I Hate Political Euphemisms
Today I was reading a blog posting on BlueOregon when it finally hit me: when did “progressive” become the latest new hip euphasmism for “liberal”?
I hate political euphemisms. Liberals are liberals. Constantly using the term “progressive” makes me wonder if the idea is more about changing things just for the sake of change, rather than what’s best for society.
This isn’t a partisan issue. Instead of talking about being conservative, we hear Republicans espousing “traditional values”.
I hate political euphemisms. Conservatives are conservatives. Making me listen to “traditional values” makes me wonder if the values are being touted just because “that’s the way we’ve always done things” rather than what’s best for society.
If opinionated folks would spend half as much time trying to come up with real solutions to problems as the amount of time they spend coming up with ways to polish their image, we’d all live in a happier world.
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I think it initially happened back in the 00s, the 60s, then again in 2003.
Coming up with solutions to problems is exactly what the Democratic Party has been doing all along.
The trouble is, nobody listens to their solutions.
People listen to what Republicans have to say. Even though what they offer is feelings, and not actual policy or governance.
So re-framing the message becomes important if one wishes people to actually listen to and accept and enact the policy…
Re-branding is all the rage - to make things sound as positive as possible. That’s why both sides of the abortion debate, for example, use “pro-”: pro-choice and pro-life. It also automatically paints the opponents as “anti”.
Same with “progressive”.