Phrases with built-in narratives
Because there’s so many different facets of this story (Big Tech censorship, Russian influence, political corruption, etc.), I can’t offer a fully articulated breakdown of the entire affair. It’s just too sprawling for me to unpack everything.
However, I may be able to offer insight on the specific phrases that the right and left often use to describe (and frame) these kinds of stories. One might even be inclined to call these “loaded phrases” if that was not, in itself, a loaded phrase.
I prefer to think of these as well-known short stories that tell us just about everything we need to know about the event.
Fake News:
“The left-wing mainstream media spreads false information in order to help their preferred political party.”
Fake news was an incredibly potent offspring of President Trump’s 2016 campaign. For many, it perfectly crystalized the suspicion that mainstream media was not only biased towards but actively supporting the DNC.
While a stripped definition of fake news might be synonymous with ‘lie’ or ‘falsehood,’ its actual meaning is far richer. It tells a story about intentional manipulation by left-wing mainstream media for political gain. And Republicans are on the side of the ‘real news’—just as they’re on the side of ‘real Americans.’
The sequel to fake news (which we’re seeing a lot of today) is Big Tech censorship, which is something like: “Left-wing tech companies are censoring conservative content and manipulating their algorithms and platforms to ensure the success of the Democratic Party.”
Russian Disinformation:
“Russian operatives spread false information through right-wing channels to destabilize democracy.”
It’s not just that Russians are trying to influence the US government and elections, but that the Russian government is using Republicans against Democrats to destabilize democracy.
This does two things. It fuses the Russians and Republicans together into the bad-guy character, and it positions the Democratic Party as the hero on the side of democracy.
These phrases, as well as being partisan signals, allow new information to be easily integrated into the relevant political narrative.
If I say, “The Biden laptop story is Russian disinformation,” someone on the left knows—without any further context—exactly what happened. The Russians are trying to manipulate our elections and destabilize our democracy by pushing disinformation about the Democratic candidate, and the Republicans are falling for it—just as they did in 2016.
On the other hand, if I say, “Big tech is censoring the Biden laptop story,” someone on the right knows exactly what that means. Twitter, Facebook, and Google are once again using their platforms and algorithms to suppress conservatives and anything that hurts their preferred political candidate.
While there are many other phrases that we could go into (hacked, unverified information, misinformation, misleading information), the point here is that these words are not just slogans or cynical propaganda, but rather wholly express a political narrative.
If one wishes to understand the way people perceive political events, we need to pay attention to these phrases—they’re self-contained novellas, telling us everything we need to know.
That’s all for now.
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Further Reading
The anatomy of the New York Post’s dubious Hunter Biden story – CNN
The Biden Corruption Scandal Isn’t About Hunter, It’s About Joe – The Federalist
New York Post Published Hunter Biden Report Amid Newsroom Doubts – NY Times
Twitter, Facebook censor Post over Hunter Biden exposé – NY Post
Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say – Politico
Notable amplifiers
