Academy of Ideas
Academy of Ideas
#BattleFest2018: From SJW to gammon: weaponising political language
0:00
-1:33:27

#BattleFest2018: From SJW to gammon: weaponising political language

A recording of the debate at the Battle of Ideas 2018 festival on Saturday 13 October at the Barbican in London.

Language has always been a source of political controversy as much as a medium for discussing politics. Terms like ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’ reveal the politics of the speaker as much as the nature of those described. But recent years have seen the proliferation of completely new terms: white Brexit voters are ‘gammons’, women critical of feminism have ‘internalised misogyny’, students are ‘snowflakes’. It can be hard to keep up. But is the way we talk about politics simply changing, or becoming impoverished? What’s the line between the natural evolution of political language, and its degeneration into trendy slurs?

SPEAKERS

Professor Frank Furedi sociologist and social commentator; author, How Fear Works: culture of fear in the 21st century and Populism and the European Culture Wars

Sophia Gaston director, Centre for Social and Political Risk, Henry Jackson Society; visiting research fellow, London School of Economics

Professor Dr Robert Pfaller philosopher, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz, Austria; author, (in German)

Discussion about this podcast

Academy of Ideas
Academy of Ideas
The Academy of Ideas has been organising public debates to challenge contemporary knee-jerk orthodoxies since 2000. Subscribe to our channel for recordings of our live conferences, discussions and salons, and find out more at www.academyofideas.org.uk