Peter Menzies: Hyperbolic Language Fuels Division

Commentary We live in an increasingly divisive time, one in which the public is bombarded with hyperbolic language designed to demonize political opponents. There was a time, for instance, when the term “far right” was reserved for describing only those harbouring society’s most despicably extreme views. The label was used, accurately, to refer to  Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, serial anti-Semite Ernst Zundel, and hate instructor Jim Keegstra. Others who qualified include residents of white supremacist compounds, heavily-armed Freemen enclaves, and neo-Nazis such as those who rallied in Charlottesville, N.C., in August 2017. These days the term is thrown about so loosely it could apply to people of faith who think budgets should be balanced, politicians need to understand monetary policy, immigration levels should be sustainable, and biologically male criminals belong in men’s prisons....