Pro-choice / Pro-life
Wardrobe malfunction (okay, everyone recognizes it already as meaningless obfuscation)
Death tax (instead of inheritance tax)
Family values
Slight hijack - What phrases from Clinton’s administration will be remembered as propaganda?
“The era of big government is over.”
“The Contract With America.”
Hate speech/crime
Sorry, but that was Newt Gingrich, *not * Bill Clinton or his administration.
Somehow, I can’t envision those phrases being replaced, or passing out of currency. Abortion is the definitively intractable issue. It can’t be resolved by one final victory, like slavery was. Whichever side is out of power at the moment will always be plotting its resurgence. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=266192
That won’t change until there is some new technology, widely accepted and widely available, that almost completely eliminates unwanted pregnancies.
“Fighting Ignorance since 1973”
All those Army/Navy recruitment catch phrases…
Yesterday I was watching a World War One documentary about the british “Pals” regiments, volunteers recruited en masse by recruitment campaigns, sent to the western front, where they were slaughtered en masse… Ad break… “This program is brought to you by the US Army…” … Cut to US Army Recruitment campaign… Oh the irony!
I didn’t say they would necessarily be replaced, but hopefully looked at with a little more skepticism as to their self-identified priorities. Pro-choice or pro-life implies that the opposition to each position is anti-choice or anti-life respectively. The terms “choice” and “life” are a bit too big and vague to accurately tackle the nuanced principles and philosophies around abortion. While these terms may continue to be used, the same as other phrases previously associated with propaganda are, hopefully people will recognize that the terms inherently group people into inflexible, politically-maniuplated categories that naturally polarizes any discussion of the issues.
But, that’s my point. Discussion of abortion is always going to be polarized and polarizing. So long as it remains an issue at all (which is to say, indefinitely), I don’t think we’re capable of outgrowing that.
Many issues are polarized and polarizing, but people don’t necessarily ascribe binary, political labels to them - the death penalty, the existence of God, etc. Most important, however, is that these labels weren’t written in stone somewhere, they were consciously and deliberately developed to express a political statement designed to close off discussion rather than foster it. In this case, the labels themselves have become a substitute for reasoned, principled thought rather than an expression of it.
Are you sure about that? Abortion as a political issue is pretty much dead here. After struggle in the past, all significant players can live with the status quo. It has been a long time since I heard any politician bring up the issue at all (either way.) The last time the issue really was in the news was ca. 2000 when there was disagreement within the Catholic church about their policy.
I know that the debate is much more heated in the US, but just as it isn’t universal across countries, it can change over time.
Hah! Next you’ll be telling me Germans don’t try to seriously get Creationism taught in the classroom!
I cannot recall.
Most countries in Europe are “post-Christian societies,” from what I hear. You have nothing like our level of general religious belief – and zeal. Nothing like our religious right (which nowadays encompasses conservatives Protestants and Catholics). And leftists are subject to the same disease – same way of thinking, different content.
I’m confident that 10 years from now, 20, American activists on both sides of the abortion issue will still be acting like the self-righteous clowns in Citizen Ruth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Ruth
“We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”
We can also add this week’s “16 days” (as in “Iran can produce a nuclear weapon in _______”) to the list.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell.” People will think nothing of asking or telling.
“Same-sex marriage.” It will just be called “marriage.”
“The gay agenda.” Self-explanatory.
You’re doing a heck of a job Brownie.