Richard Terrell (“What planet does Page live on?” May 7) criticizes Clarence Page (“The degradation of discourse,” April 28) by asking “What planet does Page live on?” Ironically, this is an example of “political discourse degrad[ing] into a verbal form of gladiator death match.”
Terrell does not understand that there is a difference between political propaganda that is supposed to influence people and political discourse that is supposed to enlighten people.
Terrell wonders why Page does not talk about a hard left. He doesn’t talk about a hard left because there are no U.S. politicians calling for a Marxist revolution in this country. The left in this country is composed of Progressives, not Marxists.
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Eugene Debs was a socialist who ran for president several times (he got almost a million votes in 1912 and 1920). Debs wanted to overthrow capitalism at the ballot box, unlike Marx, who wanted a violent revolution to overthrow capitalism.
Terrell trots out the Lyndon Johnson ad showing a little girl and a nuclear explosion. This is not political discourse; it is political propaganda. Both sides use propaganda just as the advertising industry uses propaganda to sell things. However, we have truth in advertising laws to prevent charlatans from separating people and their hard-earned money. We need similar truth in political speech laws.
Donald Trump shouting “Hillary is a crook” and his followers shouting “Stop the steal” while storming the Capitol, are examples of political discourse that resembles a gladiator death match.
William Boernke, Lincoln
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May 22, 2022 at 11:55AM
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Letter: Propaganda, discourse different | Letters | journalstar.com - Lincoln Journal Star
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