Friday, January 23, 2015

"Evil" and Demonization Examples: 2007

EXAMPLES AND ANALYSIS: 2007 "Evil" and Demonization
"You [Republicans] don't have money to fund the war or [health care for] children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement...The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up, in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress."
-- Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), October 18, 2007.

Comment: This is a standard attribution of callousness, saying that your political opponent wants people to be killed, and is even entertained by it.

***
Political advocacy group MoveOn.org runs an ad in the New York Times suggesting that Gen. David Petraeus -- the head of U.S. forces in Iraq -- be referred to as "General Betray Us" in light of his testimony to Congress regarding the conflict in Iraq.
-- September 10, 2007.

Comment: This is standard name-calling, attributing sinister motives to those with whom you disagree.
 
***
A political ad run by the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton (D, NY) says that struggling American families and American soldiers are "invisible" to President George W. Bush.
-- August 14, 2007.

Comment: Another example of the claim that one's opponent is indifferent to the suffering of others.

***
"[Smaller, less intrusive government is] what makes America great, not this nanny government that Democrats want to give us, where government controls your entire life."
-- Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, July 30, 2007.

Comment: This is caricature. Democrats may want more intervention in the lives of Americans than Giuliani finds acceptable, but they do not want government to control people's entire lives any more than Republicans want to eliminate all government, including police departments.

***
"It is no comfort to watch as this generation's Know-Nothings bray against 'amnesty' from their anchor chairs and campaign lecterns, knowing that it gives hope to the people they hate."
-- The New York Times' editorial page, "The Immigration Deal," May 20, 2007.

Comment: This exhibits both of the standard ways of deriding your opponent: calling them stupid ("Know-Nothings"), and claiming they are motivated by sinister intentions (in this case, hatred).

***
Glenn Beck is "Satan’s mentally challenged younger brother".
-- Novelist and pundit Stephen King, February 1, 2007, referring to pundit Glenn Beck.

Comment: King is both demonizing Beck and calling him mentally deficient.

No comments: