The nazis, the soviets, Donald Trump, et. al. ad nauseam were and are naturals at power-messaging. Irrespective of the moral content of the message. In Trump’s case his super-power is dumbing-down hate.
The problem with political bumper-sticker ideology is that it can almost always be fixed (or derailed) by adding or subtracting a word. So while we spend the next interval in between mass shootings arguing over amendments and overreach, the next crazy fuck is reloading. The registered firearms in my house are not going to stop the next blood shed. Pretending and claiming they will is crazy fuckism at its worst.
Examples from The Marketing of Fascism vs the Meekness of Liberalism:
Problem: Black Communities at a social and judicial disadvantage.
Liberal Message: “Black Lives Matter”
Fascist Response: “ALL LIVES MATTER”
What the message should have been: BLACK LIVES ALSO MATTER (BLAM)
(Runner-Up: Black Lives Also Count - “BLAC”)
…
Problem: Homicide, especially with the use of guns.
Liberal Message: Gun Control
Fascist Response: “2A”. “GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.”
What the message should have been: GUN ACCESS CONTROL.
Also, the liberal counter response to the fascists’ “2A” dog-whistle should be R2A (Real 2A) Meaning, STOP CHERRY-PICKING THE CONSTITUTION, FASCISTS. 2A clearly includes the words A WELL REGULATED MILITIA.)
…
Problem: Homophobia and related sexual identity bullying.
Liberal Message: 2LGBTQ+
Fascist Response: WTFBTQ+
What the message should have been: ALL SEXUALITY MATTERS.
By the way, a much smarter fusion of the classic HUMAN RIGHTS does exist, called HRC (Human Rights Campaign). While it encompasses all human rights causes it is driven by the LGBTQ community.
…
Problem: Unplanned pregnancy, for a variety of reasons, unsolicited or otherwise.
Liberal Message: Pro-Choice.
Fascist Response: “PRO-LIFE”
What the message should have been: WOMEN ALSO MATTER (WAM)
…
The “Black Lives Matter” slogan was especially unfortunate. For a demographic that prides itself in its “inclusiveness” (liberals as a whole, not just blacks in this example), it sure did exclude everyone else there. As they do with LGBTQ. Dissonant messaging.
Sure, fascism will always try to delegitimize everything that threatens its agenda. That’s what they do. But let’s take the Gun Control movement. If liberals had been more clear in their mission they would have forced conservatives to counter with, “they’re coming for your ACCESS.” Yes, their shameless propaganda machine (AKA the NRA, aka the firearms industry) will still shoot for “they’re coming for your guns”, no doubt. But logical dissonance soon enough finds a way to self-own. It’s the access, stupid. You can’t fool all of the people, all of the time.
So especially knowing that’s what they do, when you launch your message don’t make it ridiculously easy for them to twist and shout you down. For a message to be powerful it must stump the delegitimizing machine. You must severely limit their response options, speed-up their retreat. Poor messaging may not be solely responsible for long, drawn-out social injustice, but it has been instrumental. And when you lose sight of the struggle this is what ends up happening: one hundred years from Civil War to Civil Rights. It doesn’t get much more painful than that.
Dr. ML King, Malcom X, and Muhammad Ali all spoke truth to power in the 1960s, one-hundred years after the bloody civil war. They were clear as a cloudless day, straight as a bullet. There was no confused hesitation, no intellectually cryptic code. But it took another half a century for THEIR message to find their way into our mainstream today. Why? Certainly not because they weren’t clear. Perhaps because their followers botched and diluted one too many messages.
The latest message casualty the progressives just fed to the machine is “Critical Race Theory. “Theory”? Jesus Christ, who’s writing these messages for the progressive movement? Do they think that by making it sound like an advanced course at an elite university it will scare the undereducated? Good grief, snap out of it. It’s called RACE HISTORY.
Urgently reconsider your compromised messaging, progressives, or you’re going to keep getting beat up in every street fight. We all know you’ll win eventually, but why the masochism? One hundred years the first time around, fifty the second, what are you shooting for, a Christ complex? Why are you sacrificing the message through either half-baked or cryptic messaging? Weakness in what you say and how you say it feeds the fascist machine.
