The People's Line

The People's Line

The false simplicity of populist rhetoric

Was AOC's speech really that hard to understand?

Carl Beijer's avatar
Carl Beijer
Aug 19, 2020
∙ Paid

A popular language game in the discourse goes something like this. Someone articulates a political position using specialist jargon, or vocabulary that is (say) beyond a standard high school reading level, with long and complex sentences. Response:

  • If one agrees with them, one either ignores how they have articulated themselves, or one praises their bril…

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