A new dictionary of bad politics

Politics is the art of persuasion, building coalitions of support for particular policies or for people seeking office. Politics can take place in an open arena (such as in Parliament) or by a secret backstairs conspiracy. At its best, politics involves argument and debate which can identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular policy or person. At its worst, politics becomes a shouting match or a parade of devious ways to avoid honest debate. Here are some new terms which categorise bad politics of this sort.

Avoidism
‘Avoidism’ is a pretence that a preferred policy is devoid of shortcomings. Most public policies involve a complex balance of gains and losses and require a detailed consideration of evidence. But this does not make for the drama beloved by many commentators, while members of the public (and many journalists) lack the time and skill to assess anything longer than half a page of information. One way to manage this complexity is to pretend that there are only gains from the policies you support and only losses from the those you oppose. An outstanding example is how supporters of Brexit used the phrase ‘Project Doom’ to designate any opposing arguments. Sadly, Brexiteers came to believe their own arguments, which meant that the Government was utterly unprepared to meet the numerous problems this country encountered after leaving the EU.

Betrayalism
This the belief that the leaders of one’s party or political movement are always about to betray the cause, taking any of their statements as irrefutable ‘evidence’ that this is so. Betrayalists typically have their own idea of what the ‘cause’ truly comprises, and this may radically differ from the preferences of a party’s voters.  Betrayalism has always been an integral element of the culture of the Left in British politics, but is now also common among Conservatives. One result is that betrayalists prefer leaders (such as Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Truss) who concentrate on re-stating banalities to the faithful.

Christofascism
Christofascism combines a simplified version of Christianity with support for authoritarian government. The Christian component is usually reduced to a few simple ideas asserting male dominance and hence denigrating female autonomy. These include opposition to abortion and birth control. Homosexuality is also opposed because it is regarded not only as a symptom of liberalism, but also because it is seen as a feminisation of masculinity. Although ostensibly Christian, christofascism actually involves the worship not of God but of an authoritarian leader, to whom supernatural powers are attributed. These include a belief that the leader can communicate spiritually with the nation, and thus has no need for intermediary institutions such as political parties or parliaments.

Racialisation
Racialisation involves regarding every political issue as an example of racism, even in the absence of any evidence. Politicians in the past spoke of the superiority of the ‘British (or other) race’ over foreigners. This has now been reversed, so that any criticism of a black person for any reason is deemed an example of (white) racism. Criticisms of the Duchess of Sussex for bullying her staff and her narcissistic behaviour are thereby discounted as ‘racism’ because she has some African ancestry. Where no black people are involved in a dispute, all arguments can be discounted by mentioning the Atlantic slave trade. Racialisation is a specific example of victimism, which is a belief that a particular group of people are perpetual victims and another group their perpetual oppressors. Members of the ‘victim’ group who do well for themselves are denounced as having betrayed their identity. Thus Kwasi Kwarteng (who is wealthy and was in high office) was said to not really be black.

Re-nameism
Re-namism involves campaigning to rename a disadvantaged group of people. This can become a cyclical process, with some groups (currently known internationally as ‘people with intellectual disabilities’) being renamed every generation. The most prominent re-namist campaign at the moment concerns people who are uncertain of their gender or wish to change it. Re-nameism is popular because it is an alternative to actually taking action to resolve the fundamental problems and the inequalities suffered by a disadvantaged group.

Whataboutery
This involves countering an argument by asserting some unrelated issue associated with your opponent. This can be seen in most developed form in Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister at times responds to criticism of the failures of his Government by pointing to some error of the Leader of the Opposition (usually that he was formerly part of Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench team).

Wokehysteria
One response to re-nameism is to regard any unwelcome change in public policy as ‘wokeism’. This has recently become a major theme among right-wingers and seems to be based on a belief that minor changes to names are a major threat to the order of society. This implies a belief that society is so fragile that any small change will result in disintegration and chaos. The term ‘wokehysteria’ is justified because of the disproportionate anger generated by what most would see as trivial matters.