Main points of lecture about polarizing political speech, part 6

[nancylebov]

Kathryn Ruud Lecture, part 6

She expects that proganda will become more visual.

[:45] Poster showing Hitler, Obama, Lenin as parallel. She points out that it's presented as a political spectrum.

She mentions an anti-Ground Zero Mosque ad which uses people falling from the two towers, even though the families of the dead asked that the image not be used.

Quote from Martin Luther King: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that".

We are moving into the era of the citizen because the usual gatekeepers are falling away.

George Washington, model citizen-- he didn't want to become king, he retired. He wanted to be a model citizen. [I'm not sure what she's got in mind about Washington.]

Assertive civility: emphasis on common decency and common respect

Free speech: no censorship-- more speech is needed instead

Resist semiotic territorialization: Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use and interpretation. It's normal for words to have their meanings scooped out and new meanings substituted, but some changes are dangerous, in particular those which move words like "parasite" from science into political discourse. Changes in word use can become pervasive changes in thinking.

Limbaugh said, "Words have consequences." This is true.

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Kathryn Rudd mentions teaching counter-strategies, I hope she goes public about the details.