by WorldTribune Staff, November 20, 2018
A huge takeaway from the 2018 midterm elections is that the Left is “waging – and winning – a linguistic war,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.
“ ‘Racism’ is a word that is so commonly used by left-wing news media and politicians to describe conservative positions that one poll shows that 61 percent of Democrats believe Republicans are racist/bigoted/sexist,” Gingrich wrote in a Nov. 17 op-ed for Fox News.com.
“We are entering a dark period where freedom of speech becomes intimidation by the Left, where freedom of association becomes mobs threatening violence, where the very meanings of words are twisted to browbeat conservatives into silence,” Gingrich wrote.
Related: ‘Cognitive security’ offensives needed if America is to join the ‘war of ideas’, May 30, 2017
“Once they win the language fight, those on the Left can claim moral superiority,” Gingrich wrote. “Once they have gained moral dominance, they can do anything to their opponents because they will be presumed right, and their opponents will be presumed wrong.”
In the new playbook of the Left, Gingrich wrote, “Defense of the Founding Fathers is called the defense of white racist slave owners. Defense of American identity is called an act of white male domination. Wanting to obey the law in counting votes is called an effort to suppress votes and disenfranchise poor people, minorities and immigrants.”
Conservatives, Gingrich wrote, “must develop new strategies, approaches and skills to defeat the linguistic war of condemnation, hatred and intimidation being waged every day by the left. This is a new era with new requirements. The skills and strategies of the past will simply fail.”
Gingrich continued: “Developing the conservative solution to the Left’s linguistic war is a major step toward winning elections in 2020 – and preserving our society.”
The Left’s “interest in winning the language war is only the first step toward legitimizing real threats and mob behavior,” Gingrich wrote. The former speaker cited a recent example “of the left-wing fascist threats and their impact” coming from Seattle, where an independent candidate was “intimidated” into withdrawing from a City Council race by left-wing thugs.
The candidate who withdrew, Christopher Rufo, wrote to his supporters:
“I had hoped that this would be a campaign of ideas, but I quickly discovered that there are some activists in this city who have no interest in ideas. Since the campaign launch, they have harassed and threatened my family nonstop. I was prepared to take the heat, but unfortunately, they have focused their hatred on my wife and children. They’ve made vile racist attacks against my wife, attempted to get her fired from her job, and threatened sexual violence.
“They even posted hateful messages to my 8-year-old son’s school message board. I know that as the race progresses, they will ratchet up their hate-machine and these attacks will intensify significantly. …
“I know in my heart that our cause is just and our ideas would make Seattle a better place. But my primary responsibility is to make sure my family is healthy, happy, and safe. That’s not possible in our current political climate, which has been overtaken by polarization and the ever-present threat of violence.
“I’ve learned that our problem here in Seattle is much deeper than the city council’s policies – we have created a culture of intolerance that is deeply destructive to the common good.”
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