Progressive narrative should be human focused and uncompromising

I was reading an interesting article at the weekend (February 17, 2012) in The UK Independent – The Left should learn about plain speaking from George Galloway – which was about language and the way ideology is communicated. The use of nomenclature and communication methods is clearly central to the way a paradigm establishes itself and maintains its popularity even when its legitimacy in theoretical and empirical terms evaporates. The article points to the failure of the “left” to construct an alternative narrative that relates directly to the human experience. It demonstrates that the “right” can lie but relate those lies at a human level to gain traction. They appeal to our intuition which as I noted in this blog – When common sense fails – is bound to lead us astray. There was an excellent example of this in two articles recently. The left has become so paralysed by its embrace of management-consultant styled, neo-liberal techno-speak that it can no longer speak to us at the human level. With millions of people unemployed it should be a political no-brainer to address the concerns of that cohort to garner political support. Instead, so-called progressive governments and parties in advanced nations fall foul of the neo-liberal dialogue about “scroungers” and “dole-bludgers” and demonstrate their resolve by invoking harsh welfare-to-work policies. Nothing progressive will ever come from that surrender to neo-liberalism. That is what this blog is about today.

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