Pejorative political slogan
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[edit] What Is It?
A pejorative political slogan is a meme that uses a label to encapsulate the object's belief, or pejorative slang used for political purposes.
[edit] What's It Used For?
[edit] Pejorative Branding
The point of pejorative political slogans is usually to successfully define and brand a political opponent in the eyes of uncommitted audiences. In other words, by controlling definitions and adssociations, the sloganner attempts to influence or even control debate by changing the ground on which it is conducted.
A classic example is the abortion debate. The respective sides describe themselves as "Pro-Choice" and "Pro-Life", and describe their opponents in pejorative terms as "A Culture of Death" and "Anti-Choice". To accept either of these latter terms in debate is largely to cede the debate itself. More subtle and less dramatic examples also exist.
[edit] Pejorative Bonding
At other times, pejorative political slogans can have functions more closely related to sociological identity declaration and bonding. Their usage can become a sort of 'code' among those of similar outlook, denoting membership in and familiarity with the ideas of a given "in" group against its "outgroup" opponents.
Rush Limbaugh's use of the terms feminazi largely serves this latter purpose, for instance, and plays a different role than, say Camille Paglia's assertions that feminism is currently in a "Stalinist phase." The objective content is similar - but one is more of an ingroup/outgroup identifier, and the other is more of an intellectual critique representing an attempt to brand.
[edit] Pejoratives, Truth and Falsity
Note that labeling a political slogan "pejorative" is not necessarily a comment on its inherent truth or falsity, though using "pejorative" to describe a slogan almost always denotes an opinion that it is primarily an attack. See the Wikipedia entry re: pejorative for more, including notes on the thin line at times between a pejorative and factual characterizations.
