Danyael Rodriguez

Mrs.Carroll & Mr.Crain-Davis

English lV
January 28th 2018

Why the word liberal in the media is actually used as a demeaning word towards those
who lean left on the political spectrum.

One of the most infamous and most controversial words in political news and media that

has existed for years. The official definition is someone who is ​open to new behavior or opinions

and willing to discard traditional values. This group is referred to as “liberals”. Being a liberal is

to pretty much be the opposite of someone who would be considered as conservative who has

specific conservative values. Conservative people tend to use the word liberal to describe those

who has differing views from them that do not lean towards the conservative political spectrum.

The word liberal technically is from the full word we all know as liberalism which is a ​political

philosophy​ or ​worldview​ founded on ideas of ​liberty​ and ​equality​. The word is constantly used

especially in our current political climate where we are governed by a President who is a

conservative republican.

The word liberal really does not contains a secret meaning but it does have an

alternative aura behind its usage which is that it is kind of an insult. The word is mainly used by

believe it or not conservative people. They use the word liberal to insult those who identify as

this to kind of look down upon them. It is used in the frame of “those liberals” which clearly does

not sound the most respectful way to refer to someone whose views are directly opposing

yours. In the media the word liberal has become not only a term to refer to those who are not

conservative but also an insult to them.

Liberal, as described within the first video provided titled “Liberal Is Not a Bad Word”.

Eric Alterman says that liberal is really not as good of a word as progressive which is basically
meaning the same thing. He says that word has been deligitamated and not really used as the

best word to describe politically left leaning people which he believes should be the case.

The word liberal has also been the fundamental word used as liberal media bias. The

media has become much more left leaning in recent years than any other and this “agenda” is

usually farther pushed than conservative views within the media which is why the word liberal is

used most of the time since that is what is represented in the media so it is really just used

frequently because of those whose views reflect this of the word “liberal”. Politically right

leaning people have used this word so often that it has become such a staple in the media with

the word being a secretive statement of insults for liberals to be seen less as them and by them

I mean conservatives. In the article of “News & Politics Noam Chomsky: How the Word Liberal

Has Been Totally Distorted in America”​ ​He goes on to say that “The term liberal comes from the

Latin liberalis, which means “pertaining to a free person.” Within the confines of political

discourse, liberalism prescriptively refers to one open to new behavior and willing to discard

traditional values, the antithesis of “Traditional Values™,” a revered cornerstone of conservative

ideation. Why, then, does it appear Democrats have a tendency to disavow programs that would

coincide with their adoptive moniker?” This quote challenges the idea of the term liberal and

how it really does not accurately describe people as what they seem to be because of the

values and other things that they support that are not directly left leaning. However, the word

liberal really does describe a person who is left leaning correctly but since conservative people

tend to use the word to insult them it becomes confusing when it comes to what it’s true

meaning is. In Fox News’s article titled “When the Word ‘Liberal Attacks has a quote which

really depicts how the word is also a form of helping the Republican side of things. It says that

the “republican media consultants say throwing around the term "liberal" can work to the GOP's

advantage. Labeling someone a ‘liberal’ can be a very effective method of positioning and
pushing them out of the mainstream. Especially when there is a long history of votes,

statements and positions, such as Kerry and Edwards have, confirm that defintinon, “say Erik

Potholm, partner at Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm(search), a Republican media firm.” This

really shows how the word liberal is not a very progressive term within itself and is used to make

Democrats and such seem dumb and/or just be a demeaning term overall to describe those

who identify as such.

Works Cited:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/07/18/when-word-liberal-attacks.html

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/noam-chomsky-how-word-liberal-has-
been-totally-distorted-america

https://youtu.be/zKxOnrYce3s

I wanted to use a wide range of sources from a pla