Brevity & Wit

As we head into the 2024 Presidential Election, this article on racist figleaves will be highly relevant and I urge everyone to read it so they have the language to name what's happening in our political discourse right now. A "figleaf" is a communicative device that provides just a bit of cover for something one isn't supposed to show in public -- like racism (or sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.).

From the article:
"To see how this works, let’s first take a closer look at Trump’s call for a Muslim ban. Here is a statement, cast in the third person, that he read aloud in December 2015:

Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

The anti-Muslim message is loud and clear, and not hidden at all. But the end of the statement is the bit that I want to focus on: ‘until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on’. For some people, this phrase provided reassurance that Trump isn’t racist – because a real racist would want to ban Muslims period, not just while we figure out what’s going on. This is a figleaf: it provides just enough cover for the racism that isn’t acceptable to show in public."

Beyond dogwhistles – racists have a new rhetorical trick | Psyche Ideas How are so many politicians today able to get away with overtly racist utterances? By using rhetorical ‘figleaves’

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