By: Garry Hamilton
For some time now I’ve been struck by the willingness of leftist debaters to use made-up, false, and capricious labels to attack rational debaters whose honesty will not let them assign false labeling to their opponents.
The cost in momentum that results from having to defend against lies and slander is often insurmountable, especially when media, who are supposed to report the facts and events, actively redact and fabricate information. That they are a trusted channel makes their perfidy the more damaging. We see it enough that none of us are surprised any more and open discussion of it is commonplace.
What’s even worse is that when we actually do accurately label them, they don’t perceive it as an insult.
We: “You’re a socialist.” They: “What’s wrong with that?”
We: “You’re a communist.” They: “You know, communism gets a bad rap . . .”
We: “You’re a Marxist.” They: “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
The problem with this is not that the labels are wrong, but that the labels do not go deep enough. They don’t penetrate past the point where the label is broadly unacceptable in the public eye. While they might argue publicly that socialism is okay, it would be harder to argue publicly that thievery is okay.
There’s a term I learned years ago that refers to people whose intent is to disrupt, distress, and destroy: merchant of chaos.
It may not be the only term that applies, but it’s accurate and very hard to argue the merits favorably in public. Chaos isn’t something you can really sell, except to the wholly committed, hard-core believers. Thievery isn’t something you can really sell. Baby killer isn’t something that sells, although they’re working on it. Eugenicist is borderline; they’re pushing the “misunderstood” angle. Murderer is more accurate, though unfortunately there’s deniability.
The point is that, in addition to choosing terms that are correct and accurate when framing arguments against those who mean to enslave or destroy us, it’s important to go deep enough past the threshold of public discomfort that you penetrate both deniability and arguable merit.
People who want to bring down the US economy are fostering chaos. People who want to “redistribute” wealth are advocating theft. People who support “political correctness” (and really mean it) in broadcasting and print are endorsing extortion.
Chaos, theft, extortion. And none of these is hyperbole. The umbrella term that encompasses all three is oppression. The left has a real button on oppression. They’ve used oppression as “their” attack word for so long it really belongs to them, and we should not be allowed to use it. Oppression is another one of those things you can’t really sell.
Find the words. There’s no point in being nice; only the weak and the sissies are nice. Politeness is pointless.
Unmask them, call them by their true names. Make them defend for a change. What they do is indefensible, but they will distort and pervert in their effort to dodge being called what they really are.
As one of our warrior friends admonishes: Engage.
It’s really up to us. The mainlining media have been subverted and are working for the enemies of liberty. We don’t even really have adequate descriptive terms for them, as their crime is new enough in our experience that we lack the proper name for it.
Civilized people have long regarded those who convey their communications as above and outside the fray. In times past, the herald and courier, the messenger and scribe were held sacred. The messenger passed through the battle lines unmolested, identified by his white flag. They were not participants in the dispute or contest of the moment, rather they were noncombatants, and harm to a messenger was severely punished.
The journalists of today still trade on the sacred names: Herald, Courier, Messenger, while selling themselves into the service of chaos, of theft, of extortion, and crafting phrases of familiarity and comfort to mask the villainy to which they are now party. They are become pretenders, scoundrels for hire, lending their flag of safe passage to cloak the true meaning of pronouncements of madness offered as revelations of salvation.
They are corrupt, craven usurpers of their trust.
Find the words. Unmask them and their masters.
Name them for what they are.
