Chapter Three
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implies imbalance in physical and emotional terms. Another variation
includes the planet Mars with the same connotations:
(18) “Ruch Palikota tak jakby przyjechaá z Marsa”
(Palikot’s Movement seems to have come from Mars).POLITICAL OPPONENTS ARE ALIENS
The POLITICAL OPPONENTS ARE ALIENS metaphor relies on the conventional
imagery of extraterrestrials as unpredictable, exhibiting a weird logic,
acting in a strange way which is improper in human societies, potentially
dangerous to human beings. Planeta PiS (the planet PiS) in citation (1)
above is an example of a conceptual blend which draws upon perceived
similarities between the solitary radical party and a remote lonely planet.
Ideological detachment from reality is conceptually parallel with the
distances one might expect in the infinite universe. The allusion to the
strange habits of extraterrestrials is the most evident message this
comment conveys. Similar experiential and culture-based perceptions
underlie the metaphor in:
(19) “Tylko ktoĞ z kosmosu moĪe pomyĞleü o wspóápracy Polski z
Rosją”
(Only someone from space might think of Poland cooperating with
Russia)and the galactic perspective in (20) for more emphasis on ideological
discrepancies:
(20) “Nieoczekiwanie wiĊc dla Korwin-Mikkego jego
najwiĊkszym przeciwnikiem w Strasburgu moĪe siĊ okazaü
kobieta. Podobnie jak on radykalna i zdeterminowana, ale z
zupeánie innej galaktyki”
(Quite unexpectedly then, a woman might turn out to be
Korwin-Mikke’s biggest opponent in Strasbourg, radical and
determined like him, yet from a completely different galaxy).The British political scene appears to have its ‘alien’ politicians as
well. At least this is what Ken Livingstone’s 2012 campaign poster alludes
to explicitly.