The Left’s Manipulative Use of Language
18th May 2021
In certain ways, it must be fun to be a left-winger. Pushing for any policy that seems socially just without the constraint of how it actually works out for people (i.e., ignoring the horrors left behind in socialism’s wake throughout history) makes things a whole lot easier. Sounds fun, too.
Just going with your heart and hoping for the best must be liberating. But the most fun leftists have must be when they sit around to talk about some of the dumb ways conservatives talk.
Language is, of course, crucial in a political debate. The left understands this better than the right. The left is also aided by the media, which will always use the left’s preferred phrasing.
To use one prominent example, if the left likes to use the word “pro-choice” and the right prefers “pro-abortion,” the press will go with “pro-choice.” On the other side of the debate, if those on the right prefer to be called “pro-life” but the left defines them as “anti-abortion,” the press will again defer to left-wing terminology and refer to those on the pro-life side as “anti-abortion,” even though that’s not the term they use to describe themselves.