What Are You Talking About?

There are many differences between the left and the right these days. What constitutes a threat? What does it mean to be a patriot? Who causes an economic downfall? Plus a plethora of other dissimilarities that cause arguments and division. But one thing not often addressed is the meaning of the words we use. For instance, people on the right generally take the phrase “support the troops” to mean, support the war the troops happen to be fighting. To people generally on the left, you cannot support the troops by sending them to fight an unwinnable, aggressive war. Same phrase, different meanings to different people. Both sides sympathize with the soldiers, but have different ways of showing it. It helps to understand what a person intends when they use a word that insinuates one thing to one group and has an entirely different meaning to another group.

Some other words and phrases:

Socialism: To the right the word conjures up images of Stalin and Mao, the government taking control of all aspects of our lives. The actual definition, according to Webster’s: “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” That definition should leave room for variations and degrees. That is not the case on the right. Although all societies have varying degrees of socialism, the right’s use of the word leaves no room for anything but absolutes. Fire departments, schools and highways do not figure in as something awful and something to be feared, but they none-the-less constitute a degree of socialism.

Authoritarianism: To the left the word conjures up images of Stalin and Mao, the government taking control of all aspects of our lives. It involves the government spying on its citizens and using wars on intangibles to take away rights we are guaranteed by our Constitution. It doesn’t mean collectively helping those that need our help.

Freedom: To the right the word means freedom from taxes, freedom from having to be forced to help others. To some it means the freedom from government interference in all facets in our lives. In the second part of the definition there is a huge overlap with regard to the left and the right. It is the first part which causes contention. Everyone knows that in a society, no one is completely free because ones actions affect others. It is where to draw the line. To the left providing a safety net is not only the right thing to do, it also increases freedom as it decreases worry about the future. To the left, generally, taking a few dollars out of our paychecks is not nearly the crime against freedom that is posed by the war on drugs.

Fear of gays: For some on the right, gay people are “the other.” Gay people want to change life as they know it and forever move away from the comfortable world they grew up in all those decades ago. Some even believe – against all evidence and personal experience to the contrary – that these gay people are choosing to be homosexual. Many on the right spend a lot of time obsessing about gay people, but not much time spent thinking about the fact that outside of personal preference – that has no effect on anyone else – they are just the same as any other person.

Fear of homophobes/bigots: Most on the left don’t fear people who are gay or people from a different race. But they do fear those who fear the other. And although many on the right say that racism is over and that issues like gay marriage don’t rise to the level of civil rights, most on the left – rightly, and with historical facts to back it up – see that there is a great danger to making any group less than the rest. It is not just the blatantly obvious fact that no one group is superior or inferior, it is also the fact that treating one group differently means there is a group or groups of people being mistreated. To a person on the left, it is simply a matter of treating people how you want to be treated.

Class warfare: To the right, class warfare means taxing the rich. Which the right is told by Fox News and right-wing radio on a daily basis is unfair and will take away jobs. They believe that anytime the government or the citizens want to increase taxes on the rich, they are taking away money that was honestly earned. They are told that the rich pay – pick any high number, those statistics are butchered out of all meaning anyway by the propagandists – far more than their fair share, and any increase is simply theft.

Class warfare: To the left class warfare means a steady decrease in the standard of living for the middle class and an increase in the number of people living in poverty. They see that the richest four hundred people have increased their wealth by six and a half times over the last thirty years – in real dollars while the bottom ninety percent of the county has seen their wealth decrease during the same time period. They have seen that it is easier every year for large corporations to buy politicians, and over the last few decades the amount of taxes corporations pay has fallen, and so have services. The left sees a connection. The left also sees a change in trade policy, put in place by politicians - that have been put in place by corporations, which hurt the American worker. That, in the left’s view, is your class warfare.

Terrorism: To the right the word terrorism invokes the specter of a Muslim man intent on killing for Islam. To the left it means any act of violence done by a person trying to affect political change by inducing fear. It is not limited to any race or religion.

Every definition and every ideal espoused by the left and the right here is a generalization. There are a multitude of variations and definitions and of course some overlap. My hope is that people will see the truth in the theme of the article and not take issue with the fact I may have mischaracterized their particular viewpoint on a particular topic. That is not my intention. I do realize I may have been more generous to the left than to the right. But on a day where a great number of people on the right are seriously asserting that Glenn Beck is in any way like Martin Luther King – other than they both drank water – it’s hard not to assume something is seriously wrong with the way the right is thinking. And the way they are defining words.

Any more questions about where they are trying to take us??????

All too often I'm finding myself in some warped discussion with a right-winger, and end up exasperated, laughing at them, or just plain dumb founded.

I've probably gotten away from actually listening to them, and asking probing questions about their viewpoint, opting instead for something of a wishful thinking stance. "If I keep giving you facts, examples, history, and common sense, you will have to come around." And I think many of us know that approach seldom works.

You seem to have touched on something: the need to understand just what they are saying. As a sales person I was taught to listen and ask probing questions to discover the prospects actual needs. From there I was able to fill the actual need, and not simply sell them something fancy but that they had little use for.

The TP's (TeaPartiers) have specific needs and desires. I actually think that in many cases those needs and desires aren't fully formed even in the minds of the individuals. Asking them questions, with sincerity and respect, can help them solidify that. From there, we can listen and learn to speak their 'language' (which means true communication.

Maybe, just maybe, then we can make some headway towards closing this huge partisan gap we have now.

It's well written and makes you think. That's what this site should be about.

at every winger I know, but I doubt they'd read it.

Good job, 20; you 'scored' again!