The Absence of Shades of Meaning in American Politics

(source: Washington Post Wonkblog)

In the title of the Wonkblog article, “Donald Trump Turns up the Racially Charged Rhetoric with Three Simple Words,” the word “rhetoric” here is clearly used to imply a means of persuasion by employing dishonest, emotional buzz-words or by impressing upon a reader with appeals to passions, prejudices, or perceived injustices.

(source: youtube.com)

Trump describes himself as the “law and order candidate,” making the case that “we have to bring law and order back to this country,” completely ignoring the widely agreed upon idea that crime is down everywhere in America. While members of both parties agree that the criminal justice system in this country is too severe and disproportionately punishes people of color, Trump’s language can only be understood as at odds with this definition of criminal justice in the national debate: that crime is down; the system is too severe; and racial attitudes bleed through into its administration.

What is interesting about Trump’s particular usage is it is not based on facts, examples, or even logic. In fact, this usage brings to mind a form of the fallacy of omission, in which the person making the argument leaves out certain evidence or information that would otherwise disprove his or her case.

(Source: blog.crazyegg.com)

But, perhaps worse still is the fact that Trump, for some reason, seems to have ignored the subtler—and more controversial—meanings imparted by this concept of law and order: that law and order conjures the carceral state that grew up in the aftermath of the 1990s crime bill that was signed into law by then President Bill Clinton—and that many argue has disproportionately harmed the black community by targeting them and incarcerating them in the millions.

(Source: Salon)

This flawed reasoning is known by many names, the most common of which is stacking the deck, but this lack of sensitivity to subtle connotative meanings of words and ideas is difficult to get past when the well-being and full and equal treatment of an entire segment of our population hangs in the balance.