The right think they need to reclaim the language of politics. Our job is to make that much harder to do.

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I was fascinated to have this drawn to my attention yesterday:

The new magazine that has published this looks to have an appalling range of authors working for it, but it is best to know your enemy.

More importantly, given the work that I am doing publishing a glossary is the particular article that is highlighted.

The language within the article is fevered, and almost paranoid.  This is typical:

Eventually, we need to dictate the terms of debate. If we only ever use the language of the left, we are fighting on their terms, on their ground and in their territory. We are charging up the hill. It does not matter that we are disagreeing with the left, but that we are being drawn into talking about issues they have decided are important, rather than issues that the right values.

Perversely, and amusingly, Gramsci is the apparent inspiration for this idea, of which this is also said:

Forging a new language will take effort, time and energy — of that, I am fully aware. The work is necessary; otherwise the Right cannot even know itself, never mind what it is fighting for. For instance, the Right needs to stop saying it is for “equality of opportunity” — equality is a left-wing or liberal principle; it is not a principle of the Right.

Delightfully, this was added:

The Right does not stand for equality of opportunity. It actually believes in inequality and should be unapologetic about that. Inequality is a productive force, largely because it lies both at the end and beginning of competition.

As I noted above, knowing one's enemy is wise.

Knowing what they are quite specifically up to is wiser still.

Being ready is best of all. I certainly feel that working on a glossary is the right thing to do right now, as will be the work on neoliberal myths that will follow on from it.


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