I’ve written a number of times about Arnold Kling’s The
Three Languages of Politics. Basically he says that each of the three main
political groups in the U.S. prefer to use a language that centers on an axis.
Liberals talk about the oppressors vs. the oppressed. Conservatives worry about
the effects of barbarism on civilization. Libertarians coach their positions in
terms of freedom versus coercion.
With this as background a comment was made during the
acceptance speech for best movie at the Oscars by Marc Platt, a “La La Land”
producer. His comment was lost in the drama that unfolded shortly after he made
this comment due to the award being given to the wrong film. I don’t know if
Platt is familiar with Kling’s book. (Probably not.) Or if he was trying to
appeal to conservative in his phrasing. (Also probably not.) But I found his
statement a potential use of Kling’s ideas to express an idea that could span
the two groups, liberal and conservatives.
Here is what he said with the key text highlighted: “Here’s
to the fools who made me dream: my uncle Gary Platt; my mentor, Sam Cohn; my
parents; my children; my wife Julie, on whose shoulders I’ve stood for 40 years
because she insisted I reach for the stars. And to the Hollywood community that
I’m so proud to be a part of. And to the Hollywood and the hearts and minds of
people everywhere, repression is the
enemy of civilization. So keep dreaming, because the dreams we dream today
will provide the love, the compassion and the humanity that will narrate the
stories of our lives tomorrow.”
I know he uses repression rather than oppression but I think
the terms are close enough. Oppression involves keeping a person or a group of
persons down while repression deals with the ability to express oneself. In any
case, I find it interesting how Platt starts off with the liberal’s preferred
term of repression to tie it to a conservative’s preference for civilization.
I’m sure Platt would argue that a “civilized” world needs to allow freedom of
expression, not the traditions conservatives want to protect such as religion.
What about the libertarians? They probably would say that
the best way to prevent repression and protect civilization is by protecting
individual rights.
