How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy

[tannybogus]

Our essential reliance on civil discourse—and the big trouble that awaits us when we try to function without it—is the same idea that Jeffrey Feldman explores, far more pointedly, in his new book, Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy. Feldman, whose indispensable Frameshop blog has done a lot of the heavy lifting in deconstructing the way the American right uses and abuses language, briskly and thoughtfully deconstructs seven specific ways 30 years of us-versus-them rhetoric has polarized the country, forced us into unnecessary conflicts against each other and everyone else, and virtually destroyed our ability to govern ourselves.

For each of the seven topics Feldman calls out, there's one conservative spokesperson who's led the rhetorical race to the bottom -- and one specific long-term conservative political agenda item that got served as a result. In his first example, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre sells a "vision of the world where violent assaults on individuals are inevitable, all laws and institutions are powerless to stop them, and the only guarantee for survival is for citizens to be prepared to fire a gun at the oncoming danger."

Then there's Pat Buchanan, leading the charge against immigration, which he insists is a calculated, well-planned "Reconquista" which has enlisted millions of triumphant Mexicans to invade America and exact their terrible revenge for the defeat of Santa Anna 160 years ago. Our only defense against the barbarian horde is to kill or be killed. Feldman notes that this kind of overheated eliminationist framing has been a boon to corporate conservatives, because it's made it impossible to have a nuanced (or even coherent) conversation that acknowledges NAFTA's grotesque destruction of the economy and the environment on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.

Ann Coulter's success is largely built on her ability to take any issue and instantly use it to justify violence against the right wing's favorite targets. Feldman traces the way this dubious gift has defined the trajectory of her career, culminating in her insistence that liberals need to be eliminated because they're traitors who are ready to hand the country over to al-Qaida. That's always the bottom line with Ann—and that quickness to write off anyone capable of a creative or nuanced thought creates a climate that stifles our ability to solve problems together, which is the essence of democratic government. It also effectively discourages people from participating in politics at all, lest they become targets of people who've learned their moves from Ann. "Coulter's rhetoric," writes Feldman, "poisons the soil in which civic identity takes root."

Feldman goes on to unmask Bill O'Reilly's bluster as a smokescreen that makes it impossible to talk seriously about national security and the things that really threaten us; John Gibson's "War on Christmas" as an assault on our ability to teach diversity in schools; and James Dobson's weird ideas about child discipline and family authority as a noxious cognitive pattern that influences the way we approach larger issues of community, authoritarianism, citizen discipline, and even foreign policy (inasmuch as some policymakers tend to view smaller countries exercising their sovereignty as wayward children in need of correction).

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/outright-barbarism-vs-civil-society

:spank:

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Kick, rec, bookmarked, added the book to my list of "must reads". Thank you for posting. n/t

[tannybogus]

6. "Politing someone to death"

Thanks for the welcome and the rest.The Dems and others have got to learn some way to try to
extinguish this type of discourse. I am from SC, and the people in Charleston
who still consider themselves the Nobles, have a technique they use if they don't
like you or agree with you. I call it "politing you to death." Their manners, vocabulary
and facts became exquisite. It was no less lethal and it got their point across. It also made
others mad because their goading didn't work. That and using humor can be effective. Making fun
of someone always exposes them.
:dem:

[annabanana]

2. Thank you for posting this link!

(and welcome to DU!)

[Supersedeas]

3. thank you for posting this and for the link

[izzie]

4. I do not get this new GOP and I grew up where everyone was GOP

I can not re-call any one that did not vote in that party but this is what gets me. No one in the family liked guns, war or in general killing any thing. Every one went to church weekly and not one off the wall church in the lot. All the little white church down the street then this 'new' Gop comes along that just love killing things, people animals the earth. Who knows what and every one has to be some type of church going 'crazy'. Where did these people come from any how?

[Ian David]

5. Thanks, Rush....

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/19192/