tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post1805302681664106599..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Esther McVey and the Working ClassPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-46419296562341805942019-05-10T17:11:54.117+01:002019-05-10T17:11:54.117+01:00McVey's article is just a mish mash of modern,...McVey's article is just a mish mash of modern, mass franchise era conservative rhetoric. It's the same all over the developed world. "We're for the working class because the working class are by definition the "good" people and we're for "good" people."<br /><br />It's a meaningless tautology, but it has some resonance because of the psychological hook it can have for some voters. If conservatives can through repetition cement the idea they are for hard working, responsible, play by the rules, etc. people then people who want to think of themselves as being like that too might vote conservative. As a kind of self-affirmation. i.e. "I must be hard working, responsible, and play by the rules, etc because I vote conservative which is the party for those who do those things."<br /><br />One way parties of the (putative) left can fight against the power of that type of argument is by taking the language for themselves. Like Bill Clinton did in the '90s. The problem is re-appropriating the same language just reinforces its validity and you're screwed if the conservatives can "take it back".<br /><br />I think the other potentially more effective way to defeat that rhetoric in the long term is be making it clear the conservatives are most definitely not the party of hard work, responsibility, and playing by the rules. Luckily, the conservative parties have made that job pretty easy (in theory at least), by actually being the party of rapacious, rule shredding corporations and rich people as well as lazy, irresponsible inherited wealth. So parties of the left should be hammering conservatives for helping corporations get away with breaking or skirting the rules. For making it easier to live off inherited wealth.<br /><br />But because a lot of the center left baby boomers have themselves internalized conservative rhetoric they find it difficult to make that criticism and are too easily put off by conservative counter attacks about "anti-business" or "class warfare". So it's going to have to be the new generation of the left in mass politics. People like Alexandria Occasio-Cortez in America and her equivalents across the developed world. <br /><br />bbkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01099727870255840001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-35163624827389551722019-05-10T13:46:00.789+01:002019-05-10T13:46:00.789+01:00Hell no, I'm pretty indifferent to who would b...Hell no, I'm pretty indifferent to who would be the next Tory leader.<br /><br />I guess that's not true. The ideal skills combination would be someone who does very little damage to the people of this country while ramping up the disintegration of the Conservative Party.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-23007089684311231732019-05-10T07:38:41.085+01:002019-05-10T07:38:41.085+01:00Does this mean you’d like her to be the next Tory ...Does this mean you’d like her to be the next Tory Leader? Or is there anyone, vaguely plausible, you’d prefer more?Peter Briffahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07944248593784819303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-30667409303077923162019-05-09T17:35:22.065+01:002019-05-09T17:35:22.065+01:00All we’ve got to do is to decide who belongs to th...All we’ve got to do is to decide who belongs to the working class. And, don’t get me started when I hear people use the term middle class.Kennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-80851909031912891642019-05-09T08:42:48.369+01:002019-05-09T08:42:48.369+01:00Not much to disagree with here! Rhetoric does have...Not much to disagree with here! Rhetoric does have material force, but not in all circumstances - I strongly suspect that if McVey deploys the rhetoric she uses here in the context of a general election campaign she will get nowhere. And yes to class - it is an absolute must for Labour to talk about it and use it.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-72162221982333066662019-05-09T08:32:45.514+01:002019-05-09T08:32:45.514+01:00Two points. Neither of which have anything to do w...Two points. Neither of which have anything to do with McVey.<br /><br />One, you use the word rhetoric as a perjorative. The term describes the 'technique of persuasion', which we know works better than coercion. Worth reading Sam Leith's recent book: 'Rhetoric, from Aristotle to Obama'. Leith, a public schoolboy himself, explains the techniques that work. We should not dismis the power of logos, pathos and ethos and see lazily use the term rhetoric to mean 'empty words'.<br /><br />Two, Labour need to start to use the term 'working class' to mean what it means and not run shy of it. The Tories will steal the language for their own 'creating an open society of opportunity' rhetoric. There is plenty of evidence that 'class language' works for Labour. Use it!Dialectician1noreply@blogger.com