Thursday, February 13, 2014

Blog Post #4

One language strategy that I find very important is polarization. Polarization is finding a unity amongst a very diverse group of people, whether its race, ethnicity, religion or simply social status. The people of the social movement put their differences aside and come together for a common purpose in order to accomplish their goals. Without polarization the the people amongst this group would be like America after the Revolutionary War. They would be fighting so much amongst themselves that the leaders of the opposing view would just sit back with smirks on their faces as they watched the protestors destroy their own movement.

One great language tactic that I find very effective is song. Songs are just taking the general premise of your movement, turning it into lyrics and chords and having someone sing it over and over again in order to spread the idea of the movement far, wide and fast across the nation. Songs help to reinforce the ideas in people's mind so that when they hear in a conversation about that movement, the speaker instantly recognizes that they have heard it somewhere. Songs are very effective ways to make a point in a social movement because they usually actively engage people each time they are played.

The song "Hey Jude" is the perfect example of Polarization and an effective song of its time. While being obscure with its meaning, it was used as an anti-war song constantly throughout the Vietnam war. Being that "Jude" was the government and that the people were telling the government that it was time to make things right and stop this war. This song is still sung today by many people and at the time there would be protestors numbering in the thousands that would sing along with this song at their rallys signifying that they all shared the common goal of wanting the war to end.

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