The Language of Politics

Occasionally my conservative aunt sends out politically charged email-in-a-can to everyone on her address list which includes me. The emails range from rich text encouraging the "silent majority" (i.e. obnoxious right-wingers) to "stand up and tell those whiny minorities to shut up" about the ten commandments in public places, to slideshows of American landscapes and monuments and soaring eagles set to a country music song that implicitly ridicules other country musicians who have "unpatriotic" opinions. I thought I'd break the blogging ice by sharing my aunt's most recent pleasant prepackaged sentiment followed by my immediate reply. In my reply I tried to limit myself to one specific argument rather than launching into everything from the demeaning aspect of the idea of "common sense" to the fallacy that every bird without a worm must be lazy. I must say my reply is a bit caustic, and I would write it a tad differently today. I geuss I was too busy being reactionary in my criticism of reactionarianism. Here is her message: