On Genocidal Metaphors

I wanted to speak to a frustration I’ve had leading up to the general election in the United States—I know we’re all frustrated for various reasons, and emotions are high. Of course, it should go without saying, I’m frustrated (understatement) by conservatives. But as I limit my associations with them, I’m going to preserve my energy on that side of thinking.

However, as for the Democrats, I’ve heard all the talking points and metaphors that liberals love to throw at those of us who even lean left, at those of us who even consider a third party vote: “A vote for a third party is a vote for Trump.” (If this were actually true, why doesn’t it make you furious? What kind of democracy is that? It’s not true, though—a third party vote is a vote for who I think most aligns with my values, which is how this whole system purports to work. If a Democrat wants my vote, they could try to earn it. Instead I get shamed for voting my conscience, which only perpetuates the black/white dichotomy of Rep/Dem possibilities.)

Or the frustrating bus metaphor: “Voting is like a bus ride. No bus drops you off right at your doorstep. You ride the bus that gets you as close as possible to where you want to go.” (Sure, this metaphor seems nice, but at one of the bus stops the door opens and an entire people are being ethnically cleansed outside it. This metaphor is gross.)

It should be obvious that Democrats have a vested interest in shutting down even the possibility of a formidable third party, a vested interest in spreading these groupthink talking points. Be serious: would a Democrat in power ever say “Oh yes, we need another party”? No, so of course they’ll spread metaphors to shut it all down, plus using the system to try to keep third parties at bay.

What I really want to focus on, however, is one metaphor that liberals love to shove at leftists, a metaphor that I find both wrong literally and morally wrong in its apologetics of genocide.

The metaphor boils down to this:

“I’m all for peace in Gaza, but we need to put on our oxygen mask before we help others with theirs.”

The plane/oxygen mask metaphor only tells me you haven’t considered the United States’s role