Welcome to Political Language 101, I am your new professor. As a published writer in the field of communication, I respect the power of word choice. In fact, some would say that I’ve built quite a reputation for it. Languages are living entities that constantly evolve and the definitions of words are contorted into entirely new meanings. Political terms have changed quite a bit in recent years, and thus I’ll part some wisdom gained from my illustrious canary-owning career to enlighten you, my students. A word of caution though; the overuse of these terms, stripped from their original context and intent in lieu of their new mangled meanings dilutes the term itself. If everyone is a fascist, then nobody is a fascist. Thankfully, I’m here to educate all of you on what these terms actually mean now. Today class, we’ll go over some of these wrung-out words and their new meanings.
DOMESTIC TERRORIST: Someone who disagrees with you politically. So, to red pill you; once upon a time in the early 2000’s, the term “terrorist’ actually meant something along the lines of violent person who seeks to commit acts of mass violence to instill fear into a population or to spread their ideology. That term had a very narrow scope, and mostly everyone agreed on what a terrorist was. The prefix domestic just meant from within the United States.
However, fast forward to today, and the new definition of domestic terrorist is being used to its fullest effect, whether the speaker realizes it or not. Take for example how CNN discusses the Proud Boys or how conservatives view Antifa and then come back and tell me I’m wrong (hint: I’m not).
POPULIST: A completely hollow term that is malleable enough for the speaker to mean whatever they want it to mean. “Seriously, Dan?” A perturbed reader might ask. Yes, seriously. Donald Trump and his various opponents have all been called this term over the past several years, and the term has become so over-used that I legitimately couldn’t tell you what it means. And if you think I’m waxing poetic, history is littered with both sides of radicalization being called “populist”. The term is meaningless.
EXTREMIST: Somebody more committed to their ideology than you. They are to be condemned, but only if they aren’t from your party. Not a whole lot to say here; a cardinal rule in our new media landscape is to call out acts of extremism or nut-job ideology….so long as the offender is from a different team than yours.
MODERATE: Somebody, usually within your own party, less committed to their ideology than you. They are to be condemned. Seriously, just look at how left-leaning ABC News and 538 chose to report on centrist members of Congress. They were bemoaned for “holding up” Nancy Pelosi; I was half-expecting Ursula from The Little Mermaid to shriek “How Dare You?” when reading that article. Similarly, conservatives love to use the term RINO- an acronym that stands for Republican in Name Only– to refer to members of their own party that vote for fiscally responsible small government or uphold check-and-balances. Don’t believe me? Check out how Alex Jones uses the term to describe congressional Republicans that promise to, you know, uphold the fucking Constitution…
PEDOPHILE: A politician that votes in favor of something you dislike. This one is going to sharpen some pitchforks, so let me be abundantly clear: any proven abuse of minors is absolutely heinous. Now with that out of the way, we need to acknowledge the political contexts in which radicals love using the term nowadays. Radicals liberally use the word as a smear tactic against politicians that they dislike because it is the nuclear option; the intent is to cause career-ending reputational harm, even if there is no evidence to support the allegation. That last part is absolutely crucial, and here comes another uncomfortable truth; those accused of a crime have the constitutional right to due process. And to further spike your blood pressure, I’m not the only one whose noticed this tactic.
Brad Raffensperger is a Republican who serves as the Secretary of State in Georgia. He was featured in MAX’s new documentary Stopping the Steal for his involvement in Georgia’s vote tallying in the 2020 election. One scene of the movie had protestors standing at the edge of his driveway accusing him of being a pedophile, though there is absolutely no evidence to support this. The cause for the accusation, you ask? He certified Georgia’s blue-vote in the 2020 election. MAGA-Nation loves to point out Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein, despite Clinton having severed ties with him back when Chamillionaire was still famous.
CONTENT MODERATION: Censorship. Recently, esteemed genius billionaire Elon Musk reluctantly sat down for an interview with former CNN vanguard Don Lemon. One of the many topics discussed was that of Elon’s so-called responsibility to “moderate” hate speech and misinformation on his platform, X. Given Lemon’s clear left-of-center stances, Lemon was pushing for the removal of content that he personally found distasteful. However, the South African entrepreneur refused to buckle. Contrast that with Facebook, who has an entire department dedicated to the task. Sharpen your pitchforks if you’d like, but first answer me this; when, in all of human history, have the censors have been the good guys?
Tuition is due; no refunds, motherfucker.
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