[Riley]

IMHO, people who are always spotting “code words” are projecting — they, themselves, never say what they mean, or mean what they say; so they think that everyone else must be speaking in secret code words.

Exactly right. I had this concept introduced to me by a lefty friend; I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. I walked away from the conversation concluding that 'code words' was some kind of liberal thing that was, as is the case with so much that they do, incomprehensible to the rest of us.

[ChessExpert]

MHO, people who are always spotting “code words” are projecting — they, themselves, never say what they mean, or mean what they say; so they think that everyone else must be speaking in secret code words.

Exactly right. I had this concept introduced to me by a lefty friend; I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. I walked away from the conversation concluding that 'code words' was some kind of liberal thing that was, as is the case with so much that they do, incomprehensible to the rest of us.

I agree, and have another another example, “being in denial.” The first time I head someone make the accusation that someone was “in denial,” I just shook my head. It sounded absurd. Why would anyone deny reality. Good news should be welcomed. In the case of bad news, one should recognize it, and respond appropriately. What good can possibly come from denying the truth?

I’ve slowly come to the realization that liberals do deny unpleasant realities. If you just say it isn’t so and convince others that it isn’t so, then it isn’t so.

There is a recent book that claims to (and probably does) debunk the JFK assassination conspiracy theories. My current thinking (inspired by an article) is that liberals, who loved JFK, could not accept the simple explanation that an anti-communist JFK was shot by a communist American. Liberals loved JFK, but were also fond of communism. They lived with the inconsistency. When a pro-communist American shot the anti-communist JFK, this precipitated an cognitive crisis. Their response was to do intellectual somersaults to avoid admitting the truth. In their minds, a “right-wing” CIA conspired to assassinate a tax cutting, anti-communist President. Ronald Reagan was another tax cutting, anti-communist President who was shot. But since there was no love lost between liberals and Ronald Reagan, we were spared theories of a “right-wing” CIA assassination attempt in his case.