This has been going on for quite some time. Look at what the Repubs did to the word "liberal." They turned it into a slur. And it doesn't look as if taking the high ground will be effective as so many people have been indoctrinated by their Religions of Hate to respond to any honest effort to change their minds.
This has been going on for quite some time. Look at what the Repubs did to the word "liberal." They turned it into a slur. And it doesn't look as if taking the high ground will be effective as so many people have been indoctrinated by their Religions of Hate to respond to any honest effort to change their minds.
Well, liberals did a number on the word "liberal" in the 1960s, resulting in such songs as Phil Ochs's "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" and Tom Lehrer's "Whatever Became of You, Hubert?" ("Once a fiery liberal spirit / but now when he speaks he must clear it"). Then and to this day, U.S. liberals generally bent over backwards to dissociate themselves from the "taint" of socialism, denying of course that there was anything "socialist" about the New Deal and Great Society programs. So of course conservatives used "socialist!" as an insult: because it worked. Liberals scurried to prove how devoted to capitalism they were.
I like to think that the Reagan administration and what followed has shown us what a disaster unfettered capitalism is, plus a couple of generations have come of age without Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover haunting their dreams. The increasing popularity of "progressive" is encouraging insofar as it acknowledges that economic justice is important and capitalism run amok is not a good thing.
On Robert Reich's thread a right wing troll tried to use leftist as an insult and a slur, expecting me to go on the defense, but I screwed his game and he was aghast, he didn't know what to say, because I owned the label,proudly, he even said that I was suppose to be intimidated and he was expecting and ready to hit me with arguments and charges, and I ruined his game plan.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was elected to the United States House of Representatives on the Liberal ballot line in a 1949 special election. Roosevelt later served as the party's gubernatorial nominee in the 1966 election.
Rudy Giuliani received the party's nomination in the 1989 and 1993 New York City mayoral elections. The New York Times criticized their endorsement as "little more than a political tool" and the "work of one wily politician", Ray Harding. Giuliani won the 1993 election due to the votes he received on the Liberal ballot line. A Liberal was made deputy mayor in Giuliani's administration and 23 Liberals received appointments. Two of Harding's sons also received positions.
The Republicans used to implement "liberal" as the ultimate insult, but not so much any more. So then they trotted out "socialist" and even "communist" to describe Democrats, in an effort to stop the public from its leftward drift. I'm not sure that even these blows land.
Trump slings around communist as a slur, but that only has effect with boomers and sadly some Gen X'ers raised by those boomers. Gen Y, and Z simply see them as lame epithets.
Still highly effective here in Baghdad By the Sea. Batistianos dominate the media. Sunset Rick Scott calls his opponent a socialista. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBDoRRvsVZY
The word on the street is that Kamala is a comunista, daughter of 2 commies.
The Bastianos, like the Venezuelan asylum seekers, exploited the peasants to live large at their expense, and when the tables turned they cried victim.
Now isn't that a familiar refrain (MAGA)_ The inability to exploit and live large makes one a victim.
Victim hood has become equated with righteousness, and moral superiority.
Like genocide and oppression, when everyone is oppressed, when everyone is a victim when everything is genocide, then nothing is and the word is meaningless.
Kind of like the right-wing calling themselves the "right to life", only if they like you and you don't have anything they want to steal from you, or you need assistance.
This has been going on for quite some time. Look at what the Repubs did to the word "liberal." They turned it into a slur. And it doesn't look as if taking the high ground will be effective as so many people have been indoctrinated by their Religions of Hate to respond to any honest effort to change their minds.
Well, liberals did a number on the word "liberal" in the 1960s, resulting in such songs as Phil Ochs's "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" and Tom Lehrer's "Whatever Became of You, Hubert?" ("Once a fiery liberal spirit / but now when he speaks he must clear it"). Then and to this day, U.S. liberals generally bent over backwards to dissociate themselves from the "taint" of socialism, denying of course that there was anything "socialist" about the New Deal and Great Society programs. So of course conservatives used "socialist!" as an insult: because it worked. Liberals scurried to prove how devoted to capitalism they were.
I like to think that the Reagan administration and what followed has shown us what a disaster unfettered capitalism is, plus a couple of generations have come of age without Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover haunting their dreams. The increasing popularity of "progressive" is encouraging insofar as it acknowledges that economic justice is important and capitalism run amok is not a good thing.
On Robert Reich's thread a right wing troll tried to use leftist as an insult and a slur, expecting me to go on the defense, but I screwed his game and he was aghast, he didn't know what to say, because I owned the label,proudly, he even said that I was suppose to be intimidated and he was expecting and ready to hit me with arguments and charges, and I ruined his game plan.
At one time, there was a Liberal Party. Republican senator Jake Javits was actually a member of the Liberal Party of New York. https://www.theloneliberalrepublican.org/jacob-javits
Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was elected to the United States House of Representatives on the Liberal ballot line in a 1949 special election. Roosevelt later served as the party's gubernatorial nominee in the 1966 election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_New_York
Rudy Giuliani received the party's nomination in the 1989 and 1993 New York City mayoral elections. The New York Times criticized their endorsement as "little more than a political tool" and the "work of one wily politician", Ray Harding. Giuliani won the 1993 election due to the votes he received on the Liberal ballot line. A Liberal was made deputy mayor in Giuliani's administration and 23 Liberals received appointments. Two of Harding's sons also received positions.
The Republicans used to implement "liberal" as the ultimate insult, but not so much any more. So then they trotted out "socialist" and even "communist" to describe Democrats, in an effort to stop the public from its leftward drift. I'm not sure that even these blows land.
Trump slings around communist as a slur, but that only has effect with boomers and sadly some Gen X'ers raised by those boomers. Gen Y, and Z simply see them as lame epithets.
Still highly effective here in Baghdad By the Sea. Batistianos dominate the media. Sunset Rick Scott calls his opponent a socialista. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBDoRRvsVZY
The word on the street is that Kamala is a comunista, daughter of 2 commies.
I was on a zoom the other night with Debbie and other candidates, when we discussed how to combat it. Al Cardenas, former state Republican chair and muchos otros have flipped. Today, more. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/10/16/three-new-co-chairs-join-republicans-for-harris-in-florida-one-calls-trump-a-blustering-name-calling-bully/
My suggestion is to send testimonials, en espanol, and comment on sites like El Herald, Telemundo. Miami talk radio.
Here's our ad from 2020. https://www.floridadems.org/2020/04/14/president-trump-is-acting-like-a-caudillo-again/
The Bastianos, like the Venezuelan asylum seekers, exploited the peasants to live large at their expense, and when the tables turned they cried victim.
Now isn't that a familiar refrain (MAGA)_ The inability to exploit and live large makes one a victim.
Victim hood has become equated with righteousness, and moral superiority.
Like genocide and oppression, when everyone is oppressed, when everyone is a victim when everything is genocide, then nothing is and the word is meaningless.
Kind of like the right-wing calling themselves the "right to life", only if they like you and you don't have anything they want to steal from you, or you need assistance.
They speak in code Bob. Thom Hartmann has covered this. Right to Life has nothing to do with Life. It is a euphemism for patriarchal dominance.
If a woman aborts a fetus, she is rejecting the man who planted his sperm in her uterus. and how dare she reject the superior male.