Category Archives: rhetoric

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Feb 28-March 4, 2016

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abortion exceptionalism: when women are denied access to abortion clinics because the clinics don’t meet health standards. Even if abortion clinics are far less likely to cause medical problems than, say, colonoscopy centers, they are being forced to meet higher health standards, thus placing an “undue burden” on women.

common American culture: Christian American culture.

freedom: to hate. As Chris Hedges, characterizing Trumpists, puts it:

These Americans want a kind of freedom—a freedom to hate. They want the freedom to use words like “nigger,” “kike,” “spic,” “chink,” “raghead” and “fag.” They want the freedom to idealize violence and the gun culture. They want the freedom to have enemies, to physically assault Muslims, undocumented workers, African-Americans, homosexuals and anyone who dares criticize their cryptofascism. They want the freedom to celebrate historical movements and figures that the college-educated elites condemn, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. They want the freedom to ridicule and dismiss intellectuals, ideas, science and culture. They want the freedom to silence those who have been telling them how to behave. And they want the freedom to revel in hypermasculinity, racism, sexism and white patriarchy. These are the core sentiments of fascism. These sentiments are engendered by the collapse of the liberal state.

freedom of religion: letting Christians be Christians. “Freedom of religion” in this case clearly does not mean “freedom of religions, ” but freedom of only Christianity.

hate speech: criticism of Trump or the Tea Party. Libs’ self-righteousness makes them inherently and unfailingly intolerant.

immigrants: invaders.

individual responsibility: the cornerstone of the Social Darwinism that lies at the heart of Tea Party ideology. Dems tend to believe in social responsibility instead.

police abuse: abuse of the police, not by the police.

natural-born American citizens: the group of “legitimate” Americans most under threat from foreign “invaders”. Also chronically- unemployed or underemployed.

unelected judges: Tea Party criticism of any Supreme Court decision they don’t like: that it was the verdict of at least five unelected judges. When the decision goes their way, the judges are called “strict constructionists” instead.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Feb. 16-21, 2016

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court packing: Obama’s deluded belief that he can appoint the next Supreme Court justice

classless society: what America was until the liberals seized control under FDR and sowed the seeds of envy, class warfare, and redistributionist blackmail. Upward mobility has  been eliminated in America, and we thus are stuck in a quasi-socialist, Euro-style class-driven doldrums.

the cognoscenti : the super elite Dems and their dogma that we will all be saved by expansive government spending, globalization free trade, and combined with a comprehensive and overarching regulatory regime. They always think they know best.

the democratic process: works when the outcome favors Tea Party policies or aims. For example, it applies to “letting the people” rather than the sitting President, decide on the next Supreme Court justice, even if the President has a constitutional duty to do so.

divisive: any extreme Dem policy position or ideology, including reparations, climate change, political correctness, evolution, gay rights, etc. aka, “identity politics.”

As pointed out in a recent New York Times Magazine column by Wesley Morris, this term used to mean “something worth arguing about. ”  Now it’s always modified with “too”, meaning that the subject is too controversial to discuss. This is a weaponized, master rhetorical trope used to marginalize–as in make toxic– almost any of President Obama’s policies or statements. When the Tea Party says that something is “too divisive,” or that the Dems are  playing a “card” (“race card,” “war-against-women card,” etc), they are signalling that the Dems are opportunistically polarizing the nation in order to demonize the Tea Party. Every subject that threatens the Tea Party is thus too fraught , polarizing, or sensitive, and so should be “taken off the table.” So “divisive” now means subjects we can’t even talk about because they have no authority or basis in fact. By calling everything threatening “divisive,” the Tea Party is actually further dividing the country. Of course, Tea Party shibboleths or God Terms–trickle down economics, free enterprise, Creationism and Intelligent Design, etc.–are accepted as fixed, eternal, unchallengeable truths, like the Bible.

The Geneva Convention: tying our troops’ hands behind their backs.

hate speech: what used to be called an honest disagreement, before the pc police took over.

honest disagreement: a polite way of saying we disagree, you’re wrong, but I’ll create the pretense of impartiality.  A corollary is to say “honest people can disagree,” which is slightly different in that it acknowledges your opponent to be honest, if stupid. When “honest people disagree,” the rhetorical deck is always stacked in favor of the speaker.

partisan gamesmanship: any Obama political appointment or policy. If he really is interested in bipartisan compromise, he will appoint a conservative to the Supreme Court. So Dems are engaged in gamesmanship when they act to their political advantage, but when the Tea Party does so it’s called “compromise” or “principled.” A Tea Party “compromise” always means they get their way.

police: neutered by the Obama-Beyonce axis of political correctness and racial pandering.

the work ethic and honest labor: tools of bondage and oppression, according to Dems and the Black Lives Matter crowd,

 

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Feb 10-15, 2016

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activist: Dem supporter, environmentalist or liberal judge. Always a pejorative,  like “trial lawyers.” Tea Party/GOP loyalists are called supporters, not activists.

American leadership abroad: bomb the shit out of ’em. American troops and weapons: the New Centurions.

Black Lives Matter: Demspeak for Black votes matter. After elections, the Dems abandon blacks to their  own self-generated pathology of crime, drug addiction, welfare addiction, race-baiting, out-of-wedlock births, and self-righteousness.

Chinese, Muslims and Mexicans: cheaters, terrorists and rapists.

the economic collapse: fear-mongering about the alleged “corruption” of Wall Street; actually caused by the government handing out home loan to deadbeat minority borrowers.

the end of political correctness: the return of unbridled hate speech.

the establishment: anything not Trump.

female contraception insurance coverage: bucks for sluts.

To God Be the Glory: Is Jesus Christ Ted Cruz’s campaign manager? Does this guy have a Messiah complex, or what? At least Obama said that “we are the people we’ve been waiting for,”   whereas Cruz clearly thinks he’s The One.

identity politics:  Dems claim they want to bring all races, classes, genders, ages and sexualities together, yet if they didn’t  divide by gender, race, class, and sexual orientation, they wouldn’t win any elections. Dems rely on class envy and economic and moral coercion to enforce their straitjacket brand of political correctness

hard work and effort: the opposite of the handout mentality of the “takers”  (aka, parasites). This unadorned Social Darwinism is a key Tea Party meme, effectively cancelling out any discussion of institutional racism, poverty, the corrupting power of money, increasing inequality, sexism, etc.

moral compass: being a Christian fundamentalist.

Obama: the food stamp President.

states’ rights: the states’ ability to deny human and civil rights in the name of the majority in power.

Trumpism: might makes right, profits define success,  and great strength leads to ever-greater authority.  More fact-free misanthropy and bigoted populism.

Vox Dei: Ted Cruz, the Voice of God

Vox Populi: Donald Trump, the Voice of the People.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Feb 5-9, 2016

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attacks on the police: anything suggesting there should be restraints on the police’s ability to do whatever it is that needs to be done.

diplomacy: appeasement

Europhobia: the multiculturalism replacing the successful Euro-American culture with dysfunctional Third World cultures. Unwarranted hatred and fear of whites.

farrago of lies: anything that comes out of Hillary’s mouth.

identity politics: Progressives’ cover for their self-righteous will to power.

incivility and inexperience: political assets

Judeo-Bolshevism: Bernie Sanders.

pitting people against each other: bringing up alleged racial or religious discrimination or differences. aka, “cynical” and “playing the race card.” By the logic of this trope, Dems cannot mention racism or Islamophobia or sexism without themselves being called divisive, racist and sexist. Thus the accuser becomes the accused–a perfect circle of blame and deniability for the Tea Party.

racial spoils system: tribal careerist liberals’ attempts to falsely racialize a multiracial , intermarried society. The resulting set-asides, “affirmative action” and exclusonary politics impose a narrow,  rigid, racialized narrative that only legitimizes leftist ideologues.

religious freedom: forcing faith-based values on others.

screaming: Hillary’s default mode of discourse whenever she raises her voice an octave–aka, “hysterical, “loud” feisty”, “shrill”, “nagging” and “shouting.”When Bernie or Trump, Cruz, Christie or Rubi) get assertive and do the same, it’s called being “forceful.”

tolerance: not being able to criticize Islamic violence, misogyny, homophobia, child abuse, tyranny, antisemitism, bigotry against Christians, etc. The Dem brand of tolerance is thus intolerant and threatens free speech.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, January 29-Feb. 4, 2016

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accommodation: pandering to American Muslims, LGBT freaks from central casting, and the grievance industry, all the while practicing:

Christianphobia: the War on Christmas, making Christians bake cakes for gay couples and marry them, etc.

compromise: selling out. In a Manichean world, there is not one second’s truce between good and evil.

courageous conservatives: evangelicals.

the earned-success system: another name for the Koch Brothers’ “movement for human well-being.” (see below) Contrasted to the “something for nothing” system exploited by freeloaders, welfare cheats, grievance-mongerers, etc.

gender wage gap: a largely fictional reality, but when women do earn less than men it’s because women make other personal choices.

honest brokers: any media hostile to Hillary, as opposed to the lapdog MSM, who are, by definition, the opposite of “truth seekers.”

a movement for human well-being: the free market, unleashed by fewer regulations, lower taxes and a massive cut in entitlements.

overcriminalization: persecution and prosecution of white collar crimes. Immunity from prosecution for business executives is one of the firebreaks protecting the free market system.

socialism: stealing

the Theory of Exploitivity: used by the Grievance Industry to explain any unpleasant white-black conflict.

tying the military’s hands behind their back: overly-restrictive rules of engagement hamper our ability to defeat ISIS. Aka, “getting the lawyers off the back of our military.” This is all of course shorthand for torture, mass bombing of civilians, and other war crimes.  Similar to the argument that we “would have won” in Iraq, Vietnam, etc., if the military had been allowed to fight the wars their way.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, January 20-27, 2016

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alarmists: the “climate change” crowd, Black Lives Matter, the “inequality”-mongering race hustlers, etc. The rhetorical tick here is to call anyone alarmed about something an “alarmist,” imply exaggerated and unwarranted “near- hysteria.”

facts: more significant and substantial than feelings: a man can’t become a woman just because he feels like one. In our neo-romantic, narcissistic age, feelings and subjectivity have been given unwarranted sway.

govern: keep on spending

hereditary Americans: no half-breeds or foreigners.

the new totalitarianism: liberalism, especially Lena Dunham-style feminism, which uses vulgar and obscene shock tactics to corrode and devalue human decency and break all connections with the home, natural families, God, and conscience.

opportunity inequality: the real problem with the American economy, rather than income inequality. This classic non-sequitur changes the subject from income–something measurable–to opportunity, an amorphous panacea. In between actual income and net worth numbers and the notion of an ever-our-of-reach equality of opportunity is the myth of upward mobility: there’s a quick trip up the ladder if you can get on the bottom rungs. In real life, though, if there is a ladder most of the rungs are missing, or reserved for those who already hold power, privilege, money, and social networks.

ordered liberty: preserved only by limiting government because liberty and government are antithetical to one another.

reforms: drastically cutting budgets for environmental protection, public safety, social welfare, women’s health care and reproductive rights, consumer protection, oversight of the finance industry, etc. “Reform” sounds positive, innovative, improving, whereas “budget cuts” sound heartless and draconian.

taxing: taking

unilateral disarmament:  any cuts to the rate of growth of the defense budget, not to the defense budget itself.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, January 12-18, 2016

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abusers: Bill and Hillary. Trump clearly is not interested in justice, truth, or any sort of linguistic precision. In feminist theory, abuse is much more widely defined than being sexual. Rather, even physical abuse is a manifestation of much wider patterns and practices of misogyny,  inequality, the bullying use of power dynamics, social privilege, etc. Even though  Hillary’s political positions work to counter these deeper forms and drivers of abuse, whereas Trump’s perpetuate them, Trump can still benefit from playing the “abuse” card.

American flag: a symbol of hate to Dems hellbent on historical revisionism.

diversity: white genocide

ethnic identity: has replaced character as the predominant emotion and social strategy among unlawful immigrants.

illegal immigrant champions: well-connected urban elites using poor and illegal immigrants to boost their own careers.

lawless: The Obama presidency, from start to finish. The GOP strategy to delegitimize Obama from the very beginning of his presidency by never voting for any of his policies.

political correctness: is killing us, according to Ted Cruz.

political issues: any discussion of Black Lives Matter or income inequality. Dismissively and reflexively reducing inequality and poverty to mere “political issues” denigrates and undercuts them. When someone characterizes dissent as “just political,” they are in effect saying that it is one-sided, distorted, and essentially disingenuous.

the poverty-industrial complex: education in America, and all the self-serving bureaucrats and teachers’ unions that have destroyed American education and perpetuated poverty and inequality.

racial issue: any charge–or any conversation–about so-called police violence. Charges of police misbehavior are always about race, never about policing.

salad bowl: has replaced the multiracial melting pot as the dominant immigrant narrative in the US because the current generation of immigrants refuses to be part of American culture or American values and insists on “multiculturalism,” aka “diversity:”see above.” Resentment has replaced assimilation, a sense of entitlement has replaced gratitude.

unapologetic: a key feature of a robust US foreign policy. Apologies are a sign of weakness and retreat.

ungracious: Obama’s general attitude toward anyone who disagrees with him. In Tea Party logic, “graciousness” means surrendering to their positions–everything else is truculence and shows a general lack of “dignity” and “class.” Calling Obama ungracious carries the subtext that he is uncivilized–Kenyan, in fact.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, January 6-11, 2016

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average Americans: Trump’s populist base. When he’s elected, according to the Wall Street Journal, the PC crowd will no longer be able to use their litany of self-righteous cant to intimidate the real America and coerce social conformity:

Identity, gender, gender-neutral, diverse, inclusive, patriarchy, workplace harassment, multiculturalism, dead white males, sexism, racism, organic, “privileged,” hate speech, speech codes, prayer in schools, affirmative action, respecting our differences, micro-aggressions, trigger warnings.

deportation force: Trump’s SS.

do whatever is necessary: Donald Trump’s wild card, his get out of jail free card, his pretext for authoritarianism or worse.

the European Sickness: tolerance for immigrants.

getting tough with terrorists: the long-awaited and much-needed return to waterboarding and other forms of torture.

gun rights: integral to the American way of life.

injustice: a law of nature toy can’t fight.

Mexicans, Muslims and Syrians: the enemy hoards pouring across the border to take over America. Stopping the invaders at the border will bring back  American jobs, end the threat of Radical Islamic Terrorism, and restore America’s standing in the world–in short, end eight years of American decline, stagnation, hardship, and depression. Resorting to an ersatz ethnonationalism to supposedly combat an entirely fictional immigrant crisis –and an entirely fictional sense of national hopelessness and fear–is the classic rhetorical technique of offering fake solutions to fake problems

the people: anyone opposed to the federal government–in other words, Tea Partiers. (see also, “average Americans,” above. Note that when the Malheur Militia claim that federal land actually belongs to the people, they exclude Native Americans, who “owned” the land before white settlement.

reality-based correctives: inconvenient truths that undermine Dems’ narratives of a peaceful, just, clean, and compassionate world, with no bad guys. Muslim and Mexican rapists, for example. Putin, ISIS, and the Chinese, etc. Assumes that only the Tea Party knows the “correct” version of reality. By definition, then, the Tea Party defines reality.

until we find out what the hell is going on: what’s going on in Trump’s America is a resurgence of fascism, xenophobia, and racism. The “we” in this sentence of course only refers to Trump supporters. By the time the rest of us “find out,” we’ll have been stripped of our civil liberties.

you can disagree with….: you can disagree with the methods of the Malheur Militia, or with Donald Trump’s positions on immigration and border controls, but not with their principles. They’ve made their point, and they’ve succeeded in having us talk about federal land grabs, illegal immigrants, and the very real threat of fundamental Islamic terrorism. Apparently in this classic rhetorical mode, the ends  justify the means, even if the means are illegal, seditious, exclusionary, bigoted, based on false premises, paranoid, or demagogic. Beginning a rhetorical attack by conceding ground is a classic technique, replete with such phrases as “I may not agree with all his facts”, “it’s not the way I would have gone about doing that”, or “of course we don’t condone those specific policies or statements”, etc. These false concessions and qualifications are always followed by a “but”, the telltale conjunction in the demagogue’s arsenal.

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Dec. 28, 2015-January 5, 2016

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academia/media/entertainment (AME) Axis : the Cultural Establishment

beleagured: white men. (see “menacing”, below.)

God’s authority: Ted Cruz’s mandate. Or, as Marco Rubio put it, “God’s rules always win.”

grab: Dem’s preferred method of unconstitutional governing; e.g., landgrab, power grab, gun-grab. aka, “overreach”.

hostage to Iran: America under Obama’s “leadership.”

internationalism: treason

liberal hobbyhorses: climate change, the gender pay gap, police violence, gun safety, institutional racism, etc., aka, crusades. This term skillfully infantilizes all Dem policies and principles, likening them to childish naivete. Part of the meme of the GOP as the Daddy Party.

menacing: non-whites. (see “beleagured”, above)

Pax Americana: The only reliable organizing principle for the world. America uber alles.

quasi-isolationism: not wanting to “make the sand glow” by bombing other countries.

sober political choices: electing Tea Party candidates. In the past, “sober” meant electing Nixon and Reagan in the face of America’s declining world standing.

standoff: when militia members stand up for their rights against federal landgrabs. Note that when African-Americans offer civil resistance, it’s called a riot and the armed response is swift, and when Muslim Americans are involved, it’s called a terrorist act and deadly force is swift.

turtles over people: the federal governments approach to “land management.”

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary: Key memes, dog-whistles, canards, euphemisms, fake outrages, and obsessions in the Wall Street Journal and other GOP language factories, Dec. 24-28, 2015

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cheap allegations: any Dem claims, criticisms of the Tea Party or marshaling of “facts.” Cheap as in “cheap shots”: sneaky, easy  sucker punches, with no honor.

chess vs. checkers: Putin the strategist vs. Obama the tactician.

Christmas shaming: part of the Dem War on Christmas. It’s even un-pc now to say “Merry Christmas.”

doomsayers: anyone critical of Tea Party policies, especially when it comes to the “climate change” hoax. (aka, “alarmists”).  When the Tea Party  offers their version of a declining and doomed America, about how America is “losing”, its international reputation ruined, and the economy  in shambles, they call themselves realists, but when the Dems talk about climate change , police shootings of unarmed citizens or inequality, they are accused of spreading a sense of doom and negativity in a kind of Primal Scream.  It’s OK for the Tea Party to say the sky is falling, but not for the Dems to say the sea is rising.

the entitlement crisis: the fact that there are any federal safety net and social welfare programs

the Federal Office of Diversity and Inclusion: coming soon to the reign of Clinton II.

Hispandering: any Hillary overture to Hispanic voters.

honest conversations about race: racist.  Campus “safe spaces” are only “safe” if “conversation” is one-sided and politically correct.

litany of demands: any liberal policies or positions. Calling it a litany likens it to an orthodox chant.

Obama’s legacy: chiseled out at the expense of America’s security.

scientific consensus: a myth, part of the “climate change” hoax. The ultimate arrow in the Tea Party war on science.

supine: the Supreme Court whenever it sides with the Dems.