Landshapes, “In Limbo”
“Language, as a tool, is never neutral. It’s used and exploited by me, by you, by journalists and by politicians. A tool can easily become a weapon and here lies the greatest danger; not just in the characterisation of people living with poverty, but in their demonization. Intentionally or not, we are doing what Professor Ruth Lister calls ‘Othering’ The Poor: making them into ‘convenient strangers’, subject to ridicule, subject to reform, subject to ignorance.”
-Gary Rae, Language is a weapon used to make ‘others’ of people in poverty
“In his 2009 Hugo Young lecture, David Cameron spoke with apparent passion of the damage done by inequality: “We all know, in our hearts, that as long as there is deep poverty living systematically side by side with great riches, we all remain the poorer for it.” The wise saw the wolf beneath the sheepskin: sure enough, once in power, the language he and his ministers used to blame the poor for their plight was cruder and fiercer than in Thatcher’s day. You need to go back to Edwardian times to find ministers and commentators so viciously dismissing all on low incomes as cheats, idlers and drunks.”
-Polly Toynbee, Benefit cuts: Monday will be the day that defines this government
“Even bad-off folks want to find something worse than their pitiful lives…”
