Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast, number 643, Liberal and Conservative News.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 643.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
We'll see you next time.
It will use a lot of vocabulary that is used in American politics and media to describe two different philosophical views of the way the government should work.
Let's get started.
Why are you reading that rag?
I enjoy reading it.
I like its news coverage and its incisive commentaries.
That's nothing but a liberal propaganda rag.
You can't believe a thing they print in there.
That's not true.
The news stories are objective and unbiased.
This magazine isn't like the newspapers and news websites you read.
Those are run by ultra-conservative reactionaries who only know how to write diatribes.
If I only read the news sources you read, I would think that this world was being ruled by liberals.
The world is being ruled by liberals, at least by the liberal press.
You've got to be kidding.
Our politics and our financial system are run by staunch conservatives who ignore any point of view other than their own.
Those of us who are enlightened
You call yourselves enlightened?
All you and your dyed-in-the-wool liberals want to do is to tear down old traditions.
Yes, we do want to tear down old traditions.
Old traditions that keep us from making progress toward, Mom!
Dad!
What's going on in here?
Why are you yelling?
Oh, it's nothing, honey.
Go back to sleep.
Your dad and I are just having a friendly little talk.
I am not going to try to explain to you the differences between liberals and conservatives politically here in the United States.
That would require several English cafes.
Generally speaking, if you know something about american politics, you can understand the difference by understanding the difference between democrats, who are typically liberal, and republicans, who are typically conservative.
Well, this is a dialogue between bill and rachel.
Bill says to Rachel why are you reading that rag R-A-G.
A rag in this sense is a poor quality newspaper, a newspaper that is not reliable, often because it is very politically biased newspaper.
That is, it only reports the news from one political view.
Reg has a couple of different other meanings in English and those are found in, of course, the Learning Guide.
Rachel says, I enjoy reading it.
I like its news coverage and its incisive commentaries.
News coverage are the stories that appear in the newspaper or that are talked about in a magazine or on radio or television.
Coverage is a general term to describe how much of something is included.
So this is how much news and what kind of news is included in the newspaper.
Rachel also likes the newspaper's incisive commentaries.
A commentary is something that is written or spoken about an idea, sometimes while it is happening, sometimes after the fact.
Most newspapers, at least in the United States, have commentary by different writers that represent different political views.
When something is incisive, I N C I S I V?
E.
We mean that the person who wrote it understands something very well.
It demonstrates the intelligence of the person and their ability to understand something.
She means that newspaper article.
Liberal, as I said before, is a political philosophy that, in modern American terms, tends to want to have larger government programs, whereas conservatives tend to want to have a smaller government presence.
Again, I don't want to talk too much about that because it's impossible to summarize it in a short amount of time.
Bill calls the newspaper a liberal propaganda rag.
Propaganda is information that is often false.
That is used to try to persuade people to believe in a particular idea or action, especially in politics.
Bill is saying that this newspaper is not objective.
It's not giving you the news without any sort of bias.
Instead, it is a liberal propaganda rag.
It is trying to promote a certain political philosophy.
He says, you can't believe a thing, meaning you can't believe anything, they print in there.
To print here means to publish something, usually in a newspaper, magazine, or book.
Rachel says that's not true.
The news stories are objective and unbiased.
Rachel is defending her newspaper, saying that it is objective, meaning it's based on the facts.
It's not just opinion.
She also says it's unbiased, which is the opposite of biased, not biased.
If something is biased...
It has one point of view and it only reflects one point of view, one philosophy in this case.
Unbiased would be something that is objective.
It doesn't take one side of the argument over another.
Rachel says that this magazine and I guess I thought she was reading a newspaper this magazine isn't like the newspapers and news websites you read.
Those are run by, those are operated by ultra-conservative reactionaries who only know how to write diatribes.
There are lots of Some of them insulting terms that are used in American politics to describe each side of the political spectrum, each side of the political range of views.
When you say someone is an ultra-conservative, you mean they are very, very conservative, extremely conservative, too conservative really.
A reactionary is someone who doesn't like change and wants to go off and back in time without even understanding completely what's going on today.
Again, this is a term that liberals in the US would use to describe conservatives and make them seem extreme.
Conservatives have their own words to describe liberals.
Many times they'll talk about the far left.
You can also talk about the far right.
The far left would be people who are very extreme in their liberal views.
Conservatives would also use terms like the loony left.
Loony, L-O-O-N-Y, means sort of crazy in this case.
So each side has its own insulting terms that it likes to use.
Those people who are in the middle, who are not liberal or conservative, we call moderates or middle of the road.
They're not too far on either side.
Rachel says that the magazines and newspapers that Bill reads only write diatribes.
A diatribe...
D-I-A-T-R-I-B-E is a long written or spoken attack on someone.
When you are criticizing someone, you take a long time and you really attack or criticize everything about that person or that view.
Rachel says if I only read the news sources you read, I would think that this world was being ruled by liberals.
Bill says the world is being ruled by liberals at least by the liberal press.
Press here means the same as media newspapers magazines radio, television websites that are related to the news or that report the news.
Press, however, has several other meanings, and those can be found in our learning guide.
Rachel says you've got to be kidding, meaning you're joking, right?
Staunch S-T-A-U-N-C-H means very loyal, someone who is strongly supporting a certain political position.
Rachel says that our politics and our financial system are run by staunch conservatives who ignore any point of view, any opinion other than their own.
Those of us who are enlightened.
To be enlightened means to have a good understanding of something sometimes associated with perhaps more modern ways of thinking.
Bill says, All you and your dyed-in-the-wool liberals want is to tear down old traditions.
The phrase died D-Y-E-D, hyphen in hyphen.
The hyphen wool W-O-O-L means completely involved in extreme.
If you are a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, you are completely liberal.
You are 100% liberal.
Wool, you may know, is what you get from sheep that you can make clothing from.
Dyed means that it is colored.
You change the color of the wool by putting the wool into a dye, some sort of typically liquid substance.
Bill says that the dyed-in-the-wool liberals want to tear down old traditions.
To tear down T-E-A-R.
Down is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to destroy, to ruin, to take apart.
Tradition is the way that something has always been done by a particular culture or a particular group of people.
Rachel says yes, we do want to tear down old traditions, but old traditions that keep us or prevent us from making progress toward.
Suddenly, we hear from Sophia, who is Bill and Rachel's daughter.
She says, Mom, Dad, what's going on here?
Why are you yelling?
Sophia sounds a lot like Rachel because, of course, they're related, right?
Rachel says, oh, it's nothing, honey.
Go back to sleep.
Your dad and I are just having a friendly little talk.
So the daughter wants to know why her parents are arguing and the mother tells her just to go back to sleep.
Now let's listen to the dialogue this time at a normal speed.
Why are you reading that rag?
I enjoy reading it.
I like its news coverage and its incisive commentaries.
That's nothing but a liberal propaganda rag.
You can't believe a thing they print in there.
That's not true.
The news stories are objective and biased.
This magazine isn't like the newspapers and news websites you read.
Those are run by ultra-conservative reactionaries who only know how to write diatribes.
If I only read the news sources you read, I would think that this world was being ruled by liberals.
The world is being ruled by liberals, at least by the liberal press.
You've got to be kidding.
Our politics and our financial system are run by staunch conservatives who ignore any point of view other than their own.
Those of us who are enlightened... You call yourselves enlightened?
All you and your dyed-in-the-wool liberals want to do is to tear down old traditions.
Yes, we do want to tear down old traditions.
Old traditions that keep us from making progress toward, Mom, Dad, what's going on in here?
Why are you yelling?
Oh, it's nothing, honey.
Go back to sleep.
Your dad and I are just having a friendly little talk.
Our objective and unbiased script writer is Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
