For Many People, Politics is About Symbols, not Words

Jim Mason
Feb 23, 2024

Swastikas, Flags, Maga Hats

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Liberal thinkers and politicians, understanding that problems of government are complicated, express their ideas in many words, including political platforms, that many people don’t have the ability or interest to read.

Conservative thinkers and politicians may do likewise, but their main message to semi-literate people is: Don’t change things, or Go back to the “Good Old Days”.

Radical politicians, without sound ideas for how to improve human affairs, rely on catchy slogans and images that people can easily recognize and remember.

Liberal thinkers might do well to adopt some of the techniques of the radicals, in addition to expounding their ideas in written essays that are harder to understand.

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Jim Mason
Jim Mason

Written by Jim Mason

I study language, cognition, and humans as social animals. You can support me by joining Medium at https://jmason37-80878.medium.com/membership