Wikipedia....Demagogy or demagoguery (Ancient Greek: δημαγωγία, from δῆμος dēmos "people" and ἄγειν agein "to lead") is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes. What qualifies as demagogy has been the subject of debate and ambiguity since Aristophanes first used the term, in reference to Cleon.
Okay so I may not know who Cleon is but I do know that yesterday's election results were partially as a result of the latent whipping up of prejudice (look no further than some of the racist antics that have been played out by some on the ultra-right), emotion (hear them yell and scream at town hall meetings!!!), fears (oh my god!!! Commies!!!) and expectations of the public (whaddaya mean TARP would not instantly work???) and yes, that word "demagogue" kept permeating my pea brain today.
So today my friends let us salute demagoguery - it is the "right" way!
Oh, and a big shout-out to Joseph McCarthy and Adolf H. - demagogues 4evah!!
2 comments:
I never really knew what the word meant... Now I can use it!
I did but I had to make sure....btw, this is what I am here for dahlink - to inform and entertain....hehehe...I may expand this one later and then again I may not....so fickle I am.
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