Right Wing World: Alt-Rightspeak: New Version of Political Correctness

I've had a hard time blogging of late, mostly due to the changing ways I experience the internet itself. I find myself engaging more in social media, message boards and the like, in shorter bites, than I do sitting down to write long blog posts. But the habit has its drawbacks, not the least of which is letting my blog run fallow.

One of those drawbacks is enduring the sheer repetitive asshattedness of many people on what I'd consider "the other side." Short on imagination, but long on conformity, it has always been true that folks on the right latch onto key words, phrases and turns of phrases that light their fire. Maybe that's just human nature, but on the right, it takes a) a hard, mean edge and b) a slavish repetition of an annoyingly unclever nature.

Image from Counter-Currents.com

The best pre-Trumpian example I can think of, is the conservative response to any story featuring or related to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Maddow is a darling on the left, a personal favorite, and as only your 90-year-old aunt might not know, a famous lesbian. The last part goes without saying in mainstream and left-leaning sites and stories. But on the right, it must be acknowledged, and it must be in the form of (what they consider) snarky put-downs, and mock-incredulous questions. But it always takes the same form: she looks like a man and her name is easily distorted to "Mad Cow" or "Man Cow." Though it's true that they do this in a variety of ways, it's a very small topic list, and the variations can be counted on your fingers and toes. They're repeated every time as though they're the most clever thing in the world, often (even usually) in place of actual arguments against her points.

And that's what I run across daily in Right Wing World, a maddening repetition of words, phrases, euphemisms and terminology that thinks it's clever (but isn't very clever), and worst, finds itself hilarious, though it wasn't funny the first time. Beyond that, much of the time, this language, this Alt-rightspeak is itself every bit the thing they rail against with Political Correctness.

Political Correctness (PC), is a badly-named, rather archaic concept, because the PC label applies whether liberals (allegedly the PC Police) are in power, or if conservatives are.  It began as an attempt to be more inclusive, accurate and considerate with language. Basically, it's not talking like a dick, about other people. Treating them as they'd like to be treated. Using terminology that people would like to have used about them, rather than terms they find inaccurate, insulting, degrading or just irritating. Unfortunately, as with absolutely everything in human history, it can be taken to extremes. Equally unfortunately--again, as with everything--it is the extremes that are used as examples of what is so "wrong" with political correctness. Which set us up for the Trump Era, where being anti-PC is "in," as is being a dick with supposed impunity.

But Trumpers have their own set of pet words, their own euphemisms, their own codes, which could accurately be called Political Correctness itself, because these are the people in power at the moment. It's just our lot in life that this new PC, this alt-rightspeak, is repetitive and irritating.

Special snowflake. Safe space. Cuck (and endless, clunky, awkward variations of cuck). SJW (social justice warrior). Libtard (and many variations of "tard," regardless of its backlash).  These terms are thrown at people like me on social media as though they are withering insults, and the height of cleverness. They don't know that most liberals don't know what they're even talking about. Without looking the terms up, most of us have never heard of a "safe space," have never considered ourselves special snowflakes. Don't attach the same meaning to "cuck" if we have any idea what they're even saying. And we don't find fighting for social justice to be a bad thing (and still have to look up SJW because we've never heard of it). Still, they fancy themselves to be wordsmiths on the leading edge with their debating skills.

What they're missing is that they themselves are every bit as over-sensitive to criticism as they accuse others. They're just as apt to react with high emotion if the wrong language is leveled at them. Insults of Trump, for example, are just as likely to turn them into "special snowflakes" themselves, as anyone. And their own code words can be just as goofy as anything they rail against. Worse, we don't need to find extreme examples, they're all extreme!

Frank Luntz is Depressed

That fat f**k, Frank Luntz, from The Atlantic

I have to be honest, I haven't yet finished the article excerpted below. I'd heard a few references to it, so I decided to look into it. And I read the first couple of paragraphs, mouth agape. Could Frank Luntz--wordsmith, and master of trickery to make unpalatable politics seem okay to people--seems to be having a crisis of conscience.  Really? That's freaking amazing!

But as you get further into it, you find something else. He doesn't seem to have a problem with himself, but politics in general, and President Obama. What? So, I'm going to keep reading, but it's getting late as I type this, so it might be tomorrow. But I wanted to get it up on the blog in case you, dear reader, would like to read it now. And when you're finished, read The Rude Pundit's take on the same story (if you dare). It's good but. . .well. . .rude.

[Excerpt]

The Agony of Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz does not want the buffet. We are on the top floor of the Capitol Hill Club, the members-only Republican hangout a block from the Capitol, where a meaty smell is emanating from steam trays. Today's main course is ham, and Luntz shakes his head. There's also fish, the host offers—mahi mahi. No. "I'm 0 for 2," Luntz says mournfully. . .

Read more at: The Atlantic

Daily Show on Frank Luntz Changing the GOP Message

I've talked a lot about the right-wing bubble here on the blog, but probably not enough about the guy who shores it up, puts a shine on it, and helps people stay inside it when their minds start to see the cracks, by patching those cracks with bullshit. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart shines a light on the odious Frank Luntz, Republican wordsmith and one of the main architects of Bullshit Mountain.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Obama: Romney's Bain Experience Doesn't Qualify Him for Presidency

I had a little trouble with the headline here. Basically, there was a kerfuffle on Meet the Press, where Obama "surrogate" and Newark NJ Mayor Cory Booker criticized President Obama's use of Bain Capital's history on Mitt Romney. Even that sentence is a bit tangled, sorry. Anyway, the President did a pretty good job justifying himself today. Romney's entire schtick seems to be as a "job creator"* at Bain Capital. It has to be fair game, whatever Booker or Romney has to say about it, because Romney has hung his hat on it. Anyway, here's the Prez:

*By the way, whenever I hear a pundit or politician use the term "job creator" (and many, many other terms), I cringe. Because I know--unless they're using it ironically with air quotes--they're a bullshit artist. They're using Frank Luntz's Words that Work, and they have contempt for their audience, hoping to snow them. Unfortunately, they're so repetitive, that it bleeds over into common usage. I hate Frank Luntz, or at least what he does, and what he's done.

Right Wing World: Where Killing Medicare "Fixes" It

The Budget Munster is lying to you. Image from HuffPo.

There have seemingly always been spin doctors, and political finesse when it comes to policy and talking points.  What they're doing with the Paul Ryan "kill Medicare" plan is just the latest, most audacious example. There is a line that can be crossed from "polishing a turd" to "outright lying." And saying that Ryan's plan would "save" Medicare is outright lying.

[Excerpt]

Ryan Says His Plan Repeals The 'Raid' Obama Made To Medicare. It Doesn't

Besieged by attacks over House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, Republican lawmakers are amplifying their message that it was President Barack Obama's health care law, not theirs, that pushed draconian cuts to the entitlement program. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Frank Luntz Returns: Health Care Newspeak

Frank Luntz is the Republican wordsmith that managed to get Americans to vote against their best interests. He's a focus-tester and pollster who "massages" language for Republicans, in order to sell otherwise unpopular policies. He also comes up with counter-language to Democratic policies. And in the changed political landscape, this is what Luntz is up to most these days.

This video shows a series of Republicans echoing Luntz's new words.

[Excerpt]



GOP Wastes No Time In Embracing Frank Luntz’s Vapid ‘Patient-Doctor’ Health Care Rhetoric

Earlier this week, a memo written by right-wing message guru Frank Luntz was leaked instructing the Republican Party on how to frame the health care debate in order to defeat progressive reform. Since his pivotal role in helping craft Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, Luntz has had an impressive record of cloaking regressive and conservative policies with carefully poll-tested language. For instance, Luntz is credited with persuading Republicans to use the intentionally misleading term “death tax” to describe the estate tax. . .

Read more at: ThinkProgress

Rep. Kaptur Calls Out Republican Using "Democrat Party"

Republicans are fond of calling the Democratic Party the Democrat Party. The reason is clear (and spelled out here). It is a way for them to avoid using the patriotic imagery that "democratic" implies, plus it sounds harsh, and--bonus!!!--irritates members of the party.

Many prominent Republican politicians, and nearly all right-wing talk radio and cable news blow-holes use the incorrect term. And while I have no problem believing that Sean Hannity might be too stupid to know he's using it wrong, I'm quite sure that most of them do. The galling thing is when these people and their defenders deny that it's on purpose. In fact, in the link above you'll find one of them digging for places where more liberal people have misused the term. It's like the insistence that FOX "News" is fair and balanced and not right-leaning. . .even though almost all FOX defenders are right-wingers.

Anyway, a member of the House of Representatives, Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) finally called out one of her colleagues for saying "Democrat Party" repeatedly. It's about time.

Is it Too Late to Stop an Orwellian Society?

Photo of The Decider, from Earth Open Network

I'm feeling a little bummed this morning. Last night I watched HBO's superb Recount, a dramatic re-telling of the Bush vs. Gore 2000 election and its aftermath. Then, this morning, I finally got around to finishing PBS's Frontline: Bush's War, a documentary outlining the timeline of the Iraq War through January 2008.

The cumulative effect of revisiting this history was to give me an overview of the Bush Administration from start to finish (fortunately not covering 9/11 or Katrina--which would have been way too much to revisit in under 24 hours). Doing so dredged up all of the feelings I've felt over the last 8 years: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression--four of the five "stages of grief." The one I'm having problems with is acceptance, and here's why.

I think if you boil down the problems I have with the Bush Administration, what rises to the top (outside of their lawlessness, which I've covered in many other rants) is the fundamental lack of respect they have for the American people, even their own "base." There has been a constant effort, from the 2000 election debacle right through to Dana Perino's most recent press conferences, to mislead us all. Using the tactics of key GOP figures like Frank Luntz and Karl Rove, they twist and mold facts and events to fit their narrative. And they are staggeringly effective at it, much of the time.

During the last eight years, words like freedom, patriotism, democracy, liberty, and victory have been turned from words into slogans. Phrases are constructed, and repeated ad nauseum, until they become part of the language of public discourse: We're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here. Shock and awe. Liberal media. Clear, hold, build. Weapons of mass destruction. The surge is working. Half the nation becomes a flock of parrots, the other half tears their hair out trying to combat "conventional wisdom."

Surely, this group of Republicans are not the first politicians to use spin and deliberate obfuscation to manage their message. But they have perfected it, and have relied on it to the point that I'm not sure some of them can do their daily jobs without it. Like pathological liars (very much, indistinguishable in fact), they come out of the gate spinning and dodging when just telling the truth would probably be easier. I wonder if it has been so "par for the course" that it will become precedent setting. Can even an "agent of change" like Barack Obama avoid the temptation to activate a network of permanent spin-meisters, talking only in New speak?

There is one thing I'm sure of. If John McCain gets elected this November, he will have access to the same machine that has been in place over the last 8 years. And if Hillary Clinton gets elected, she'll have the old rusted remnants of the machine that preceded this one (and likely be able to meld the two machines together). At least Barack Obama holds out the promise to be a different sort of politician. Just looking at the three campaigns, and seeing how differently they operate shows me that.

I'm still not ready for acceptance. I've got to believe that the American people--those paying attention at least--are growing weary of having the wool pulled over their eyes. There are times when a President must be secretive, but I am sick to death of everything being lied about. I think the success of the blogosphere shows that people are taking a more active role in politics. And I'll do my level best to continue exposing New speak wherever I find it--even if it is in my tiny little corner of the blogosphere.