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Home » The words “dictator” and “fascist” mean whatever the left says they mean …

The words “dictator” and “fascist” mean whatever the left says they mean …

The New Neo Posted on by

… and the Humpty Dumpty left says they mean “Trump.”

And why do I call them the “Humpty Dumpty left”? This is why:

`And only ONE for birthday presents, you know. There’s glory for you!’

`I don’t know what you mean by “glory,”‘ Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don’t– till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘

`But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument,”‘ Alice objected.

`When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.’

`The question is,’ said Alice, `whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.’

`The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master– that’s all.’

The question is who is to be master, and the left has been master of this for quite some time. It thought it would continue to be master, but at the moment it’s not. Let’s try to keep it that way:

Comments

The words “dictator” and “fascist” mean whatever the left says they mean … — 11 Comments

  1. From 1946:

    The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies “something not desirable.” The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another.

    But he was not limiting this remark to how the Left uses language:

    Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like Marshal Pétain was a true patriot, The Soviet press is the freest in the world, The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution, are almost always made with intent to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most cases more or less dishonestly, are: class, totalitarian, science, progressive, reactionary, bourgeois, equality….

    …Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase — some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse — into the dustbin, where it belongs.

  2. People and politicians on the right invariably fail to appreciate the importance of language and its impact on perceptions. The left is almost always on top of this.

    Most infuriating to me, is how the left will shape the debates very early on by choosing the nomenclature and language used to discuss it. Then right-wingers blythely carry on the discussion using the left’s language, thinking these distinctions are only semantics & therefore unimportant. They’re NOT.

    I don’t believe that “the perception IS the reality,” but in politics, it comes pretty damn close.

    Because the people on the right are so bad at this, we now have a situation where 40+% of the electorate actually believes that the left are defenders of democracy, when nothing could be further from the truth.

    An important point about “democracy” is the distinction between unbridled and unrestricted majoritarian rule (i.e. “mobocracy”), and a representative republic such as ours. The Dems would love the former as long as they can control the mob through the media.

  3. “An important point about “democracy” is the distinction between unbridled and unrestricted majoritarian rule (i.e. “mobocracy”), and a representative republic such as ours. The Dems would love the former as long as they can control the mob through the media.”

    True for the left leadership. For the run of the mill libs I know, they think pure democracy is a more moral form of government. Like everything else with them, try to point to the history and general failure of pure democracy….like talking to Humpty’s wall

  4. Trump has made a good start, time will tell if he has the ruthlessness required to finish the job.
    We kept bringing a knife to a gun fight and were puzzled at our lack of success. Our ‘leaders’ refused to fight with the weapons the other side employed and were committed to America suiciding with honor.

  8. I still have a copy of Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism,” written before he went mad over Trump. Almost all of the people currently throwing the word “fascism” around have no information about actual historical fascists. For them it only means “people we don’t like.”

  9. If you want to see how bad ” pure democracy” is , read about Athens during the Peloponnesian War.
    And the very real Athenian Empire of that period is an an example of how , yes, Democracies will invade other territory.

  10. And what is this nonsense about the US taking over Gaza!????
    Trump wasn’t elected to get the US into that kind of thing!

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