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Today

Today. Conclude discussion on Language and power Doublespeak Propaganda Course evaluations. Language and power. Language can also be used as a tool by those in power (e.g., politicians, media, advertising) to achieve various ends Doublespeak Propaganda. Doublespeak.

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Today

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  1. Today • Conclude discussion on Language and power • Doublespeak • Propaganda • Course evaluations

  2. Language and power • Language can also be used as a tool by those in power (e.g., politicians, media, advertising) to achieve various ends • Doublespeak • Propaganda

  3. Doublespeak • Language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort actual meaning • 4 kinds: • Euphemism • Jargon • Gobbledygook • Inflated language

  4. Doublespeak • Euphemism • Words used/designed to avoid unpleasantness • Substitutes for taboo words • “dearly departed” (dead) • Euphemism only becomes ‘doublespeak’ when used to downplay, distract, or deceive

  5. Euphemism • Politicians • ‘economically disadvantaged’ (poor) • ‘physical persuasion’ (torture) • ‘preemptive counterattack’ (first strike) • ‘eliminate w/ extreme prejudice’ (assassinate) • Advertising • ‘preowned’ (used) • ‘genuine imitation leather’ (fake)

  6. Doublespeak • Jargon • Specialized language of a profession or group • Becomes doublespeak when it is used to confuse, to make complex, or to impress

  7. Jargon • Politics: • Airline lawyers’ use of legal term “involuntary conversion” to refer to fatal crash • Advertising: “Hypo-allergenic, noncomedogenic exfoliating microbeads replenish your skin’s natural peptides and amino acids…”

  8. Doublespeak • Gobbledygook (or ‘bureaucratese’) • Overwhelm the audience with words

  9. Politics “The message is that there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say there things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns.” -- Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq5mQLArjmo

  10. Doublespeak • Inflated language • Designed to make the ordinary extraordinary • ‘hexiform rotatable surface compression units’ (steel nuts) • Automotive internists (mechanics), administrative assistants (secretaries)

  11. Watch ‘The Persuaders: Give us what we want’ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/view/

  12. Propaganda • A means of persuasion, often designed to influence rather than inform • Often presented in a way to evoke a strong emotion

  13. Common techniques of propaganda Argumentum ad nauseam: use of repetition to assert fact/truth • “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” -- George W. Bush, N.Y., 5/24/2005 http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushism-propaganda.htm • e.g., talking points http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=115760&title=talking-points

  14. Transfer: guilt/glory by association • e.g., Bill O’Reilly, associates Paul Krugman (NYTimes columnist) w/ Fidel Castro, compares Media Matters (liberal website) to Ku Klux Klanhttp://mediamatters.org/items/200408080001 Bandwagon: “everyone else is doing it” • Advertising: “Duracell: Trusted everywhere”; “Sony. Ask anyone.”

  15. False analogy: use of faulty logic to make unfair comparison “Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country.” – John Kerry, 10/13/2004 False dilemma: either/or, black/white “Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” – G.W. Bush, 9/20/2001

  16. Beg the question: assuming the point you’re trying to prove • “No one is going to question my commitment to the defense of our nation.” -- John Kerry • FOX news: “Fair and balanced” Name-calling: negative labeling • “The most crooked, lying group I've ever seen.‘” -- John F. Kerry on Republicans • Republicans on Kerry: ‘flip-flopper’

  17. Glittering generalities: ‘virtue words’ • e.g., Freedom, justice, democracy, honor • “You can't put democracy and freedom back into a box.” – G. W. Bush • “The world today has a strong democratic core shaped by American ingenuity, sacrifice, and spirit.” – John Kerry Plain Folks appeal: ‘I’m just like you’ • “This president has created an economy that feeds the special interests, the powerful and the corporate power, and he has not helped the average American worker advance their cause. I will.” – John Kerry

  18. Language is a powerful tool that can be used … …to communicate or confuse …to inform or deceive …to highlight or downplay …to include or alienate …to persuade or deter

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