Blog Post 4

Polarization is the method of uniting a group of people by first separating them from the larger majority. Polarization is a languaging strategy listed because it is a way that groups within social movements use language to achieve a specific goal or purpose; the purpose of polarization being to gain more followers for the movement and unite the group. Ultimately, polarization seeks to unite people through first separating them from the majority of society, taking an Us vs Them standpoint, and the author even uses the phrase “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” to further make the point that polarization is a method of separation and unity all at once. The strategy implies that there can be no one on the fence, everyone must take a side. The issue at hand can only be black and white, with no gray areas. Polarization seeks to influence people to adopt this way of thinking about the issue and choose the “moral” side.

Labeling is self-explanatory, but in the context of social movements, labeling refers to groups putting labels on events, people, or other groups in the hope of identifying the other party with a negative or positive connotation. Labeling works as a languaging tactic by changing peoples’ understanding of groups, people, or events by how they are labeled; it alters social reality and perception.

An artifact from the Neurodiversity movement is the Aspies For Freedom blog, which is a social movement organization within the neurodiversity movement. The blog features the goals, mission, and purpose of the organization, as well as exemplifying the two aforementioned methods of persuasive language. In the blog, the organization as a whole polarizes themselves by claiming being righteous in their quest for civil rights and separating themselves from the general public, who are “evil” for seeing autistic people as lesser or diseased. Speaking of diseased, the organization also uses labeling by seeking to discard previous labels of autistic people as being diseased and labeling themselves as neurologically different. They have also labeled the rest of society, as being neurotypical. This is to instill a change in social reality with the hope of achieving their goals. 
Link to the blog: http://aspiesforfreedom.wordpress.com/about/