Quote:
Originally Posted by Orion11
Hey clark,
this isnt the first time you have opened my eyes,
coming from someone else i might not take it to heart so much....lol
but you are right.
thank you.  |
didnt mean to be harsh,
language can be very deceptive, i just had an argument with my roomate about this exact topic--he said "whats wrong with community service- thats great!"
and if thats all it was i certainly would agree, just like the military being stationed here in the states, they wrap it in nice language like "disaster preparedness, crowd control etc" but all you have to do is realize they always camoflauge bad things in language.
heres an excerpt from a good article
"George Orwell warned that sloppy language leads to foolish thoughts. One of the worst aspects of our discourse these days is how rarely our political language is used to express honest and clear thought. Of course, part of the fault lies with our schooling which tends to reward the complexity of thought and the use of obscure words. Indeed, there are those like William Buckley, Jr. who have incredibly large vocabularies and also take pleasure in using extremely obscure words to show how erudite they are. Yet, one must agree that the real problem with our political discourse these days is the purposeful use of words to lie and mislead. The result is a political environment that is dangerously toxic.
As George Orwell said in his excellent essay on this topic, the tendency to use unclear language can be a flaw found in any political persuasion. Humans tend to generalize and stereotype which leads to faulty conclusions. For example, it is wrong to say that the poor are lazy. While it might be true that some poor people are lazy, many of the poor work extremely hard for very little gain. Clear and precise language leads to a better understanding of reality and provides a better basis for devising policies regarding the poor. But the real danger according to Orwell comes when people purposely pervert language, because their goal is to mislead people and deny them the ability to make decisions based on accurate information.
The top strategists of the right-wing have used deceptive language in their pursuit of power for several decades. They have spent much money and energy putting together think tanks and focus groups to find ways to “sell” their message. And for years they have used language to demonize Democrats as a way to gain control of the government. Newt Gingrich even produced a booklet that recommended words to use when describing Republicans (strong, moral, citizen, protector) and how to describe their opponents. Some of the words that Gingrich recommended for describing Democrats are: bizarre, corrupt, incompetent, selfish, traitors. And after 9/11 the right-wing radicals gloated that they had won the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public. "
--now keep in mind this rahm guy is a democrat, but in politics there's very little seperation from the republicorp and the democorp, theyre all basically beholden to the same corporate interests (and esoteric ones)
(EDIT- i did look up the actual book quote and it varies slightly--SO i might have misinterpreted the data based on the wording of "basic training" AND civil defense--apparently the book doesnt quite separate "basic training" and basic CIVIL defense training--heres the excerpt "All Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 should be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic civil defense training and community service. This is not a draft — nor is it military. Young people will be trained not as soldiers, but simply as citizens who understand their responsibilities in the event of natural disaster, epidemic, or terrorist attack." so depending on which source is correct, there may or maynot be guns involved--if so , my bad -i was reacting to altered text!)