Query: Pejoratives for Liberals

Tim Frazer tcf at MACOMB.COM
Sat Sep 23 21:10:39 UTC 2000


I hope everyone will read Robin Lakhoff's new book, "Language Wars."
Conservatives, who still mostly control public media and therefore public
discourse, have succeeded in making "liberal" a pejorative.  No one runs for
office as a "liberal"; you have to call yourself a "progressive" or
something else.  "Conservative" is still much more acceptable.  Bush can
call himself a "compassionate conservative" but Gore would not dare call
himself a "pragmatic liberal."  "Feminist" has become a bad word, too.
Plenty of other examples.

Another myth:  the "liberal media."  Not true.  Who, after all, owns all
that stuff?  Anyway, read Robin's book.  She can make the case better than I
can.

Tim Frazer

----- Original Message -----
From: <AAllan at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: Query: Pejoratives for Liberals


> Interesting observation -
>
> << euphemisms where compassionate conservative won out over other
selections,
> none critical of the looney left >>
>
> There's no question, it seems to me, that ADS members tend to be liberal
in
> their politics; and implausible euphemisms are generally discovered by ADS
> folk in the rhetoric of conservatives and Republicans rather than
elsewhere.
>
> I've noticed this more blatantly in the National Council of Teachers of
> English committee on public doublespeak, whose awards for misleading the
> public almost always are critical of conservative expressions, not liberal
> ones. Quite understandable if you believe truth resides among the liberals
> and duplicity among conservatives.
>
> No great harm, as long as we don't pretend we're neutral observers. And as
> long as we don't apply a political test to members; which we don't. After
> all, as Barry often reminds us, William Safire is an ADS member.
>
> - Allan Metcalf



More information about the Ads-l mailing list