28 February 2018

Public Lecture—Left vs. Right: American Political Rhetoric in the Trump Era

BTB programme invited Professor Karl Fields, the Asian Studies Visiting Scholar of the Department of Social Science at the College, to deliver a public lecture on the contemporary political rhetoric in America.

The lecture started with a brief introduction of the political spectrum in today’s America. The increasingly polarized situation has led to an explosion of political jargons, such as “Dog Whistles”, “Echo Chambers”, “Alternative Facts”, “Dreamers” and “The Wall”. Professor Fields shared with teachers and students the origins of these jargons, and illustrated the meanings with examples and cartoons.

Some people regard these newly emerged jargons as “products” of the current political divide. Language has been manipulated by politicians and the media. It plays an important role in reinforcing one’s belief, uniting people with similar views and satirizing people with opposite views. Consequently, this may lead to an even more polarized circumstance.

Please click here for the presentation slides of Professor Karl Fields.