Alt-Right and Crtl-Left

 The current culture war between the woke members of the crtl-left and the conspiratorial nihilists of the alt-right is to a large extent a matter of social-media political dynamics colonizing our real-world institutions. (Globe and Mail, 21 August, 2021)

 Many years ago, with the rise of computer technology, I railed against one of the first computer words to cross over into the main stream: “interface”. Why not use “connection” or “communication” or “meeting”? I ranted. Even worse was the verb. “Let’s have management interface with the publicity department,” the MD might say. Since then, of course, technology has populated our language with many new words, or old words with new, often ungrammatical, meanings such as the verb "populate" itself. Sometimes, the blank computer screen will reassure us: the list is populating. “‘Populate’ is a transitive verb!” I shout.

In a fine article in the opinion section of Saturday’s Globe, Andrew Potter reflects on the interconnectedness of the various calamities facing us at the same time. (“The COVID-19 pandemic. Climate change. Culture wars. For the West, the party is over”) This article contains many powerful statements, including the one quoted above. I was struck by the political terms derived from the computer keyboard.

I was familiar with the alt right but had not come across the crtl left before. My ignorance! Google tells me that the term has been around for some years.

I wonder whether the computer keyboard offers further possibilities for political terms. In Canada it is usually the command  centre that holds the balance of power. One hopes that in the US the fn mods will prevail, but that will depend on the shift uncertains.

Another Mixed Metaphor

This year, the Biden administration began considering special protections for climate refugees – an idea that will undoubtedly face immense criticism from a Republican party that has made fear of the outsider a central load-bearing beam of its political tent.

Every so often I come upon a glorious mixed metaphor. Nothing of course to compare with the movable lens conjured up by a Victoria councillor, but a beauty nonetheless. In a fine essay in the opinion section of last weekend’s Globe, Omar El Akkad writes about the need to prepare for the arrival of climate refuges. He uses some effective metaphors to describe the effects of climate change such as “sweeping sheets” of  rain, and American states “lurching” from one disastrous fire to another, images which create clear pictures, as metaphors should. But in one paragraph he slips up, creating a clash of images which belongs in the Oxford Book of Mixed Metaphors.

I used to enjoy camping. I have fond memories of sleeping in a Eureka three-man tent with a couple of friends along the Mantario Trail in the Whiteshell. It was tall enough that I could stand up in the centre — but in the tent in this article I would bump my head on the load-bearing beam. And even if it’s a big tent — a large marquee under which Republicans of different persuasions might gather, united by their common fear of the outsider — then what load is the beam supporting? Should the writer perhaps have referred to the central pole of Republican Party's political tent?

To put it simply, how can a tent be supported by a beam? And if it’s a central beam, are there other beams on either side? What do we see when we picture this image?

That’s the trouble with overused metaphors. A big tent might seem a clever comparison for the party with a variety of polices to attract people with different beliefs. Many people can gather in this tent. But after a while, the metaphor becomes a cliche, just a word, no longer an image, and the writer uses it without thinking. And then he comes up with another image for the fear of the outsider: the central load-bearing beam. The result is a mixed metaphor.