Why does the word Liberalism confuse Americans?

[talwynn]

Because the term liberal is tied to the Democratic party, such as conservative is tied to the Republican party. The terms are more about following the political parties ideology than coming up with ideas and opinions of their own. And not all Americans think liberalism means taking away guns.

[Doomislav]

Show me a small government liberal and I will show you... erm. Chicken pot pie?

Doom

[unbound]

Good read here - http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...big-government

[Sabever]

Liberalism definition




American's assumed definition




I always get confused when particularly the American libertarian right keeps ranting on about the evils of liberalism, when by definition they're usually the closest followers to liberal political and economic theory.


So why is it this word has gained a meaning pretty much completely opposite to the rest of the world's definition exclusively in America?

The problem with the OP is that he took definitions from some source that he found to say what he wanted it to say. My case in point will be my exception to the second and third definition. The term liberal is actually a word that has changed over time. It comes from the concept of "left" that came during church seating during the French revolution.

Technically the term liberal actually means for change. So the first definition, supposes that liberals want more freedoms for people. That could not be further from the truth. First and foremost they want more government, which mean they are actually against economic freedom. Economic freedom is the single biggest freedom a person can have. Not only that, but liberals are against freedom of religion (unless it is something other than Christian), freedom of the press (as they have tried to remove anything that opposes them with the "fairness act"), against freedom to bear arms (see the last ten years) etc. So giving them a pass and saying they are for personal freedoms is a strawman.

The third definition is flat out false. Liberals do not want economic freedom. Economic freedom comes by incenting competition, lower taxation and personal right to own the mans of production. In the United States, the liberals have tried to socialize industry (remove personal means of production), increase taxation, and promote government as the source of a good or service (reduce competition).

[Lava Bucket]

Largely because of this guy and those like him.

[Deleted]

Marketing. Right Wing groups and parties have very effectively marketing anti-intellectualism and capitalism as 'sensible' ideas and many liberal ideas faulty.

apparently someone managed to market 'capitalism' away from liberalism...

Many Americans enjoy a fairly stable lifestyle w/ tons of convenience and personal autonomy; so it's easy to buy into the type of marketing that suggests global warming a hoax when you drive a honkin' pick-up truck down a 6 lane highway and buy gas for $2.94 a gallon, have a shopping mall within ~2 miles of you at almost all times, 24/7 cities, internet, one hour Amazon deliveries, 10 min Jimmy Johns deliveries, etc.

Basically, marketing and relative ease of living.

this doesn't follow, the greater the social standard, the greater value is placed on immaterial values, In short, the people wth the most material shit is the most likely to buy into the 'environment' and other values.

[Slaskra]

Liberalism is about dirty dirty commies and stealing our guns!!!!

Yeah, must be the fault of misinformed right wingers and not Americans who identify as 'leftist' happily proclaiming the word too

I don't think the word confuses Americans at all. The majority of Americans are probably in agreement over what it means, and would understand what other Americans are referring to when the term is used.

[Noradin]

Yeah, must be the fault of misinformed right wingers and not Americans who identify as 'leftist' happily proclaiming the word too

I don't think the word confuses Americans at all. The majority of Americans are probably in agreement over what it means, and would understand what other Americans are referring to when the term is used.

Yes, exactly, they are in agreement to use a new meaning of the word the world does not share.
They let politicans change scientific definitions for their own agenda, and thus end up with totally out of the loop and unable to hold a scientific discussion with the rest of the world.
That is why I prefer Brittish English, it has less opposing definitions for the same word.

[Deleted]

Yeah, must be the fault of misinformed right wingers and not Americans who identify as 'leftist' happily proclaiming the word too

I don't think the word confuses Americans at all. The majority of Americans are probably in agreement over what it means, and would understand what other Americans are referring to when the term is used.

I doubt you'd find a single American capable of producing a correct definition of the term.

This is not to say the OP is accurate in his belief that Americans think the term is synonomous with communism. There's a substantial number of morons who do believe that, but not everyone, even on the right.

However, almost all of the population uses the term incorrectly due to the influence of mass media. For example, gun control is thought of as a liberal issue whereas true liberals would be opposed to any restriction on individual liberty. This happens because the US media use "liberal" as shorthand for "Democratic Party".

There is a massive amount of ignorance on the subject and it is very annoying to listen to for those of us who actually know something about political theory/history. There's a continuous attempt to consign a thousand years of the history of political thought into the wastebin, because most people are too stupid to look past the most recent decades of American politics and its associated lazy use of termnology by hack journalists.

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Why do all people in England drink tea and eat biscuits while talking about the queen?

We do actually do a lot of that I'm afraid to say (I'm drinking tea as I write this and no pack of digestives is safe from me), though in my case royal conversation is along the lines of "welfare scrounging bitch with six castles that married a nazi and gave birth to a paedo".

[Deleted]

We do actually do a lot of that I'm afraid to say (I'm drinking tea as I write this and no pack of digestives is safe from me), though in my case royal conversation is along the lines of "welfare scrounging bitch with six castles that married a nazi and gave birth to a paedo".

Coffee and rich teas here. I'm almost a dirty European.

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I wish the Green Party was bigger here; but they get votes in the low teens, and lower most of the time.

And the democrats keep insisting that green voters should vote democratic instead.

Issue in the UK is the greens are pretty much fantasy land when it comes to any policies outside of environmental improvements.

Would be nice to have some more reputable parties, too many of our "2nd tier" parties (Greens / UKIP / SNP / Lib Dems etc usually don't have a manifesto that covers more than one very small and specific issue.

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The problem with the OP is that he took definitions from some source that he found to say what he wanted it to say. My case in point will be my exception to the second and third definition. The term liberal is actually a word that has changed over time. It comes from the concept of "left" that came during church seating during the French revolution.

My sources are 2 major international dictionaries and Wikipedia.

I'd say the definitions are pretty accurate.

[skulmar]

I actually had a conversation with my father about this the other day. He went off on a rant about how he can't stand liberals because they want to control everyone and tell people what to do, and I tried to explain that this is an oxymoron. A few hours later I was hanging out with one of my friends and told the story and one guy stood up, shoved his finger in my face, and literally screamed at me "That's not true! Liberal has nothing to do with control! The definition of the world "liberal" is in favor of increased social spending and nothing more!"


Basically, I think it boils down to our two party system. Everything that is "left" or associated with the Democratic party gets lumped all together in one pile and everything that is "right" or associated with the Republican party in another.

[Wildtree]

As a person believing in the power and meaning of words...

There is a big difference between

Americans (or any other group for that matter) are
and
All Americans are...

That one little three letter word makes all the difference.
In the first example it only means that there are some people of the group. No amount is specified. Could be fewer, could be more. But definitely not the entirety.
In the second example however, the entirety is named.

Words exist for reasons.
Mastering language by using as much words as possible to distinct the not seldom small yet important differences is still a thing.

Just to toss that into the debate.

[Daelak]

Liberalism definition








American's assumed definition




I always get confused when particularly the American libertarian right keeps ranting on about the evils of liberalism, when by definition they're usually the closest followers to liberal political and economic theory.


So why is it this word has gained a meaning pretty much completely opposite to the rest of the world's definition exclusively in America?

The same reason why conservatives think all poor people, especially the black ones, are lazy and entitled.

[breadisfunny]

Why do some people make silly generalizations of entire countries worth of people, because of how few of them seem like?

why are draenei evil and sinful foul creatures who deserve to be exterminated?

[Daelak]

Show me a small government liberal and I will show you... erm. Chicken pot pie?

Doom

However there is a whole host of small government conservative countries all over the world.

Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Congo, Burundi, Central Africa Rep., Zimbabwe, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Angola, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Chad

[zenkai]

As a person believing in the power and meaning of words...

There is a big difference between

Americans (or any other group for that matter) are
and
All Americans are...

That one little three letter word makes all the difference.
In the first example it only means that there are some people of the group. No amount is specified. Could be fewer, could be more. But definitely not the entirety.
In the second example however, the entirety is named.

Words exist for reasons.
Mastering language by using as much words as possible to distinct the not seldom small yet important differences is still a thing.

Just to toss that into the debate.

I couldn't agree more, and it's sad that people typically over exaggerate, not only is their point usually lost it usually makes them look foolish

[Machismo]

Liberalism definition








American's assumed definition




I always get confused when particularly the American libertarian right keeps ranting on about the evils of liberalism, when by definition they're usually the closest followers to liberal political and economic theory.


So why is it this word has gained a meaning pretty much completely opposite to the rest of the world's definition exclusively in America?

Most liberals have no clue what liberalism actually is. If they can't even figure it out, you cannot expect others to do the same. In America, as well as many other countries, liberalism no longer means a support of individual freedom. That's why it's odd when socialists think of themselves as liberals. The push for higher taxes is in direct conflict with the ideals of liberalism, as forced taxation is an affront to an individual's liberty. In America, liberals want to tax others, to they can have the things they deem to be a "right."

On that note, conservatism has also been skewed by Americans, for pretty much the exact same reasons.

[Independent voter]

Dennis Prager is a conservative radio talk show host who has millions of listeners. Here is his top ten mistakes liberals made



Prager is interesting in that he brings on a lot of left wing people on to his show and they debate civilly. Most of the liberals go on his show to advertise for their book. Knowing MMO-C Prager's views will be a little alien.

[Altrec]

Probably, at least in part, because the meaning of the word has become a bit confusing to people that have encountered some very illiberal leftists that say they're liberal. When self-identified Marxists also say, "I am a liberal" and you frequently hear that libertarians aren't liberal, yeah, people are going to get a bit confused about the matter.

This is pretty much exactly what the issue is. When the rather nutty side of leftist progressives got a bit of a reputation during the late 19th century and early 20th century they started calling themselves liberals in an attempt to rebrand. End result is what we have now where we in a way have our own unique nomenclature for things. Gets to be confusing.

[Machismo]

True libertarians are both liberals and conservatives. That's why they cannot stand those from both political parties who claim to be either, because they are dead wrong.

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However there is a whole host of small government conservative countries all over the world.

Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Congo, Burundi, Central Africa Rep., Zimbabwe, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Angola, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Chad

Tatalitarianism is not small government. Sure, they may be hesitant to face change, but there is nothing limited about the scope of those governments, particularly when it comes to limiting freedoms.