Despite President Obama's recent overtures, partisanship is alive and well in America. A few quick Google searches on key "terms" reveal (somewhat unscientifically) interesting insights. Oh, the pejorative!
Liberal swine 1,050
Conservative swine 195
Right wing whack job 1,080
Left wing whack job 355
Liberal scum 19,700
Conservative scum 1,160
Right wing scum 2,460
Left wing scum 2,580
Right wing swine 131
Left wing swine 235
Liberal media 1,550,000
Conservative media 196,000
Left wing media 83,100
Right wing media 259,000
So, it looks like conservatives are more likely to wield the pejorative, particularly favoring nastier terms, though liberals are clearly not saints.
Conservatives prefer "liberal" to "left wing", while liberals prefer "right wing" to "conservative".
Both sides favor "scum" vs. "swine", though conservatives are far more likely to sling one of the two terms.
Conservatives are more likely to harp about the left wing, or liberal "media" than are liberals to complain about conservative, or right wing "media".
On a related, and somewhat prescient, note, in "The Real Frank Zappa Book", the late musician and composer called the concept of a "liberal media bias" a "pitiful manipulation" cleverly put forth by the Reagan spin-doctors...."all in the name of balance and fairness, of course". [Emphasis by Zappa]
[NOTE: there is an ongoing discussion on Twitter on bipartisanship (#bipart). @martinschecter, @dmooney9, myself (@hankmehle) and others are currently exploring a more formal dialogue with "Top Conservatives on Twitter" (#tcot). Please add your voice to the discussion if you so choose.]
Your thoughtful comments are welcome.
Friday, March 06, 2009
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