{"id":2973,"date":"2020-06-09T09:32:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T13:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2973"},"modified":"2020-06-09T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T14:25:40","slug":"language-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/06\/09\/language-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Racist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once, in our society, there was a range of ways to tell someone that they didn\u2019t understand racial issues.  It would start with saying they were insensitive, then perhaps unknowingly prejudiced.  If that didn\u2019t explain the problem, then defining their actions as openly prejudiced was the next step.  The last step reserved only for those most affirmably and knowingly against another race, was to call them a racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racist was reserved for the Ku Klux Klan and the axe handle carrying Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox.  Racist was the ultimate insult, not just of hate, but of poor judgment and ignorance.  I knew a lot of prejudiced people in my time, but I didn\u2019t know a lot of racists.  I felt I could change prejudice; reach them intellectually and emotionally.  There was hope.  I didn\u2019t want to know racists.  There was no hope for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not any more.  A look at social media, particularly Facebook<\/em>, sees the word racist used to describe almost all behavior that fails to recognize the reality of Black America.  Use the words \u201cAll Lives Matter\u201d and you are a racist.  Worry about the damage done in riots, without worrying about the life of George Floyd, and you are a racist.  Try to draw some nuance from the polarized debate about America today, and you are a racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Tale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The American story is about redemption, finding faith and knowledge and changing attitudes.  There seems to be no room in our polarized society for that:  once you are a \u201cracist\u201d you are branded beyond absolution.  There are lots of folks who overcame ignorance and prejudice, but it\u2019s hard to find the story of a racist overcoming the hate.  Sure there are those guys who used to be Neo-Nazis or KKK members, who now have \u201cseen the light\u201d.   But they are few, and ultimately not trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our polarized language isn\u2019t allowing for redemption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another example is the slogan \u201cDefund the Police\u201d.   Even those who use it regularly, explain that it really doesn\u2019t mean what it plainly says, take all the money away from the police department.  It is \u201cshorthand\u201d for repurposing police departments, taking the roles that don\u2019t suit policing and putting them where they belong.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug overdoses, mental health issues, traffic control all might be placed in some other category rather than \u201cpolicing\u201d.  Call 9-1-1 for a heart attack, and an ambulance arrives.  Call for a fire, and a fire truck comes.  9-1-1 for a break-in and the police show up.  Maybe for a mental health issue, the \u201cMental Health Service\u201d arrives.  Need to direct traffic, and the \u201cTraffic and Roads Service\u201d takes charge:  no guns, no arrest warrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of policing will still exist, and it would be a highly defined organization that would serve.  So would the role now filled by SWAT, and by process servers.  It just wouldn\u2019t all be placed under one organization.  Organizers should have painted \u201crepurpose the police\u201d or \u201credefine the police\u201d or \u201creorganize the police\u201d on the street.  But none of those terms cut through in our highly polarized language of today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divide or Conquer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hillary Clinton fell into the \u201cpolarization game\u201d with her \u201cbasket of deplorables\u201d.  Joe Biden is a more nuanced politician.  He refuses to fall into the polarization, refuses to allow the \u201cwriting off\u201d of large segments of America. Donald Trump is the opposite, the essential divider.  He is the \u201cperfect\u201d President for a nation hoping to be split.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again this morning he asked Americans not to believe their \u201clying eyes\u201d.  He told us that seventy-five year-old Martin Gugino, pushed down and injured by police in Buffalo, New York, was not actually hurt.  No, he was an \u201cANITFA provocateur\u201d.  The President states, publicly on Twitter, \u201c\u2026He fell harder than he was pushed. Was aiming a scanner\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gugino had a police helmet, not a scanner, in his hands.  The video evidence is clear.  But in our era of polarization, some can ignore their own eyes, and see what the President wants them to see.  Here\u2019s the video<\/a>:  SEE for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Label or Educate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Calling everyone who doesn\u2019t agree with you a racist won\u2019t solve the problem.  Demanding that they go down on their knees and ask forgiveness for white privilege won\u2019t work either.  Redemption is admitting sin, and attempting not to sin again.  We cannot bully everyone into the confessional of public opinion, and shame them into change.  But we can bully everyone into even harder positions and a more polarized society.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to educate, to persuade, and to move people from prejudice to acceptance.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps an old man from Scranton, Pennsylvania, himself in need of redemption for fifty years of differing statements, is the perfect fit for the job.\u00a0\u00a0Joe Biden understands the difference between prejudice and racism.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s fallen into the trap himself:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou ain\u2019t black if you vote for Trump\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And he\u2019s learning from his mistakes, just as we need to ask the nation to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are not just choosing between Trumpism and Democrats.  It\u2019s a choice between polarization and national union.  It\u2019s all in the language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racist Once, in our society, there was a range of ways to tell someone that they didn\u2019t understand racial issues.  It would start with saying they were insensitive, then perhaps unknowingly prejudiced.  If that didn\u2019t explain the problem, then defining their actions as openly prejudiced was the next step.  The last step reserved only for those most affirmably … Continue reading “Language Matters”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLanguage Matters : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an America increasingly divided, language makes the difference. 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