American Oxymoron
American public discourse is so debased by loose thinking, political chicanery, pious pretensions, and the advertising mentality that it is carried on mostly in self-contradictory slogans. Sometimes contradictory terms are put together describe something that the speaker, through delusion or wishful thinking, believes to exist though it does not. Sometimes it is deliberate deceit.
For example:
preventive/war
FOX/news
docu/drama
neo/conservative
traditional/liberal
affirmative/action
mission/accomplished
judicial/restraint
democratic/government
ruling/majority
tariff/protection
disadvantaged/minority
social/gospel
honest/election
peacekeeping/mission
liberation/theology
undocumented/immigrant
revenue/service
educational/equality
education/lottery
Honest/Abe
Free/(anything—take your pick) lunch, love, trade, press, education, medical care, etc.
Entries(RSS)
Marching right along with these oxymorons are numerous false dichotomies, some of which are as follows:
Republicans versus Democrats
social democracy versus totalitarianism
Marxism versus state capitalism
a federal surplus versus a federal deficit
protectionism versus NAFTA
You are a jewel Mr. Wilson. So true.
I remember back when it first came on, how excited I was by "Fox" news..................now I honestly prefer CNN. Murdoch goes for that lowest common denominator over and over. He'd use topless women to read the news if he could get away with it...............all in service to his favorite causes.
Dr, Wilson,
Tom Piatak has demonstrated another "advertising mentality " over the last few years by comparing the old fashioned con man with the newer model, neocon man. Another distinction without a difference are the types of religious leaders involved in the campaigns for Our/ Leaders -- as in Rev. Hagee / McCain, Rev.Wright / Obama. and Rev. Sharpton / Ms. Clinton. I suppose in these times the list will continue to expand like the new Global / Order in Iraq.
Here are a few more:
global/democracy
poverty/program
tax/refund
unearned/income
Charlotte/Knights
Cleveland/Cavaliers
New Orleans/Saints
@miles
Here is more:
CNN/Dart Weider
Why not: Luke Skywalker?
woman/priest
public/servant
competent/teacher
mass/education
educational/leadership
educational/outcomes
classroom/management
proactive/management
multiple/intelligences
intelligent/administrator
educated/teacher
Dewey/visionary
relevant/history
black/history
illegal/alien
anti/racism
celebrate/diversity
unity/diversity
one/world
green/industry
relative/truth
my/truth
your/truth
no/truth
Heh, you never give up.
I'm surprised no one mentioned:
multi/culturalism
===
Sounds like a winner.
Unbiased/opinion | Objective/viewpoint
Mass/culture
Common/opinion | Popular/opinion
natural/rights
capitalist/order
Since 1865:
United/States
American/People
Guys, stop! I am laughing so hard, it hurts! The black/comedy is killing me!
friendly/fire
college/algebra
Actually, I would have thought "education/lottery", far from being an oxymoron, was a fairly accurate two word description of education in the United States. The odds against "winning" are fairly high but it is still just possible to encounter a good teacher and hit the jackpot.