02/20/2024
As we head into the 2024 Presidential Election, this article on racist figleaves will be highly relevant and I urge everyone to read it so they have the language to name what's happening in our political discourse right now. A "figleaf" is a communicative device that provides just a bit of cover for something one isn't supposed to show in public -- like racism (or sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.).
From the article:
"To see how this works, let’s first take a closer look at Trump’s call for a Muslim ban. Here is a statement, cast in the third person, that he read aloud in December 2015:
Donald J Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
The anti-Muslim message is loud and clear, and not hidden at all. But the end of the statement is the bit that I want to focus on: ‘until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on’. For some people, this phrase provided reassurance that Trump isn’t racist – because a real racist would want to ban Muslims period, not just while we figure out what’s going on. This is a figleaf: it provides just enough cover for the racism that isn’t acceptable to show in public."
How are so many politicians today able to get away with overtly racist utterances? By using rhetorical ‘figleaves’