Sadly, the 40-year campaign by conservatives to take over the political dialogue (and the political system itself) has been a success. Right-wing messaging is everywhere and has become the vernacular. But those of us on the left\u2014and in the middle, too, come to think of it\u2014must not give up.\u00a0 Language counts. We need to try harder to\u2014as my pre-school teachers often said\u2014use our words to convey what we mean. And even though we may have heard all of this before, (we’ve all read George Lakoff, right?) it\u2019s worth reminding ourselves to use our own talking points, rather than mindlessly adopting the language of the right.<\/p>\n
Addicting Information offers this helpful compilation of words and phrases to avoid, and ways to recast the dialogue:<\/a><\/p>\n (1). Big Business:<\/strong> (Also referred to as: Corporate America; Multinationals; Corporate Interests)<\/em> When we use any of these words, we automatically sound pie-in-the-sky liberal. People think, \u201cwhat\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d After all, they\u2019d like their own businesses to get \u201cbig\u201d and have no negative associations with the words \u201ccorporate\u201d or \u201cmultinational\u201d \u2014 which actually sound kind of exciting and worldly. Instead, try: <\/strong>Unelected Government.<\/b><\/em>\u00a0This puts them in their proper context as unelected entities with unprecedented powers, whose actions have immense impact on our lives, and which we are powerless to hold accountable.<\/p>\n (2). Entitlements:<\/strong> I keep hearing reporters from National Public Radio and other liberal news outlets use the word \u201centitlements\u201d and it makes me froth at the mouth. They\u2019re not \u201centitlements\u201d \u2014 which sounds like something a bunch of spoiled, lazy, undeserving people irrationally think they should get for nothing. Instead, try: <\/strong>Earned Benefits<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong> This term not only\u00a0sounds<\/em> better for the progressive cause, it\u2019s also more accurate. Programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment are all forms of insurance that we pay into all of our working lives \u2014 via a percentage of our income \u2014 and then collect from when the time comes.<\/p>\n (3). Free Market Capitalism:<\/strong> (Also referred to as: Capitalism, Free Markets, and Supply-Side Economics) <\/em>Like \u201cFascism\u201d and \u201cCommunism,\u201d \u201cFree Market Capitalism\u201d is a 20th-century utopian ideal that has amply been proven an unworkable failure, and damaging to society. Instead, try: <\/strong>Socialized Risk, Privatized Profits<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong> This best describes the dramatically failed experiment in unfettered capitalism, as practiced in the late 20th century and early aughts.<\/p>\n (4). Government Spending:<\/strong> (Also referred to as: Taxes, Burden, and Inconvenient)<\/em> Conservatives talk about \u201cgovernment spending\u201d like it\u2019s this awful thing, but the fact is, communities across America benefit from U.S. tax dollars, especially supposedly anti-government red states, which receive way more federal tax money than they contribute<\/a>.\u00a0 Instead, try: <\/strong>Investing in America.<\/b><\/em> Because, that\u2019s what our federal tax dollars do. They invest in education and infrastructure that wouldn\u2019t prove profitable for businesses, but which still benefit society in the long-run.<\/p>\n (5) Gay Marriage\/Same Sex Marriage:<\/strong> While these phrases are technically accurate, they play into the conservative notion that marriage between two men or two women is somehow different and inferior than a \u201creal\u201d marriage between a man and a woman. Instead, try:<\/strong> Marriage Equality<\/i><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n (6). Gun Control:<\/strong> Yikes! That sounds like you want to control people, and all those \u201cfreedom loving\u201d folks who want to bully gays and people of color into staying in their place will use that word against you. Instead, try: <\/strong>Gun Safety.<\/b><\/em> It sounds so nice, non-coercive, and reasonable \u2026 plus, it\u2019s true. Most of us aren\u2019t against guns, we just want them used safely. Or, for some added punch, try: <\/strong>Gun Violence Prevention<\/b><\/em>.<\/p>\n (7). Homophobic:<\/strong> People who oppose equal rights for gays, lesbians, and gender atypical individuals are not \u201cafraid,\u201d as the \u201cphobic\u201d suffix implies. They are mean, bigoted @ssholes. Instead, try: <\/strong>Anti-Gay<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n (8). Illegal Aliens:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s easy to support draconian laws against people we refer to by such a scary and impersonal term as \u201cillegal aliens.\u201d It\u2019s way harder to act against our neighbors, friends, the families of our children\u2019s classmates, or the nice lady who sells those plump, fragrant tamales on the corner. Plus \u2026 are they really \u201cillegal?\u201d If (9). Pro-Life:<\/strong> Ugh. They are NOT pro-life. Once a child takes its first breath, these supposed conservative \u201cpro-lifers\u201d couldn\u2019t care less about the quality of life for the child or mother. Let\u2019s call them by their true<\/strong> name for once. Instead, try: <\/strong>Anti-Choice<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong> Because, that\u2019s what they really are about. They don\u2019t care about \u201clife.\u201d They only seek to deny choices to women. Not just the choice of whether or not to have a child, but whether a woman can \u2014 like a man \u2014 embrace her full sexuality without having to worry about pregnancy, and whether she can make related choices about her body, her career, and when to have children, as men always have.<\/p>\n (10). Right-To-Work:<\/strong> Who came up with the phrase \u201cright-to-work\u201d ANYway? It\u2019s total B.S. and doesn\u2019t give you the right<\/em> to do anything, unless you want to reject unions and earn less money than you would in a pro-union shop. In \u201cright-to-work\u201d states, non-union workers in union shops can decline paying union dues. Which sounds fair, but is not, because union shops pay better wages to their employees, and hence should receive dues accordingly. Instead, try: <\/strong>Anti-Union<\/b><\/em>:<\/strong> It\u2019s far more accurate, and \u2014 as unions increasingly gain favor \u2014 will make conservatives look bad. Because \u201cright-to-work\u201d really does mean: Right to choose amongst sucky wages and benefits packages.\u00a0 <\/em>Several readers have also suggested: Right-To-Fire<\/i><\/strong> (without just cause), and Right-To-Work-For-Less<\/b><\/em>.<\/p>\n (11). The Environment:<\/strong> When people talk about \u201cthe environment,\u201d they often sound annoyingly self-righteous, as if lecturing people with dubious hygiene practices. Unfortunately, you can\u2019t count on people to make environmentally friendly choices \u2014 especially when people are struggling financially and these choices cost significantly more. Instead, try: <\/strong>Shared Resources<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0That makes way more sense. We may not care about some\u00a0 factory dumping crap into the ocean, but we dang-well care about our neighbors up the river not properly maintaining their septic tank.<\/p>\n (12). Welfare:<\/strong> When conservatives talk about \u201cwelfare,\u201d they make it sound like this pit people wallow in forever, rather than a source of help that\u2019s available when we need it \u2013 and that we pay for through our taxes. The majority of us need help at one time or another. Instead, try: <\/strong>Social Safety Net<\/b><\/em>:<\/strong> When people think of a safety net, they\u2019re more likely to think of a protection of last-resort, and one that they can instantly bounce out of like circus acrobats. And if we continue to grow the middle class \u2014 instead of cutting taxes for the rich and allowing companies to pay sub-living wages \u2014 perhaps the latter will be true again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sadly, the 40-year campaign by conservatives to take over the political dialogue (and the political system itself) has been a success. Right-wing messaging is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[869,1575,45,451,715,1363],"tags":[1682,1362,1936],"yoast_head":"\nBig Business<\/del> \u2026 Ooops \u2026 I mean \u201cUnelected Government\u201d \u2026 didn\u2019t want them here \u2014 for their easily-exploited, low-cost, skilled labor (yes, our neighbors from south of the border do offer specialized skills<\/a> for which U.S. agribusiness refuses to fairly compensate) \u2014 they\u2019d be gone.\u00a0Instead, try: <\/strong>Undocumented Residents<\/b><\/em>.<\/strong> Why not? They already do much of what we officially-recognized U.S. citizens do, plus they\u2019re having more kids than Anglos are<\/a>. Seems like immigration provides an ideal way for us to avoid the demographics crisis hitting Western Europe<\/a> and Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n