Last week, in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, Vice President JD Vance accused critics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of committing “blood libel” against ICE agents. As Vance told Ingraham:
I think in a lot of ways the Democrats and the media, because they so hate the
Semantic satiation.
That’s talking about a literal thing that happens in your brain in real time when hearing a word every few seconds. I guess as a metaphor for this tactic it works.
But the one they’re doing is serving the same purpose as “accusation in a mirror” but by a slightly different method. Just make sure you’re talking about the other side in as dramatic and extreme terms as they’re talking about you; it doesn’t need to make sense. To anyone not really paying attention it’s all just background noise, of both sides calling each other nasty names because that’s what political people do.
Most Republicans figured out how to do a version of this when they were in kindergarten. Kick the other kid when the teacher’s not looking, then fall on the floor fake crying. Worst case, you get a “both of you, stop it!” If you’re lucky, you might even convince the teacher the other kid started it.
It is a mechanism that can be used as a propaganda technique. Although this is closer to milieu control, Vance is using the terminology to signal his affinity to a particular segment of ice.