of morality… The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm. It is given to all human beings in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be strengthened by exercise, as may any particular limb of the body. This sense is submitted indeed in some degree to the guidance of reason; but it is a small stock which is required for this: even a less one than what we call Common sense. State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules.” –Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1787. ME 6:257, Papers 12:15
I remember thinking at the time that it was a mistake for the Conservative Party to leave behind the name “Progressive Conservative”. Now the left wing liberal element has claimed the word “Progressive” as if it is theirs alone. They have turned all Liberal ideas and thought into “progressive” ideas and thought, as if no idea or thought that a conservative might come up with would lead to progress. I think that while the Libs are down, PMSH should stick it to them and take back the name “Progressive Conservative” through an amendment to the Party’s charter and watch the whole Left leaning Liberal world throw a collective hissy fit. It would be fun to watch.
RCGZ
Thanks. The MSM meme of the conservative as an uncaring robotron is both mean spirited and self serving.
many on the left of the political spectrum are attracted to the movement by a sense or feeling of victimization. Unresolved issues serve to drive a righteous indignation.
In social worker parlance this is called “the wounded healer”. Based only on anecdotal evidence I have experienced about a 70/30 split between the wounded healers and the pragmatical empatheticists.
So much of our social safety net is inadvertently devoted to prolonging the careers of our wounded healers and so little is focused on observable results. IMO a crime of political correctness and a lack of moral spine.
Syncro
The one word that the “liberals” have hijacked is the word liberal. We should call them on it and not use it to describe them. They are socialists and communists. The self styled liberals in western politics stopped being liberal at least 50 years ago.
I’ve been doing my part. I’ve been teaching new immigrants from South America that the NDP is the Chavez party.
Chesterton on the Cult of Progress:
This is an excerpt from Chesterton’s book Heretics on the dangers of having progress in mind with no aim or end in sight for that progression. In other words, progress in and of itself is pointless because progress doesn’t know where to progress.
The case of the general talk of “progress” is, indeed, an extreme one. As enunciated today, “progress” is simply a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative. We meet every ideal of religion, patriotism, beauty, or brute pleasure with the alternative ideal of progress–that is to say, we meet every proposal of getting something that we know about, with an alternative proposal of getting a great deal more of nobody knows what. Progress, properly understood, has, indeed, a most dignified and legitimate meaning. But as used in opposition to precise moral ideals, it is ludicrous. So far from it being the truth that the ideal of progress is to be set against that of ethical or religious finality, the reverse is the truth. Nobody has any business to use the word “progress” unless he has a definite creed and a cast-iron code of morals. Nobody can be progressive without being doctrinal; I might almost say that nobody can be progressive without being infallible–at any rate, without believing in some infallibility. For progress by its very name indicates a direction; and the moment we are in the least doubtful about the direction, we become in the same degree doubtful about the progress. Never perhaps since the beginning of the world has there been an age that had less right to use the word “progress” than we.
In the Catholic twelfth century, in the philosophic eighteenth century, the direction may have been a good or a bad one, men may have differed more or less about how far they went, and in what direction, but about the direction they did in the main agree, and consequently they had the genuine sensation of progress. But it is precisely about the direction that we disagree. Whether the future excellence lies in more law or less law, in more liberty or less liberty; whether property will be finally
concentrated or finally cut up; whether sexual passion will reach its sanest in an almost virgin intellectualism or in a full
animal freedom; whether we should love everybody with Tolstoy, or spare nobody with Nietzsche;–these are the things about which we are actually fighting most. It is not merely true that the age which has settled least what is progress is this “progressive” age. It is, moreover, true that the people who have settled least what is progress are the most “progressive” people in it. The ordinary mass, the men who have never troubled about progress, might be trusted perhaps to progress. The particular individuals who talk about progress would certainly fly to the four winds of heaven when the pistol-shot started the race. I do not, therefore, say that the word “progress” is unmeaning; I say it is unmeaning without the previous definition of a moral doctrine, and that it can only be applied to groups of persons who hold that doctrine in common. Progress is not an illegitimate word, but it is logically evident that it is illegitimate for us. It is a sacred word, a word which could only rightly be used by rigid believers and in the ages of faith.
I am delighted to see someone addressing an issue I have been denouncing for years; that is how the various agendised groups learned from the Nazis and Stalin how to revise language to meet their goal. The examples are endless. Yes, gay is now used totally out of context from its real meaning, just as gender is being misused to replace sex. I refuse to use either gay in referring to homosexuals or gender when referring to the sex of a person.
When I hear any of the code words (social justice, equality, fairness, hate speech et cetera), my alarm bell goes off, for I know they are a cover for collectivists (socialists and communists) intent on removing more of my freedom and liberty. May I also add how even the term human rights has been stood on its head, so that it is actually something quiet different.
Conservatives need to promote positive words, such as honesty, integrity, personal responsibility, honour and modesty while rejecting the political language of the Left. Let’s return to the true meaning of English words.
“Why Martin Luther King was a Republican”
And other filthy leftist lies and revisionism, corrected for the historical record. It’s not just the words they hijack.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500
Liberty, not to be confused with liberal.
I consider myself libertarian.
Justice has to accompany that, as well as responsibility.
I am seeing a pattern here with the words conservative are claiming for the good.
The words that the left have adopted would be psychobabble.
Why would we need empathy from our PM?…he is capable of being decisive without pleading to us that he ‘feels our pain’
Meant to add…thanks EBD. A great discussion.
When I think of libs and dippers, there are NO words I attribute to them(except maybe the term neo-con).
Why?…..because I’ve noticed words and phrases have no real meaning to them.
Let’s see….peacekeeping nation, best healthcare system in the world, multicultural society, Harper’s hidden agenda, carbon is pollution, safe injection site….need I go on? Pure propaganda yet these myths still endure.
It is ALL about feel-good terminology and lulling busy Canadians with a constant background white noise of liberal = happiness.
Of course none of this would be possible without the complicity of most of the media and the educational system that nutured their myopic POV’s in the first place.
To me “Social Justice” and “Progressive” are are buzz words for communism/Marxism principals.
Didn’t Stephane Dion earn his PHD in Sociology using Marxism as his thesis? In a University in Paris, France during the socialist reign of Charles DeGaulle and after Dion had registered to become a citizen of France?
It would appear that Marxism was/is his life’s calling and we were about to be the great Canadian Marxist expiriment.
Anybody here just so p issed that with the slathering help of the Liberal media this almost came to pass? Scary????
And now avowed socialist; son of a former Communist party member and close family friend of Fidel Castro, Justin Trudeau is being annointed as the new Liberal Messiah.
Scary???
in 2011 I am of the age to qualify for free tuition at the local university.
the Q was posed: am I ready for it?
came the retort: are they ready for me?
I got nothing to lose shoving their leftist spew right back in their face like a cow pie and I got a veritable LIBRARY of factoids, snippets, history, observations and lengthy analyses on a slew of topics esp. Cdn politics tucked away in the well organized brain cells.
oh, did I mention? I’m aiming for an MA in poli sci. it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
lmf: all you need to clinch you’re thesis is a b&w pic of monsieur dion waving a banner behind danny ‘the red’ cohn-bendit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Cohn-Bendit