Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

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> Republicans will block Democrat ads - will that lead to a better world when Republicans can't reach Democrat voters or vice versa?

The piece indicates that there will be an option off political ads entirely, not to block political ads by partisan affiliation. (The latter is both more complex to even superficially inplement and would be rather ineffective because SuperPAC ads are formally unaffiliated with either parties or candidates.)

Also FYI: The adjective for “Associated with the Democratic Party” is “Democratic”, just like the adjective in the party name. “Democrat” is the noun form.

EDIT: I'm going to quote and respond to a dead reply, because it makes a common point which deserves a response rather than downvoting to oblivion:

> Yes, but Republicans consistently use the term 'Democrat' instead of 'Democratic' because they don't want to imply that Democrats have a connection to the concept of Democracy.

> It's a shibboleth; folks who instinctively say "Democrat" are reliably far-right.

While this is correct as to the origin and the tactical employment of the usage, it is not a reliable indicator because lots of people who aren't far-right or Republican partisans are exposed to media in which far-right (or at least solidly Republican partisan) voices which embody this tactic are common and don't realize that is what it is, and adopt the pattern from that source.

The ones who persist after correction are doing it intentionally and tactically, though.

I don't think it's always a shibboleth, many people use Democrat as the demonym adjective form because of the obvious confusion otherwise. Seen it both ways.

Whenever it's not obvious from context during spoken language, the traditional way of being clear is to say "small-d democratic ...". It's always clear from capitalization in written form.

> Yes, but Republicans consistently use the term 'Democrat' instead of 'Democratic' because they don't want to imply that Democrats have a connection to the concept of Democracy

If true that's petty, but on the other hand, is the Democratic party actually any more "democratic" than the Republican party? (current president's authoritarian tendencies notwithstanding)

They aren't, and the people suggesting this (i.e. the people defending their party branding in this very thread) are lying to you.

Which one of them likes the electoral college?

Depends on the year

Yes, but Republicans consistently use the term 'Democrat' instead of 'Democratic' because they don't want to imply that Democrats have a connection to the concept of Democracy.

It's a shibboleth; folks who instinctively say "Democrat" are reliably far-right.

I'm not saying you are making things up, but that makes no sense to me. I don't think any Republicans I know are aware of that tactic, use that tactic, or would even think it's effective.

Start paying closer attention. You'll see it all the time from Republican officials and conservative media personalities.

There's an well-sourced Wikipedia article covering the of “Democrat” as an adjective in place of “Democratic”, including its history and Republicans citing their justification for it: https://en.m. wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

Your link is broken, so here it is with some quotes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet):

> The term Democrat Party is an epithet for the Democratic Party of the United States,[2][3][4] used disparagingly by the party's opponents.[5] United Press International reported in August 1984 that the term had been employed "in recent years by some right-wing Republicans" because the party name implied that the Democrats were "the only true adherents of democracy."[6]...

> [Conservative] Political commentator William Safire wrote in 1993 that the Democrat of Democrat Party "does conveniently rhyme with autocrat, plutocrat, and worst of all, bureaucrat".[9]...

> Journalist Ruth Marcus stated that Republicans likely only continue to employ the term because Democrats dislike it,[2] and Hertzberg calls use of the term "a minor irritation" and also "the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign".[10]

That is just so...weak. I acknowledge the historical origins, but is anyone really bothered by this? "Democrat" is obviously a demonym for those in the Democratic Party, so shortening it to the "Democrat Party" (i.e. the party of the "Democrats") seems perfectly reasonable. I mean, it does lend itself to silly orthographic puns like "DemocRAT" etc., but by itself doesn't really seem particularly offensive.

Adopting a disparaging name for a group of people that you don't like is a means of dehumanizing them.

True, I just find it odd that this is seen as (or was ever intended to be) disparaging, rather than a mere grammatical variation.

Heck, before it was adopted as the name of the party, Democratic was also a disparaging epithet conjured by the faction’s opponents (though not one involving torturing grammar, because that's not how Federalists rolled.)

To be fair, Democracy had (up until that point) a rather tumultuous history.

And even in the modern day, it is often the case that self-styled "Democratic" institutions are measurably worse than their counterparts. For example, compare the "People's Democratic Republic of Korea" to South Korea, or the "Democratic Republic of Congo" to the mere "Republic of Congo".

It’s because “democratic” is only an adjective while “republican” can also be a noun. Does it make sense to say “The democratics oppose this legislation?” No.

Before you all downvote this, check Webster dictionary if you don’t believe me.

>but Republicans consistently use the term 'Democrat' instead of 'Democratic' because they don't want to imply that Democrats have a connection to the concept of Democracy.

I've never heard that. I thought it was a synonym like 'GOP'. The question is, who cares?

>It's a shibboleth; folks who instinctively say "Democrat" are reliably far-right.

Sure.

Did you make a throwaway account just to put this out? You have nothing else to contribute, correct?

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