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                                                  July 25, 2020
   "Defund the Police"

   "Black Lives Matter"
                                            WHITE_PRIVILEGE
   "You Must Believe Women"

A common feature in recent years has been
activist slogans that on the surface seem to       Though this sometimes takes
have flaws-- it can be a little murky what         some doing-- how do you
precisely is meant by them, they can be            read "Black Lives Matter"
taken the wrong way.                               as "No Other Lives Matter"?

So then, the conservative opposition goes there,
and contrives a counter-narrative that pretends
that their own reading is the obvious correct one.

The proponents of the slogan provide their
own explication, describing how they think
the slogan should be understood.

    At it's worse, this situation is perfect
    to create badges of membership for the
    warring tribes...

    It's *possible* though that this is more of a
    feature than a bug for a slogans: the puzzling
    aspect makes them catch in the mind, provides
    opportunity for further dialog...

        Would there be any point to a slogan
        that *wasn't* controversial?


                     "Say Their Name" is a really good one:
                     that's another one with a "hang-up"        MULTIPLY_HUNG
                     built-in to it-- *which* name? -- but
                     that also makes it work: there's *too
                     many* names to remember them easily,
                     isn't there?  But there's also a clear
                     point to using the name-- it reminds
                     you you're talking about a human being,
                     not "some black guy in Chicago".






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