Symbolism and the Left's Success

Critical Weary was bitterly complaining about the left's indifference to, even support for, Communism when it is responsible for far more deaths worldwide than their favorite bogeyman, Nazism.  Scotty chimed in, describing the situation in his country of Scotland and wondering why people were so irrational.  Now that you have a little background, here's my contribution to the discussion:

Scotty,

Good commentary. The left IS irrational, that can’t be denied. How to explain the strength of the movement? They are very, very good with SYMBOLISM. I read a piece yesterday about how symbols are much more powerful than words, and a light went on. I suddenly realized why the left is so successful with their weak, pathetic arguments. They’ve mastered symbolism. Symbolism communicates at a deeper level and bypasses the logical functions. Trying to bring a cogent argument to such a person convinced by symbols is like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

A couple of quotes from the article (http://allnewspipeline.com/Black_Magic_Satanists_Rule_World.php):

“Remember the saying of the Chinese sage Lao-Tzu, who said that “symbols rule the world, not rules or laws”? Symbols communicate at a deeper level than words, because they are decoded by the right, intuitive brain, whereas words are decoded by the left, logical brain. Symbols are able to penetrate more deeply into our subconscious”
“Words attempt to rule the world, but they can never be as powerful as symbols.”

You can go ahead a read the article–you may think it’s a little off-the-wall, but the writer makes very insightful comments about the nature of symbolism.

Rush Limbaugh, a spokesman for the right (with which/whom I’m not in total agreement) likes to characterize the left as “symbolism over substance”. Very true, and insightful.

We who would oppose the left’s lunacy need some of their fluency with symbols.