Sunday, May 1, 2022
The Culture Wars, Neologisms and Some Other Strategies
Nothing plays a more important role than language in the Culture War that has been raging in this country for decades.
Both the Left and the Right weaponize and change the meaning of existing words, or invent new words-as-weapons - neologisms.
A classic example is the conversion of the word “gay,” starting some sixty years ago. One must watch old black-and-white Fred Astair type movies to remember this word’s previous meaning.
Such verbal strategies are often (not always) derogatory. They ridicule a group or an individual. Their implied meaning may be different from or the opposite of the one that is verbalized. Some are invented and used by the Right to mock the Left, some the other way around, and some are used by both sides.
1. The label "Politically Correct" is a case in point. By the 1970s, American conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh succeeded in transforming this expression from its original literal meaning into an epithet describing excessive Left-wing zeal. Taken at face value, being politically correct would simply mean what it says. Consider the following statement: “Harming or killing someone because of their race, gender or sexual preference is a hate crime, and the punishment of such a crime should be exceptionally harsh.”
If you agree with this statement, you might say: “That's right.” However, if you judge this to be a “politically correct statement,” you are signaling that you DISAGREE with it, and that you probably don’t have any use for the concept of “hate crime” at all. You are conservative and you hate political correctness.
2, Sex and gender are among the culture war’s major fronts. A word-as-weapon recently developed by the Right is “grooming:” Thanks to Florida governor DeSantis and the legislature, the state now has an anti-grooming law. It forbids using the word “gay” and dealing with sexual orientation and gender identity in primary school sex education classes. The reasoning here is that such information would predispose (i.e. “groom”) children towards (gay) sex and gender crossing. Child grooming is an existing crime, committed by pedophiles when they prime and entice their victims.
The Florida anti-grooming law thus can make sex education teachers into pedophiles.
3. On the other hand, we see the evolution and expansion of the acronym LGBTQIA: It stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, transgender. Queer, Intersex and Asexual. It is the currently correct label for the demographic groups listed. The acronym is probably value-neutral, but not very popular on the right.
4. An interesting neologism is cis-gender: That’s what you are if your personal gender identity corresponds with the gender assigned to you at birth. In other words, if you were born a male and you now feel comfortable being a male, you are a cis-gender (as are most people, presumably).
This concept goes along with the increasingly fashionable view, among progressives, that sex and gender are not binary, as had been believed throughout history. Good luck with that.
5. Another expression, one inspired by feminism, is mansplaining: This happens when a man explains something to a woman in a condescending way, even though she might know more about the subject than he does.
6. Then there is the concept of Gaslighting. This is also an aspect of an abuser-victim relationship. The expression goes back to a 1944 movie by that name, featuring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Boyer’s (the husband) aims are sinister. They include getting rid of his wife. So he manipulates the house’s gas system in such a way as to convince her that she is going mad. Hence the origin of the term “gaslighting.”
An example: Someone at a party has had too much to drink and he insults you in front of mutual friends. You protest and tell him that he is wrong. He doubles down, tells you that you are overreacting, and that you have a tendency to do so, because of trauma you suffered as a child. He is gaslighting you.
7. While neither side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on the next strategy I wish to mention - the dog whistle - this fraudulent practice has become very popular on the right in recent years. It is a coded message, one which is understood by your supporters but is formulated so that it escapes criticism from your opponents. For example, when Donald Trump wondered “why can’t we get more immigrants from Norway?” it was obvious that he wanted more white immigrants and fewer Hispanics.
8. A “progressive” neologism coined recently is “woke.” This expression, coming out of the African-American community, means being sensitive to injustice, racism and the plight of underprivileged groups.
9 Finally, there are jokes: The use of jokes to ridicule specific demographic and ethnic groups has a long history. It consists of expressing reprehensible feelings and opinions behind alleged harmless humor. There has always been a plethora of ethnic and gender jokes derogating Poles, Italians, Muslims, Jews, Asians and everyone else, as well as dumb blond jokes and other gender-based jokes. Ethnic and sexual jokes have been most popular on the right. The good news is that such humor is no longer popular, especially among the young.
