239 47 12MB
English Pages 244 [264] Year 1996
USA CANADA
when
ave you ever been confused
H
you’re
when your
enhance-
boss says you’re not
“transitioned”
been
you’ve
Doublespeak
or
“uninstalled”?
language that
fired,
Then
doublespeak.
of
victim
a
$32.50
politicians
refer to a tax increase as “revenue
ment,” or
$23.00
is
evasive, deceptive,
self-contradictory, or misleading.
Doublespeak turns
told
lies
is
by
politicians into “strategic misrepresenta-
augmentation,” or “terminological inex-
tions,” “reality
actitudes.” Killing
enemy
soldiers
“servicing the target,” after
dead are
called
is
a simple matter of
which the bodies of the
“decommissioned aggressor quantum.”
After being treated with doublespeak, ordinary
sewage
sludge becomes “regulated organic nutrients” that do not stink but merely “exceed the odor threshold.” In this lively sequel to his bestselling Doublespeak:
From Revenue Enhancement William Lutz exposes the
to
Terminal Living
doublespeak
latest
meates what passes for communication
shows
Lutz
our society
We may
that the pervasive use of is
in
,
that per-
our society.
doublespeak
contributing to a communications
in
crisis.
we know what we’re saying to each other, but too often we don’t. Worse, we continue on our way believing that we really do know what we’re think
saying and hearing. Lutz combats doublespeak by dissecting
how
works and
it
and a
how
how
and
als,
a society,
we
see ourselves and the world.
nation,
affects us as individu-
it
Most important, Lutz explains feel
it
affects the
way
why we don’t have to
powerless in the face of such language, explaining
that there are a great fight
number
doublespeak and bring
sist in
using
it.
He
details
to
of things
we
can do to
account those
how
who per-
our schools can teach
(continued on back flap) 0796P
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/newdoublespeakwhOOIutz
le
New Doublespeak
Also by William Lutz Doublespeak: From Terminal Living
to
Revenue Enhancement
Why No One Knows What Anyone’s Saying Anymore
William Lutz
HarperCoWinsPublishers
THE NEW DOUBLESPEAK. Copyright
©
1996 by William Lutz. All rights
reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No
part of this
book may
be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles
For information address HarperCollins Publishers,
New York, NY HarperCollins books
may be
Inc.,
and reviews.
10 East 53rd Street,
10022.
purchased for educational, business, or
sales
promotional use. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins Publishers,
Inc.,
10 East 53rd Street,
New York, NY
FIRST EDITION
Designed by Irving Perkins Associates,
ISBN
96 97 98 99 00
Inc.
0-06-017134-0
/RRD
10
987654321
10022.
For
Barb and Lyle
Maureen and John Sharon and Dave Sisters, brothers, friends
Contents
Preface
1
.
ix
The Power and Problems
of Language
2.
Language and the Interpretation of Reality
3.
Abstracting
4.
The Doublespeak
of Law
5.
The Doublespeak
of Business and
Our Way
into
Doublespeak
Economics 6.
The Doublespeak and
7.
8.
1
27 57
85
115 of Government
Politics
151
How to Fight Doublespeak
191
Doublespeak Quiz
219
Notes
223
Selected Bibliography
235
Index
239
In 1946, three years before the publication of Nineteen Eighty-
George
Four
*,
“Politics
“The
published
his
and the English Language,”
great
there
Orwell
enemy of
clear language
now-famous
which he noted,
in is
essay,
When
insincerity.
a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims,
is
one turns
as
it
exhausted idioms,
were
instinctively
to
long words
and
1
out ink.” Orwell
like a cuttlefish squirting
claimed that instead of being “an instrument for expressing thought,” language
had become a means
“for concealing or
preventing thought,” 2 a means not to extend but to diminish the range of thought.
The consequences
of
this
development were,
for Orwell,
quite simple: “if thought corrupts language, language can also
corrupt thought.” Orwell charged, “In our time, political
and
speech
indefensible.
writing .
.
.
Thus
are
largely
political
the
defence
of
the
language has to consist largely
of euphemisms, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.
.
.
truthful
.
Political
language ...
and murder
is
respectable,
of solidity to pure wind.”
2
IX
designed to
and
make
to give
lies
sound
an appearance
Preface
I
described has
language
in
an age when the language Orwell
become
the language of public discourse, the
we
think
we
live
use to conduct the essential business of our
nation. For this reason,
talking about,
and we
I
certainly
Our
ing to one another.
think
we have no
that, like
an
public language has
the stage, removes
on with
its
We may
become
its
a lan-
as openness, a lan-
an
actor, plays a role to achieve
an audience, and once that
what we’re
have no idea what we’re say-
guage of deception that masquerades guage
idea
effect
on
has been achieved, leaves
effect
costume and makeup, and then goes
real business.
we know what we’re saying to one another, but as I hope I show in this book, too often we don’t. Worse, we continue on our way believing that we really do know think
what we’re
saying.
Alan Greenspan
is
Does anyone
is
what
saying? No, because Greenspan says
nothing, and prides himself
pretends he
actually understand
on saying nothing.
saying something.
Members
Yet everyone
of Congress
him about what he says, reporters report what he says, commentators comment on what he says, and we all go merrily along talking to one another about what Alan question
Greenspan
says.
And we do
knowing what we’re
The doublespeak
the lives of
all
the while not really
all
talking about.
of Alan Greenspan
of the public language the language of the
this,
I
examine
in this
is
just
book.
one example I
Supreme Court, a language
of us, yet a language that
is
look also
at
that affects
as false, deceptive,
misleading, and contradictory as any language found in Nineteen Eighty-Four, or
on any used-car
x
lot. I
examine
also the
language of economics, a
of study that has
field
come
to
on every person on the planet, as I hope I make clear, filled with
exert tremendous influence
yet a field of study that
is,
a language of utter nonsense that passes Finally, there
is
politics,
an area we have come
be
filled
be
free of doublespeak, politics
with doublespeak. Yet
more important than of our nation?
affairs
if
any area of our that field, for
is
the language
To concede
conducted in doublespeak continued
deterioration
itself off as
is,
we
to expect to lives
should
what can be
use to conduct the
that politics will always think, to
I
wisdom.
be
concede that the
and corruption of our
political
ness of
we want to rescue and with it the means by which we conduct the busiour nation, then we need to rescue the language of
politics
from the corruption of doublespeak.
processes are inevitable and irreversible. If politics,
Language
not irrelevant to
is
ordered society;
guage leads
it is
essential.
the
The
foundations
irresponsible use of lan-
to the destruction of the social, moral,
cal structure that
irresponsible
use
is
our
society,
and
politi-
our culture, our nation.
of language
ordered, just, moral society.
of an
corrupts
the
core
The
of an
Those who misuse language
to
mislead and deceive contribute to the destruction of the belief in the role of language in the
life
of the nation, and to
the destruction of the nation.
We
must
fight to reassert the
primacy of the responsible
use of language by everyone, from individual citizen to ical leader.
We
must
fight to
make
polit-
the responsible use of lan-
guage the norm, the requirement, for the conduct of public affairs.
We
must
fight to
make
xi
the language of public dis-
Preface
course illuminate not obscure, lead not mislead, include not
We can restore language to its proper role in public discourse. We not only can, we must. exclude, build not destroy.
Acknowledgments
My
thanks to Jean Naggar for believing in
me, and for her support during the struggle
Hugh Van Dusen
completion.
thanks to
him
for his support
to bring
it
to
demonstrated great
also
patience and understanding during the
My
book, and in
this
and
of
life
this project.
for his gracious
and
generous grant of time. To Harry Brent and Louise Klusek
owe more than
I
can ever pay. Only such dear friends would
give so freely not just of their support
but their home. For as
my
I
all
writing place,
I
the times they
thank them.
and encouragement,
let
me
Finally,
use their
my
home
debt to
my
beyond payment. She taught me so much about language and its importance. While I under-
wife,
Denise Gess,
stood language with it
also with
exist
my
without
is
my
mind, she taught
heart. In so
many
her.
Xll
ways,
me
this
to
understand
book would not
1 The Power and Problems of Language
ITEM: U.S.
In an extensive advertising campaign, the
Postal
Service
said
that
its
Priority Mail” service could deliver a
“Two Day two-pound
package in two days for $2.90. But a congressional report discovered that 23 percent of the
mail in the program took three days to deliver.
When
asked about
advertising
and the
this
discrepancy between the
Robin Marin would call Priority
actual service,
of the postal service replied:
“I
Mail a delivery commitment, but not a guarantee.”
1
1
The New Doublespeak ITEM: The
monitoring arms
sible for
was
U.S. State Department agency respon-
called the Office of
sales to foreign countries
Munitions Control.
When
Bush Administration began a campaign to sell more arms to other countries, that name was the
changed
to the
Center for Defense Trade. 2
ITEM: Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, in his dissent in the Council
,
1993 case
Sale
v.
Haitian Centers
observed, “Today’s majority
.
.
.
decides
that the forced repatriation of the Haitian refugees is
word
perfectly legal, because the
not
mean
‘return’
does
return, because the opposite of ‘within
the United States’
and because the
is
not outside the United States,
charged with controlling
official
immigration has no role in enforcing an order to control immigration.”
3
ITEM:
Originally the U.S.
Patriot
missile
Army
“intercepted”
claimed that the
forty-five
army
of forty-
seven Scud missiles, but
later the
Patriot missile intercepted
between 40 percent and
70 percent of the Scuds. President that Patriot missiles
had
Bush claimed
killed forty-one of forty-
two Scud warheads they had
mony
said the
targeted. In
testi-
before a congressional committee, Brigadier
General Robert Drolet was asked to explain President
Bush was
correct.
2
if
General Drolet said
The Power and Problems of Language
the claim
was
“did not say
was
still
‘killed’
“intercepted.”
or ‘destroyed.’”
And what
What he
does the army
by “intercept”? Replied General Drolet, “A and Scud passed in the sky.” 4
ITEM:
just
Patriot
mean
Wars
the Star
said
mean
Secretary of Defense Les Aspin’s
announcement of “the end of didn’t
Bush
correct because President
1993 era”
Wars program was dead. It name had been changed from the
the Star
meant the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to the Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization
(BMDO). Even
the
$3.8 billion budget remained the same. In other
words, Star Wars just continued under a different
As Frank Gaffney, a former Defense Department official, said: “It’s sort of rearranging name.
the deck chairs.”
As
5
these examples illustrate,
doublespeak continues to
dominate what passes for public discourse
in this nation.
Indeed, doublespeak has not simply increased in quantity,
has increased in quality. Doublespeak
now
it
goes far beyond
such simple phrases as “work reengineering” for laying off workers,
and “economical with the Doublespeak has become increasingly com-
“neutralize”
truth” for lying. plex, subtle,
and
for
kill,
difficult to penetrate.
3
The New Doublespeak A
Doublespeak
is
really doesn’t.
Description of Doublespeak
language that pretends to communicate but language that makes the bad seem good,
It is
the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive
or at least tolerable. Doublespeak
is
language that avoids or
language that
is
at
shifts responsibility,
or purported meaning.
It is
variance with
real
its
language that conceals or pre-
vents thought; rather than extending thought, doublespeak limits
it.
Doublespeak ing;
is
and
facts agreeing. Basic to
incongruity, the incongruity
unsaid,
left
not a matter of subjects and verbs agree-
a matter of words
it is
blespeak or
is
and what
between the word and the between the
really
referent,
essential function of
and what doublespeak does: inflate,
is.
between what
It
is
language— communication— mislead,
“terminological
said
between seems and be,
distort,
politicians into “strategic misrepresentations,”
or
is
the incongruity
circumvent, obfuscate. Doublespeak turns
mentation,”
dou-
deceive,
lies
told
by
“reality aug-
inexactitudes,”
and turns
ordinary sewage sludge into “regulated organic nutrients” that
do not
stink but “exceed the
odor threshold.”
As doublespeak fills our public discourse, we have become more and more hardened to its presence. Our tolerance for doublespeak has increased along with the growth of doublespeak.
While the simpler examples such
bribes
and kickbacks, “mental
insanity,
as “sales credits” for
activity at the
and “transportation counselors”
4
margins” for
for people
who
sell
The Power and Problems of Language
cars
still
skillful
usually
and
elicit
some contemptuous remarks,
the
more
forms of doublespeak too often pass
subtle
More importantly, they pass to the way in which they insult
unchallenged and unanalyzed. with no one calling attention
our
intelligence,
undermine
that
corrupt public discourse, and ultimately
which holds us together
as a nation.
The Importance of Language
Language
mean
is
the glue that holds us together,
and by “us”
not just the United States as a nation but
beings.
Without language we would have no
human
society of
Human
any kind.
all
I
human no
nations,
society can exist only
because of the phenomenon of language.
Language
human
is
also the
primary tool for the survival of the
Compared sorry lot when
species.
are a pretty
purely physical capabilities.
many
humans it comes to survival based upon But with language humans can
to
and have survived, sometimes non-language capable
species.
other animals,
to the detriment of
Language builds
society as well as providing the
means
many
culture
and
for survival in
an
often hostile environment.
Like anything that sive in
our
lives,
is
so important, so basic, and so perva-
language
is
goes unnoticed. Like the air
taken for granted and often
we
breathe,
necessary for our survival, language
5
is
and
as absolutely
simply there for us to
The New Doublespeak use.
But just
as
we have
learned that
we
tion to the quality of the air to learn to
pay attention
we need
to
pay
atten-
we need language we
breathe each day, so
to the quality of the
use each day. I
do not mean
that
we should
up our language”
“clean
in
we speak “proper” English, whatever that might be. Or that we should pronounce words correctly, whatever a correct pronunciation is. Nor do I mean that we the sense that
should avoid
all
obscene, vulgar, or improper language, what-
ever that might be.
What
do mean
I
is
that
we should
insist
that public language, the language of public discourse, the
language affairs,
we
use as a society and a nation to run our public
should be as
clear,
complete, and direct as possible.
Language and Reality
Whenever people— politicians,
citizens,
news anchors, or anyone engaging an opinion, we should
ment
television
in public discourse— voice
they include the clear
insist that
state-
that their language simply reflects reality as they see
words, and what they say
Their words are
that, just
reality, just their
version of
and even the obligation
I
believe there
believe that
we can
all
not
then have the right
to evaluate their
words, their version
hasten to add here that
reality.
is
it.
We
reality.
of reality, and determine whether I
pundits,
is
I
am
we
agree with them.
not denying the existence of
a “there” out there.
agree on a lot of that
6
And
reality.
I
also
You and
The Power and Problems of Language
I
can both see the cars on the highway, the
the potholes in the streets,
trees in the forest,
and the rain on the window.
I
find nothing to debate in perceiving reality.
However, something happens when we perceive
and then that’s
interpret that reality
by means of language. And
what we do with language:
one of
us, see
each of us uses
and experience
interpret reality as we, each reality.
personal interpretation of the world as sense distortion
Thus, the language
not reality but a representation of
is
is
reality
we know
reality,
it.
a
In this
inherent in the very act of using language.
As Werner Heisenberg noted, “what we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning .” It is precisely because each of us sees and experiences the world differently that language becomes our most important means for coming to some kind of agreement on our 6
individual experiences,
on how we
Let’s take a simple example.
know
a doll
when you
see the world.
A
see one.
doll
is
a doll, right?
You
But when the Mattel toy
company started importing G.I. Joe action figures, the U.S. Customs people were not amused. Those are dolls and subject to the import tariff on dolls, claimed the customs people. Not at all, replied Mattel, these are action figures because these are for boys to play with. Since boys don’t play with dolls, these can’t
be
an eight-year court
dolls,
they must be action figures. After version of reality lost to
battle, Mattel’s
Customs version and G.I. Joe dolls are now subject to the import tariff on dolls. Mattel pays the tariff, but it still puts the label “action figure” on G.I. Joe and calls Joe an the U.S.
“action figure” in
all its
advertising
7
7 .
The New Doublespeak So what is
is
Joe?
A doll or an action figure? As
whatever we decide to
Customs Joe Joe Joe,
is
an action
and
For
figure.
its
little
advertising agency
boys
who
play with
probably an action figure because
This disagreement over what
dolls.
leads us to the
the
all
their parents, he’s
boys don’t play with call Joe
him. For the courts and U.S.
call
a doll. For Mattel and
is
we’ll see, Joe
problem of fuzziness
to
in language.
The Fuzziness of Some Labels
Whenever we
try to categorize a person, thing, or event
we
run into a problem inherent in language, when words
become,
put
as linguists
problem sometimes try to pin
it,
“indeterminate at the margins,” a
called fuzziness.
something
down
That
to a specific
whenever we
is,
word, to pin a label
on something, to place something into a category, we run into the problem of fuzziness. We run into this problem all the time, every day of our lives.
shaggy dog joke
is
built
on
dog shaggy or isn’t it? Another way of looking recall Alfred
might
say
scientists
T,’
ics
is, it isn’t.
included,
is
it
David
work on contemporary say a thing
problem of
line in the
fuzziness. Is the
at the fuzziness
problem
to
is
Korzybski’s observations that “Whatever one
something
echoed by
the
The punch
.
.
is
not
”8
Korzybski’s
Bohm and David
comment
Peat in their
theories of physics: “whatever .
is
we
[Ejvery kind of thought, mathemat-
an abstraction which does not and cannot
8
The Power and Problems of Language
.” 9
Whenever we label, classify, or describe, we distort because the word we choose cannot fully represent the complexity of the reality we are trying to describe, and because a word can represent only our perception of reality and not what exists. The painter Rene cover the whole of
reality.
Magritte illustrated
this principle in his
.
.
pipe: “Ceci nest pas une pipe” (“This text at the
bottom of the
painting of a pipe.
and not the
It is
not a pipe ”) 10 states the
painting. Magritte’s pipe
is
only a
not the real pipe but only a painting
The word
object.
is
famous painting of a
“pipe”
is
only a word and not
the object.
my
I like
my
coffee hot;
say the handle of the pot it
with her bare hand.
orange.
What
I
say the car
I
is
wife says
my
I
my wife grabs my wife says it is
say the shirt
is
red;
small; the salesman calls
is
scalding.
is
too hot to touch;
passes for a mountain in the
foothill in the
coffee
Midwest
it
mid-sized.
is
called a
West.
same object, action, or event but come up with quite a different word as the label for what we see or experience. A psychiatrist was giving a Rorschach Each of us can
see the
man. As you probably know, the test conof showing a series of inkblots to a person and asking
inkblot test to a sists
the person to identify the first
inkblot, the
love, the
door,
says,
At
third a picture of a
this
sees in each inkblot.
a picture of a couple
is
second a picture of a nude
and the
in hand.
man
image he
woman
The
making
behind a shower
naked couple walking hand
point the psychiatrist observes, “You seem to
have an obsession with
sex,” to
you’re the one showing
me
all
which the
man
replies,
these dirty pictures.”
9
“Hey,
The New Doublespeak Think of
An
problem.
this
“vehicles” into the public park.
probably
agree
excluded under
that this
cycles, children’s
cars,
ordinance forbids bringing
What
a vehicle?
is
We would
and motorcycles
trucks,
are
ordinance, but what about bicycles,
wagons, baby carriages, a
Or what about
tri-
child’s toy auto-
war memorial? To settle these questions of language, we usually do one of two things: In the original ordinance we list what we mean and don’t mean by the word “vehicle,” thus trying to remove all fuzziness, and making the ordinance read like a shopping list; or we wait until someone brings something mobile?
a military tank used as a
we call Then we go
into the park that
a vehicle
a vehicle.
to court
isn’t
word
“vehicle”
Two
means
and ask a judge what the
in this instance.
people did go to court
Service disagreed with
The husband and
and the user maintains 11
when
what they
called their violin
wife violinists, both
members of
York Philharmonic, depreciated the value of as tools of their trade.
Not
so
fast,
Revenue
the Internal
their
said the IRS.
bows.
the
two bows
Those bows
aren’t tools, they’re collectible art objects because they
made by
who
is
Francois Tourte, the master French
considered the
Stradivari
increase in value each year,
of
bow
and they don’t
So what do you say? Are those bows or are they “art objects”? Both Federal
New
were
bow maker
makers;
they
deteriorate.
“tools of the trade,”
Tax Court and
the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed that- the
bows
are “tools of the trade,”
and the two
violinists
depreciate their value for a deduction of $3,000. label can cost or save
you a
lot
10
of money, which
The is
could right
just
one
The Power and Problems of Language
reason that the power to label
Much
is
a very important power. 12
of the litigation in our courts centers on determin-
ing what words apply to an action, situation, or object. the payments “sales incentives” or bribes
Was
it
a
lie
and kickbacks?
or a “strategic misrepresentation”?
bery or an “unauthorized withdrawal”?
Were
Was
Was it
it
a rob-
murder or
self-defense?
The words we
use to ask questions or to label an issue will
influence our answers or alter the poll taken in
way we
see the issue.
A
1990 by the National Opinion Research Center
of the University of Chicago found that only 24 percent of
more money should be spent on but 68 percent were willing to spend more on
those surveyed thought “welfare,”
“assistance for the poor.” Likewise, those surveyed were will-
ing to spend
more
for “national defense”
and
“assistance to
other countries,” but they were not willing to spend the “military” or “foreign aid.”
How We
For the most part
13
Heal With Fuzziness
we go through our
only minor problems with labeling.
what
I
mean by
hot coffee, just as
means by hot
coffee.
dle of a pot
my
potholder. shirt,
but
We I
still
know
I
more on
I
daily lives experiencing
My
wife has learned
have learned what she
have also learned not
wife has just
don’t agree a small car
on
grab the han-
moved without the color of
when
11
to
I
see
it,
benefit of
my red/orange
no matter what
The New Doublespeak the car salesman
and
mountain when
see one.
I
the advertising says.
all
And
I
know
a
However, we may have more serious problems with other labels in
our
Labeling poison gas an “inhalation haz-
lives.
ard” could get us killed. Using the phrase “penile insertive
behavior” to discuss sexual intercourse between teenagers
might lead us
and
social
to
minimize or ignore the moral implications
consequences of
behavior. Labeling nuclear
this
waste “valuable, important nuclear materials” and a nuclear waste false
dump
“monitored retrievable storage” can give us a
sense of security in dealing with nuclear waste, and the
huge problems we important. to
face in
They can be
pay attention
all
of us,
Understanding one another
we would
to
a matter of
words,
to
what
is
life
all
a lot
would be nice unchanging meanings, and if words like.
idea or thing.
It
We
would
all
do with
Words are so we need
it.
or death,
the time.
more complicated than if words had precise, clearly referred to
one
learn these words, each of us
would use them in exactly the same way, and we would all agree on what to call things. Instead, there are the words I use to label things and the words you use. uses different words,
we have
When
work hard
to
each of us
to reach
some
kind of agreement.
While we pay a about what
to call
ment about what
lot
of attention to
some
things,
the disagreement
we do have
a lot of agree-
we didn’t, we would come apart.
to call a lot of things. If
much done and our society most part, we call a dollar bill a dollar
wouldn’t get For the
all
called a shoe, a
dog
is
called a
12
bill,
dog and not a
a shoe cat,
is
and
The Power and Problems of Language
Monday
We
is
Monday and
called
on December 25, and that December 25. If we didn’t agree on
agree that Christmas
December 25
called
is
we we
these kinds of things,
not Sunday by everybody
is
couldn’t conduct our daily
lives.
From time to time temporarily change the meaning of some commonly agreed upon words. At my university, for example, we regularly change the days of the week for scheduling purposes. So the class schedule often has something like the following notice: “Thursday classes will meet
on Tuesday, November 21, and all Friday classes will meet on Wednesday, November 22.” Since this change in the days of the week is made by agreement, no one has any problem following it. But if some of us decided that Sunday is Friday, and Friday is Sunday, we’d have some confusion. When some elected officials decide to call a tax increase “revenue enhancement,” “receipts strengthening,” or “user fees,”
we have an
sion. If I
am
instance of labeling that
told that
probably
call
enhancement.
And
will
my
my tax bill will
that
a
enhancement.”
The
to use
is
doublespeak.
“tax increase”
politicians,
however,
I
and not revenue
fellow taxpaying citizens will agree that
go up the best label
for discus-
go up $300 next year,
tax increase
I will call it
open
is
I
think most of
when
their taxes
and not “revenue insist that
we
are
wrong.
What do we do? label
everyone
labels, tion.
we come to some agreement on a or we continue each to use our own
Either
will use,
with the resulting disagreement and lack of coopera-
Of
course,
I
think that politicians
who
persist in using
terms like “revenue enhancement” in the face of overwhelm-
13
The New Doublespeak ing opposition should pay a price for using such language,
but too often they don’t. Even more often they simply
change
new
their label,
moving from “revenue enhancement”
such as “receipts proposals.”
label
When
The power
demonstrates.
Is
a Chicken Fresh?
can bring large financial rewards, as the
to label
continuing battle
isn’t
over
Now,
a problem here.
to
versus
“fresh”
“frozen”
mere mortals such
We know when
chickens
as us, there really
a chicken
is
frozen.
one of those laws of physics that the freezing point chicken
to a
is
It’s
for a
26 degrees Fahrenheit. We’re not talking rocket
science here.
When
I
look in
my
chicken right away. But then
I
freezer I can spot a frozen
don’t
work
for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, where the laws of physics can be changed by government decree, or regulation, or doublespeak.
When
is
a frozen chicken a “fresh” chicken?
When
it’s
a
“deep chilled” chicken. For quite a few years the U.S.
Department of Agriculture has allowed poultry producers label as “fresh” chickens that to
make
pretty
good bowling
to 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
to
have been frozen hard enough balls,
frozen
all
the
way down
Frank Perdue, the poultry tycoon,
even ran television commercials in which he used a competitor’s
“fresh” chicken to
hammer
a nail into a board. But
such chickens are not frozen, says the
14
USDA;
they are
The Power and Problems of Language
merely “deep
And
chilled.”
that included chickens that
were
frozen solid, then thawed and sold as “fresh.” Since “there
or no market for poultry that cannot
is little
be labeled or marketed
as ‘fresh,’” according to the National
Broiler Council, the chicken dealers trade association, the
pressure After
is
on
to
keep the label “fresh” on frozen chickens.
much
“fresh” chickens sell for as
all,
as
$2 a pound
more than chickens labeled “frozen.” That works out to about $1 billion moving from consumers’ pockets to the pockets of those
who
sell
ment-approved “fresh”
When the is
frozen chickens under a govern-
label.
state of California
a frozen chicken and
it
decided that a frozen chicken
didn’t care
what
the
US DA
and
the poultry dealers said, the National Broiler Council sued in federal court,
laws.
“We
and won because
federal rules
preempt
state
affirm this absurdity,” wrote the court. “Congress
has given federal bureaucrats the power to order that frozen chickens be labeled fresh.”
But the until, in
that
fight against frozen “fresh”
chickens continued
response to complaints that calling “fresh” a chicken
had once been a
solid block of ice
was
just a
labels.
They proposed
any chicken
that
mis-
recommend
leading, the folks at Agriculture decided to
change in
little
a
that has
seen the low side of 26 degrees Fahrenheit should be labeled
“hard
chilled.”
mounted
poultry folks
a big effort to get the
labeling effort. get the
The
were not happy and
US DA
While the poultry
folks
USDA to change the proposed
“previously frozen.”
15
to
change
didn
t
this radical
win, they did
“hard chilled” label to
The New Doublespeak But even
this
change was too
much
for the poultry people,
so they went directly to the source of
all linguistic
wisdom:
Congress. Led by Virginia Senator John Warner, nineteen senators from the poultry-producing states in the Southeast
on no change in the labeling of frozen chickens. So Congress, in its wisdom, rejected the proposed change and let stand the current regulation. So you got Congress to decide
can
drive nails or go bowling with an official “fresh”
still
chicken
14 .
Language, of course,
is
the great tool of power.
That
is
the
point George Orwell makes in his classic novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Mao
Tse-tung was wrong; power doesn’t
from the barrel of a gun. Power language.
in
Those who know how
great power.
Doublespeak
is
an
modern to use
come
society resides in
language can wield
effective use of the
language
of power, the language of control, the language of manipulation.
The Mind’s
Interpreter and Doublespeak
Research conducted by Michael Gazzaniga and offers evidence for
speak. Gazzaniga
brain and mind.
mind
is
beliefs .”
many
others
one explanation for a source of double-
and other researchers distinguish between
The
brain
is
the physical organ, while the
the “rational processes that lead to the formation of 15
According
to these researchers, the brain
16
is
organized in
The Power and Problems of Language
modules composed of many subsystems, each processing data outside conscious awareness. These subsystems create moods and mood changes, cause us to behave certain ways,
and produce cognitive subconscious
activity All this activity goes
on
at a
level.
Through a system researchers call the “interpreter,” the mind tries to bring order and unity to the functions of the modules that make up the brain. The job of the interpreter is to monitor, synthesize, and make sense out of all this activity and what
it
And
produces.
through language that the
is
it
interpreter works.
The results
when
of the activity in the brain’s subsystems. That
confronted
with
the
And
sense out of them.
function of the interpreter
explanations
plausible
knows nothing. So
for
Thus we
we
interesting results.
our behavior, often
in terms that
scious
mind knows nothing of
it
really
rather unscrupu-
knows nothexplaining what
about which
we do
mind with
about which
the interpreter acts
rationalize
make some
to present the
is
actions
lously, blithely explaining things ing.
some
this leads to
to
tries
is,
subconscious
of the
results
processes of the brain, the interpreter
The
and express the
interpreter uses language to label
accept as true, even
it
when our
con-
behind our
the motives
behavior.
Gazzaniga example,
The
many examples
we just happen
interpreter has
frogs’ legs,
way.
offers
The
but
it
interpreter
this
phenomenon. For
to eat frogs’ legs for the first time.
no idea why
will
of
there
was an impulse
to eat
go ahead and produce a reason any“instantly
17
constructs
a
theory
to
The New Doublespeak explain
why
know why
does not actually frogs’ legs,”
it
selves saying
While the
the behavior occurred.
some
something
like, “I ate
learn about French food .”
16
was an impulse
there
will create
reason. So
American “It
find our-
want
to
At one time or another we’ve
all
wondering
to
similar,
I
came from. Perhaps that’s what led the in Vietnam to utter that famous statement,
officer
to destroy the village to save
interpreter, then,
it.”
can be a great source of doublespeak,
providing us with language to rationalize our actions. actions
by the
to eat
it
became necessary
The
we might
them because
found ourselves muttering something ourselves where
interpreter
and language interpreter
becomes the great
conflict,
to
we have doublespeak produced
rationalize
counterfeiter of
and the doublespeak
is
When
and soothe. Doublespeak
human
actions
and motives,
produced by the interpreter
attempts to explain actions about which
it
knows
in
its
nothing.
Doublespeak and Belief Persistence
Researchers have also belief
shown
that
we
will persist in
holding a
even when presented with information that disproves
the belief. Indeed,
we
will evaluate the
such a way as to support our
“We human and maintain
belief.
opposing evidence in
Gazzaniga observes,
beings, with our powerful tendency to create beliefs, readily
generate causal explanations of
events and actively seek out, recall, and interpret evidence in
18
The Power and Problems of Language
a
manner
our personal
that sustains
beliefs.
.
.
[W]e place a
.
amount of
credibility
on evidence
that sup-
ports an established theory
and tend
to discredit
opposing
disproportionate
evidence .” 17 This “belief persistence,” as researchers
call this
tendency, leads to doublespeak as
we
and explain our
of evidence that attacks or
beliefs in the face
use language to justify
undermines them.
Doublespeak and Cognitive Dissonance
The tendency
to
trary evidence
is
as cognitive
ever
we
hold on to our
best illustrated in the
dissonance
18
our
phenomenon known
Cognitive dissonance occurs when-
.
simultaneously hold two inconsistent ideas,
when we
opinions, or attitudes, or dicts
beliefs in the face of con-
beliefs.
When
to help us explain
away
this
act in a
way
beliefs,
that contra-
happens, the interpreter works
the contraction
between our oppos-
ing beliefs, or between our beliefs and actions, without
changing our
beliefs or
For example, people that
by
smoking
is
bad
our actions.
who smoke might
well acknowledge
for health, but they continue to
rationalizing their behavior.
They might
smoke
say that the
chances of their health suffering are not that great; that they stop smoking they will gain weight and their health; that
that
no one can avoid
smoking calms
all
that’s
bad
the dangers in
life;
if
for
or
their nerves. All of these reasons are
19
The New Doublespeak designed to reduce or eliminate the dissonance between belief
and behavior.
think
I
and
their
it’s
most Americans believe they
safe to say that
country are decent,
and reasonable. The same
fair,
certainly holds true for such national institutions as the military.
Thus, when the massacre
ing the Vietnam War,
many
Lai was revealed dur-
people, including public
military officials, faced a conflict
The
My
at
between
cognition that “our boys” don’t
kill
belief
and
and
action.
women and
chil-
dren was dissonant with the cognition that U.S. soldiers had indeed killed almost 500 women, children, and old men.
The dissonance between these two ideas was reduced in a number of ways. Some people denied that the massacre took place, claiming the
photographs were
of a massacre committed by
false or really pictures
Communist had
said the victims of the massacre
forces. it
Some people
coming
to
them
because they were Communists and therefore legitimate gets.
Other people said
that the
Communist
forces
mitted far worse massacres, so this one didn’t thing.
could
had com-
mean
any-
There were many other explanations of the massacre,
of them an attempt to rationalize
all
tar-
kill
women and
Certainly the U.S.
children.
Army
how American
soldiers
19
officer
who watched American
Ben Tre was faced with a contrawere in Vietnam to protect the
forces destroy the village of diction.
American
forces
Vietnamese from the Viet Cong, yet here were American forces cer’s “It
wreaking more destruction than the enemy. The
explanation for
became necessary
this situation
has
now become
to destroy the village to save
20
offi-
famous:
it.”
The Power and Problems of Language
One final example who was responsible and Russian
of cognitive dissonance. Paul Blobel, for the massacre of over 30,000
civilians at
Babi Yar, explained
“Human life Jews and Russians who were Nuremberg
that
is
be
to
shot.”
victim” reasoning. in so
we should
doing
difficult position
is
resolved through “blame the
Those who were
“had
be
shot,”
their killers incurred great suffering.
Thus
pity the
women, and
Our men who more than those who
killed] as to us.
20
Here cognitive dissonance and
at his trial at
not as valuable to them [the
took part in these executions suffered
had
Jews
killed
poor executioners
who were
to
placed in the
of having to slaughter thousands of men,
children. This
is
how
powerful the interpreter
can be in dealing with cognitive dissonance.
Some
of the doublespeak
tive dissonance.
we encounter
While CIA agents might
wrong, they can also believe that lying
committee put
it,
call
it
is
lie,
but for us
that’s
When Arms
Doublespeak
Middle East while Middle
to
is
to a congressional
CIA
agent
Congress— you could
keeping cover.” 21
Control
Means
Selling
also allowed President
his administration to
in the
believe that lying
acceptable because, as one former
“The whole question of lying a
flows from cogni-
More Arms
Bush and members of
advocate a policy of arms control in the
selling
more arms than ever
East.
21
to countries
The New Doublespeak “The time has come
tern of military competition
and
to
change the destructive
to try to
and
pat-
proliferation in this region
reduce arms flows into an area that
is
already over-
James Baker before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 7, 1991, three weeks after the Persian Gulf War had begun.
militarized,” said Secretary of State
One month Congress
later,
said,
“It
Bush before
President
would be
a joint session of
tragic if the nations
Middle East and the Persian Gulf were now, the war, to
embark on
a
new arms
in the
29, 1991, President
gers of
weapons of
Middle
East.”
He
Bush
Academy on
“Nowhere are the danmore urgent than in the
said,
proliferation
then went on to announce,
proposing a Middle East arms control included
wake of
race.”
In a speech at the United States Air Force
May
of the
“I
am
initiative,”
today
which
“Halting the proliferation of conventional
and
unconventional weapons in the Middle East.” But the arms race in the Middle East not only continues unabated,
being actively aided by massive States to the nations in the
Less
than
announced
total
would sell
the United
arms by the United
East.
hours
after
President
Bush
Defense Richard Cheney said the United
give Israel ten
package of
agreed to
is
proposal for arms reduction in the Middle
East, Secretary of States
Middle
twenty-four
his
sales of
it
fifty
twenty
F-15
fighter planes as part of a
The Bush
planes.
AH-64A Apache
Arab Emirates, and
eight
Administration also attack helicopters to
Apache
helicopters to
Bahrain.
Two
days
later,
Secretary
Cheney
22
said
that
President
The Power and Problems of Language
mean
Bush’s proposal for arms control did not
United
“We
would stop supplying weapons
States
simply cannot
into the trap of
fall
.
.
that the
to the region. .
[saying] that
arms control means we don’t provide any arms
Middle
he
East,”
said. Secretary
Cheney
to
the
said that he did not
think that arms sales to nations in the Middle East conflicted
with the
of President Bush’s plan for arms control in
spirit
the region. “There
is
nothing inconsistent with on the one
hand saying that we are interested in pursuing arms control and on the other hand providing for the legitimate security requirements that many of our friends in the region do have,” he said.
In addition to these sales, the administration announced plans to
sell
Saudi Arabia $365 million worth of weapons,
including laser-guided
MK-48 torpedoes, AIM-7M Sparrow air-to-air
bombs, 2,000
2,100 cluster bombs, and 770 missiles. After President
Bush announced
his proposal to
reduce arms in the Middle East, the United States sold more than $4.8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey,
Oman, and Morocco, and an weapons
additional
$14
billion
in
for Saudi Arabia.
continued the rapidly increasing amount of weapons the United States sold to the Middle East. In 1990, U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia alone totaled
These arms
$14.5 billion.
sales
From 1987
to
1990, the United States sold
$30.7 billion worth of weapons to the Middle East, increasing its sale of weapons to the countries in that area from $7.8 billion in
1989
to $18.5 billion in 1990. In the
doublespeak
of President Bush, Secretary Cheney, and Secretary Baker,
23
The New Doublespeak arms control in the Middle East means the nations of the
Middle East
selling
more arms
to
22 .
Doublespeak and Democracy
As
the ancient Greeks well knew,
open, and informed discussion of
democracy needs
free,
public issues. Indeed,
all
came into being with the establishment of a democratic form of government in Greece. The need to discuss issues of public importance promoted the growth of rhetoric and of public discourse. The Greeks argued, analyzed, debated, and discussed the the art of rhetoric
issues that
agora,
concerned them.
was the center of
The marketplace
this activity.
of Athens, the
Here Greek
citizens
shopped, gossiped, debated, and through language defined the problems that confronted them.
The
agora was a free
marketplace of goods, services, and ideas. While the vote on
would take place in the assembly held on the Pnyx, the heart of Greek democracy was the agora, for it was here that the Greeks defined and clarified issues, argued over various solutions, examined possible policies, and thrashed out what they thought and believed. The person public issues
who
tried to use
doublespeak in such a freewheeling arena
of debate would not have lasted long before being called to
account for his language.
The
clearest possible
language
24
is
essential for
democracy
The Power and Problems of Language
to function, for
it
is
only through clear language that
we
have any hope of defining, debating, and deciding the issues of public policy that confront us.
language-the language to
we
The
corruption of public
use to discuss public
affairs
and
decide public policy-is the corruption of democracy
Doublespeak preserve,
in public discourse does not help us develop,
and advance our
culture,
our
society,
our nation.
Doublespeak breeds cynicism, distrust, and, ultimately, hostility, the very qualities that undermine and destroy democracy.
25
ft
2 Language and the Interpretation of Reality
Although we use language
we
limited
are
Language
is
in
is
way we
not a neutral instrument that
world was
anthropologist and linguist refined
was
by
his student
called the
we
us,
use to interpret
and objectively Language by
biased. This theory of
see the
world around
our interpretation by our language.
the world impersonally
nature
to interpret the
how
language
its
very
affects the
advanced by the American Edward Sapir in 1929 and later first
Benjamin Lee Whorf. Their theory
Sapir-Whorf theory, and
theory.
27
later just the
Whorf
The New Doublespeak The Sapir Whorf Theory
Sapir stated the “weak” version of this theory this way:
Language
a guide to “social reality.”
is
.
.
Human
.
beings do not live in the objective world alone,
nor alone in the world of ily
social activity as ordinar-
understood, but are very
fact
at the
of expression for their society.
of the matter
mercy of
which has become the
the particular language
medium
much
.
that the “real world”
is
.
.
is
The to a
up on the lantwo languages are
large extent unconsciously built
guage habits of the group.
No
ever sufficiently similar to be considered as repre-
same
senting the
which
social
reality.
The worlds
in
different societies live are distinct worlds,
not merely the same world with different labels attached.
.
.
.
We
see
and hear and otherwise expe-
rience very largely as habits of our
community predispose
of interpretation
In a later
much
we do because
article,
the language
certain choices
1 .
Sapir argued that meanings are “not so
upon it, because form has upon our ori-
discovered in experience as imposed
of the tyrannical hold that linguistic entation in the world .”
Through a
2
series of studies, principally
of Native American
languages, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Sapir’s sometime graduate
28
Language and
of Reality
the Interpretation
student at Yale, refined Sapir’s thesis into what has been called the “strong” version of the theory. In 1940,
argued that each language conveys to worldview. “Every language
.
.
.
its
Whorf
users a ready-made
incorporates certain points
of view and certain patterned resistances to widely divergent points of view.”
.
.
.
Whorf then
3
language
ment
is
adds:
not merely a reproducing instru-
voicing ideas but rather
for
the
itself
is
shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the
mental
individual’s
for
activity,
analysis
his
of
impressions, for his synthesis of his mental stock in trade.
.
.
We
.
dissect nature
along lines laid
down by our native language. The categories and types we isolate from the world of phenomena we do
not
because
there
find
they
stare
every
observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions
which has
to
be organized by our minds-and
means
largely
minds.
We
cepts,
by the
systems in our
linguistic
cut nature up, organize
and ascribe
this
significances as
we
it
into con-
do, largely
we are parties to an agreement to organize this way— an agreement that holds throughout
because it
in
our speech community and terns
of our
language.
course, an implicit
codified in the pat-
The agreement
and unstated one,
are absolutely obligatory
by subscribing
is
;
we cannot
its
of
terms
talk at all except
to the organization
29
but
is,
and
classifica-
The New Doublespeak tion of data
which the agreement decrees.
are thus introduced to a
which holds
that
all
new
theory of
.
.
.
We
relativity,
observers are not led by the
same physical evidence
to the
same
picture of the
universe, unless their linguistic backgrounds are similar,
or can in
Unfortunately,
some way be
critics
calibrated
have distorted
Whorf s
describing his explanation as “everything
making
it
4 .
is
theory by thus
relative,”
impossible for anyone to learn a foreign language
or to translate from one language to another. Since
we can
both learn another language and translate other languages,
Whorf s
theory
is
simply wrong, they conclude.
However, Whorf never made such a claim. His theory claims only that language predisposes us to certain ways of
As Walter Lippmann noted, “For the most part we do not first see, and then define, we define and then we seed Whorf s theory is not that language determines what we can think but that language influences what we routinely experiencing.
5
think.
The language we
use influences the
our experiences. Using our language
mon,
so essential that
we
use
it
is
quite
way we
categorize
so natural, so com-
unaware of how
it
way we perceive and make meaning. This does not mean that we cannot engage in nonroutine thinking, affects the
only that the established habits of our language both guide
and promote the ways we
We
typically perceive, think,
tend to think in either-or terms, asking
opposed tive), is
it
to bad),
is
she attractive
difficult (as
opposed
(as
opposed
to easy),
30
is
and
that
act.
good
(as
to unattrac-
and so on. Our
lan-
Language and
guage encourages us
Thus we
of Reality
about the world in terms of
to talk
polarities, or opposites,
natives.
the Interpretation
and not
in terms of a stream of alter-
find ourselves debating such questions as:
“Are taxes too high?” “Should
we spend more on
“Should Medicare be reduced?”
defense?”
“Is the Social Security
fund
bankrupt?” These questions require us to take a position; they do not encourage us to give a considered response that discusses the complexity “either-or-ness” of
and
uncertainties of the issue. This
our language dominates our public
dis-
course.
Then
there are the
things. Consider, for
give
much
our family.
words we have
example, family relationships.
thought to the words
We
available for labeling
we
use for the
We
don’t
members of
have the words “uncle” and “aunt”
to distin-
guish between a male and female relative that stands in the
same
relation to us, while
a relative
who
if
the
word “cousin”
could be either male or female.
had separate words
What
we have just
for
What
if
for
we
male cousin and female cousin?
instead of just the words “aunt” and “uncle”
we had
on the mother’s side of the family as opposed to the aunt on the father’s side? And what if we had words that distinguished between older and younger brothers and sisters? Of course, we could go on with any number of other classifications, and create words specific
words
for each
new
to identify the aunt
classification of relatives.
But we see our family
relationships in certain categories because our language pre-
disposes us to classify our family relationships in these ways.
While we can step outside these terms if we need to (my female cousin on my father’s side), our language doesn’t pro-
31
The New Doublespeak word
vide us with a ready
to express a different classifica-
tion.
however, the use of pronouns in Japanese.
Consider,
When
speaking English,
However,
explicit declaration
in
of where the speaker stands on the social
English speakers,
person to
who
whom
Relativity
much
find
is
talk-
struggle with this pro-
and Language
Whorf’s theory
attractive
fundamental
in tune with the
the speaker
never gave any thought to a pro-
noun carrying such meaning, usually noun system when learningjapanese.
We may
doesn’t
Japanese every pronoun includes an
scale in relation to the ing.
when make dis-
use the same pronouns
Our pronoun system
addressing anyone. tinctions.
we
because
it
is
very
scientific revolution
of
the twentieth century: the theory of relativity. Einstein said that
how we
see the
phenomena of the universe
is
relative to
Whorf said that our worldview is we use. For Werner Heisenberg, dis-
our point of observation. relative to the
language
tortion inheres in the very act of expressing
we observe
is
not nature
method of questioning .”
A
researchers
idea:
“what
but nature exposed to our
6
famous study looked
tion affects the
itself
an
at just
how
our point of observa-
world we see and experience. In the study,
examined the reactions
to a football
between Dartmouth and Princeton.
32
Suffice
it
game played
to say that the
Language and
the Interpretation
of Reality
game was very rough, prompting numerous articles about how “dirty” the game had been. But what caught the attention of the researchers
game held by each
was
side:
the totally opposite views of the
Dartmouth supporters charged
the
Princeton players with deliberately setting out to terrorize
Dartmouth players, while Princeton supporters made the same charge against the Dartmouth team. The researchers showed a film of the game to a carefully selected sample of students from each college who had not attended the game, then had them complete detailed questionnaires on the game and on their own backgrounds. the
Analyzing
.
.
.
this
there
information, the researchers concluded that
is
no such “thing”
“out there” in “observe.”
its
own
The “game”
right
“game”
as a
existing
which people merely
“exists” for a
person and
is
experienced by him only in so far as certain happenings have significances in terms of his purpose.
Out
of
all
the occurrences going
ment, a person
selects those that
cance for him from his the total matrix
The
on
own
in the environ-
have some
signifi-
egocentric position in
7 .
students from
Dartmouth “saw”
engaging in unnecessary rough
the Princeton players
play, while the students
from
Princeton “saw” the opposite. Those two groups of students
experienced different football games.
These
results aren’t all that surprising.
body of research
that
all
arrives at the
33
There
is
a large
same conclusion: Our
The New Doublespeak global evaluation, that riences
our overall evaluation, of our expe-
never objective but
is
most
factors,
is,
of
which
we
“The
researchers conclude:
influenced by a variety of
is
As
two
protestations of even the
most
unaware
are
of.
virtuous and disinterested participants that they are capable
of independent judgments should be considered suspect .”
8
Our Language and Our World
Each of us experiences the world
in
our
own
way, from our
own point of observation, and for each of us the language we use reflects our perception of the world as we experience it. Our language reveals to others not the world as it “is” but as we see it, and how we experience it as individuals. I can call my coffee hot while my wife finds it scalding. The critic finds the
movie boring and cliched while
different.
For some,
others
it’s
it’s
“welfare.”
I
I
find
it
funny and
“aid to dependent children,” while to
may complain about
the billions of
dollars in “corporate welfare” that others call “subsidies” or
The words we and with words we
“tax incentives.”
use create the world in
which we
tell
live,
others
what the world
we experience it. The National Cattlemen’s Association understood this power of language when it advised its members to send a is
as
more
mon
positive
image
to the public
by replacing some com-
terms with newer, more self-enhancing terms. At a time
34
Language and
when
the public
term such
“market ready”
refer to
of Reality
so very health-conscious, advises their
is
newsletter, avoid a
the Interpretation
as “fat cattle.” Better instead to
Growth hormones and
cattle.
other
chemical additives should not be mentioned. Instead, refer
when
“promotants,” and don’t say “doctor the cattle”
to
promotes a
“provide medical care”
much
better
image.
Other changes include replacing “stockyard” with “livestock “operation” with “farm” or “ranch,”
market,”
and
with “cattleman” or
“cattle producer,”
“barn.” Finally, never
mention slaughtering
say “process” or “go to market .”
“operator”
“facility” cattle.
with
Better to
9
Signs and Symbols
Before
we go any
difference
the
further,
between
two terms,
we need
to clarify the
important
and symbols. Too often we confuse
signs
especially
when we
consider the symbolic
function of language.
While both
and symbols communicate information, differences between them. As we use the
signs
there are crucial
term here, a sign has a natural or
which just as
it
signifies.
thunder
is
taken as a sign of
gun and the
We
usually take
intrinsic
smoke
connection to that to
be a sign of
fire,
considered a sign of rain and a fever
is
Leave your fingerprints all over the take it as a sign that you handled it.
illness.
police will
In these instances there
is
a connection between the sign and
35
The New Doublespeak the information the sign communicates. After
all,
smoke
doesn’t usually just appear out of nowhere, thunder doesn’t
come rumbling
on a
the sky
across
sunny
bright,
day,
healthy people usually don’t have a fever, and guns don’t pick up fingerprints without being touched. So signs and
what they signify— their meanings— are connected. However, there
no
is
between the symbol and tionship
intrinsic
that for
between the symbol and
or
which its
connection
natural
The
stands.
it
meaning
rela-
purely arbi-
is
What any symbol stands for is determined by the peowho use it. A red light means stop only because we have
trary.
ple
decided
that’s
what
inherent in the color red that
symbol of the United
means
my
Every Fourth of July
wife and
I
nothing
“Old Glory”
stop.
States, yet there
is
were
many
honor of being a symbol of the United
tors for the
is
There
a red light means.
States.
display two flags: one
symbols of
this country.
the Revolutionary War.
intrinsic
letters.
Both were carried
this
for.
In
fact,
each Fourth of July
I
Money
is
it
and don’t know
perhaps one of the most
any other symbol
it
its
was no
flags
and what
have
to explain
people what the rattlesnake flag stands
they’ve never seen
flags that at
country. But there
connection between any of those
they stood
Both were
into battle during
There were many other
one time were symbols of
like
cir-
while the other has a coiled rattlesnake and the words
“Don’t tread on me” embroidered in big
to
a
competi-
the flag of the thirteen colonies, with thirteen stars in a
cle,
is
for
because
meaning.
common
symbols, and
has meaning only because of our
36
Language and
agreement
to accept
inherent in
money
illustrate the
uncle
it
the Interpretation
as a
symbol of value. There
that gives
it
During the
area with money.
Manila
for
in
joy
My
1944,
its
filled
fire
showering the
vault,
with clouds of fluttering
up
soldiers gathered
quickly
of the
turned
to
all
the
bills
disappointment.
bills.
many
heating their coffee.
With
the
But
as
he
they could, their
The
Japanese occupation money, so the soldiers used fires for
rich.
artillery
who was one
uncle,
an
soldiers fighting near the bank, described his joy
sky was
and other
me by
was very
the time he thought he
battle
nothing
value. Here’s a short tale to
destroyed a bank building, including
as the
is
inherent value of money, as told to
who remembers
American
of Reality
bills
were
to
make
it
end of the Japanese
occupation of the Philippines, the social agreement that gave that
money
There
is
value ceased to
exist.
another difference between signs and symbols.
Signs have a one-to-one relationship with their
symbols can have multiple meanings. a picnic
when we
We
meaning while
usually don’t plan
hear thunder rumbling across the sky, nor
and healthy someone who has a temperature of 102 degrees. But ask people what the American flag symbolizes, what it means, and you’ll get a lot of answers, all do we pronounce
fit
of them correct.
The
flag
finds important.
And
the
means America, freedom, the bravery of the men and women who fought and died to defend America, all the American virtues that any particular person
means
list
goes on. In other words, the flag
different things to different people.
multiple meanings, not just one meaning.
37
As a symbol,
it
has
The New Doublespeak Words Are Symbols
Words
are symbols, not signs.
There
no
is
connection between the word and what
we
means, what
we
unless
referent.
call its
decide to
call
it
A
it
natural, intrinsic
stands
spade
is
for,
what
not a spade
a spade. “Pig” does not
mean
because pigs are such dirty animals. Nor does a word “spit”
wise
it
pig like
mean what it does because of how it sounds, otherwhat can we say about “hojjfrz/able?” Nor is there a
“right”
word
because
for
that’s
everything.
what they
are
Pigs
and
are
not called “pigs”
that’s the
only word for
them. “Terrorists” are called “terrorists” not because
what they
are but because
someone has decided
to call
that’s
them
that.
Since words are symbols not signs, words can and do have
more than one meaning. In
fact,
the
500 most frequently
used words in the English language have more than 14,000 meanings.
A
quick look
at
my
desk dictionary reveals that
the verb “fix” has twenty- two meanings listed, the verb “see” thirty-three
the
noun
meanings, the noun “light” eighteen meanings,
“night” twelve meanings,
and
noun “ship” five many more mean-
the
meanings. In an unabridged dictionary ings are listed for each of these words. If
words had only one meaning, we could pretty well
inate
word
all
elim-
ambiguity from the language. However, since each
in a sentence
sort out
all
meaning
that
can have multiple meanings,
we must
those possible meanings to arrive at the one
we
think works.
We
38
do
this
every time
we
use
Language and
the Interpretation
of Reality
language, and usually we’re not even aware we’re doing
we have
Often,
words.
What
TODAY.”
meaning out of a group of
does the following telegram mean? “SHIP SAILS you’re
If
Caribbean
to puzzle the
it.
cruise,
expecting
friends
you might head
return
to
from a
for the docks to greet
them when their ship arrives. But if you’re in the business of making sails for sailboats, you might fill the order and ship some new sails to the customer. Without context, we might not know what the words mean. We often run into this problem with newspaper headlines. “Smith Gets Probation in Guitar
Case” requires a context
to
convey the message.
[hanging the Meaning of Symbols
Human things
beings love symbols.
we do
best,
and we
Making symbols
is
are constantly doing
one of the it.
In addi-
tion to verbal symbols, or words, we’re continually creating
nonverbal symbols.
And
just to
making process even more meaning of symbols.
Some
make
interesting,
the
we
whole symbol-
often change the
years ago, a deep, golden suntan was a symbol of
outdoor labor such
as
farming or construction work, and
some people considered a lower social status. So people who saw themselves as being of a higher social class— meaning they either had the kind of job that thus a symbol of what
allowed them to stay inside and out of the sun or they had
39
The New Doublespeak much money
so
hard that
to
keep
the time
Bahamas and ble. It will
Time
We
work
at all— worked
sun getting to see
away
to get
to places like the
their skin as tan as possi-
what happens
to the
meaning
we become more and more concerned with which is caused by too much exposure to the
skin cancer, sun.
in the
to
prized as the symbol of those
is
and money
be interesting
symbol
this
lie
have
Today, however, the deep tan
their skin pale.
once symbolized work
who have
of
that they didn’t
to
as
change the meaning of the symbol?
live in a
world of symbols. By simply agreeing
to
what
new symbol. new symbol means, we
a symbol means, any two of us can create a
And
unless
someone
tells
have no way of learning scious,
it’s
us what a its
meaning. For the fashion-con-
a constant struggle to keep
up with what new item
of clothing or jewelry, what brand of watch,
new symbol
car,
of status, prestige, and wealth. Are tattoos
is
the
a
good or bad symbol? What about pierced
lips?
New
or sunglasses
ears, noses, or
symbols are constantly being created, and the
meanings of old symbols constantly change. As anyone has raised a teenager knows, you have to
up with
all
their
new symbols and what
work hard
to
who keep
they mean.
Words
In addition to nonverbal symbols, ing
new
verbal symbols, or
we
are constantly invent-
new words. Usually we
40
learn the
Language and
the Interpretation
meaning of a new word through
may
of Reality
context, but sometimes
we
So dictionaries are constantly include new words and new meanings for old
resort to a dictionary.
revised to
words, and to drop words that are no longer used. When’s the last time you heard or read these words: bespawl (to spit on), glede (askew), pillowbeer (a pillow slip), or
On
cup)?
the
more of
or
yux (to hicother hand, you’ve probably come across one
these
new words: meltdown, bottom
and software.
doctor, fax,
verbal and nonverbal,
all
We
spin
keep changing our symbols,
the time.
Reification: Eatinq the
Toward
line,
Menu
end of the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy the Wizard gives the Scarecrow a college degree,
the
watches as
which makes him smart, then gives the Cowardly Lion a medal for courage, which gives him courage, and finally Tin
gives the
gives
him
Of
is
it’s
we know
act of courage.
not the emotion
ence the emotion. ing,
that’s
not the
only a symbol of courage;
nor even an tion;
a watch in the shape of a heart, which
the capability to experience emotions.
course,
medal
Man
A heart
itself,
nor
A college degree
not the learning
itself.
it’s
is
things work.
not the quality
itself,
the ability to experi-
only a symbol of learn-
And many
people with college
degrees are not very smart, or even very educated.
41
A
only a symbol of emo-
is it is
way
The New Doublespeak We
must always remember
same
stands for are not the try; the
uniform
is
that the
is
not the
skill
Another way of saying “hamburger”
Is
is
symbol and what
word
the
is
not the thing.
it
stands
The word
not the hamburger. Eating the paper on
your hunger.
And you
word “money” on “sewage” doesn’t smell, “boom” word “mucus” isn’t disgusting.
much
printed won’t do
is
writing the
When we
col-
Not the Thing
which the word “hamburger” alleviate
not the
is
not the courage; the
is
that the
same thing is
not the coun-
or knowledge.
The Word
for are not the
is
not the religion; the actor
character portrayed; the medal is
flag
it
not the person; the crucifix, the Star of
David, or the Crescent
lege degree
The
thing.
symbol and what
certainly won’t get rich
pieces of paper.
to
by
The word
doesn’t sound loud, and the
confuse words with the things they represent,
we engage in a process called reification which simply means that we treat something we have created verbally as if it had real substance. We make something out of nothing. When ,
this
happens, words become traps, as Werner Heisenberg
observed, where “the concepts tion
from particular
own The
situations
initially .
.
.
formed by
acquire a
life
abstrac-
of their
.” 10
verb “to be”
tion. Since this
is
the principal
way we engage
in reifica-
verb accounts for about one-third of
42
all
the
Language and
the Interpretation
of Reality
verbs that occur in normal discourse,
engage constantly in that
we
what
reification. In
rarely notice we’re doing
process
this
doing
is
we have a tendency to fact, we do it so often
it,
and
to us
to
and notice even our attempts
to
less
com-
municate with one another. It’s
not unusual to run across something
like the following
comment: Don’t
call
them
“guerrillas” or “revolutionaries”
or “freedom fighters.”
Those who use
to kill innocent civilians in the
for
the
people are
Palestinian
name
bombs
of freedom
“terrorists”
we should
“murderers,” and that’s what
car
call
and
them.
What our commentator seems to be saying is that someone who kills another, whether intentionally or unintentionally, by exploding a car bomb might be called a “guerrilla” or a “freedom
fighter,”
but the
real
name
for such a person
Our commentator suggests that our would be a lot clearer if we would just use the murderer.
discussions real
the right words, for things instead of allowing false
curate words to be pinned
This, of course, “real”
thing in
name
is
on
very
much
“real”
name
like the practice
“real”
name
fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin
the
and
the error of believing that there
which you keep your
who knows your
names,
is
inac-
things.
for something, that the
itself. It’s
is
name
is
a
inherent in the
of
some
societies
secret because
anyone
has power over you. (The
an
illustration of this belief in
power of names.) While we dismiss such a
43
is
belief as
The New Doublespeak we may
“primitive,”
well believe
“murderer”
is
what a person
is
someone who
“real”
name
What
that person
above believes: that the civilians
what our commentator for
is
one
is
thing;
quite another matter.
called is
In 1992, the U.S. Department of Justice investigated
ous environmental crimes
Rocky
the
at
The grand
nuclear weapons plant. crimes,
kills
and many other
Flats,
seri-
Colorado,
jury investigating the
believed the government
officials,
should have pursued criminal charges against the the Rockwell International Corporation, the
officers of
company
that
operated the plant under contract with the federal govern-
ment.
But
the
government
settled
the
Rockwell for a record $18.5 million
fine
Deputy head of
prosecutions.
Hartman,
Assistant the
Attorney
Justice
Resources Division, explained
charges
and no criminal General
Department’s
why no
against
Barry
Natural
criminal charges were
pressed: “Environmental crimes are not like organized crime
you have bad people doing bad things. With environmental crimes, you have decent people doing bad things.” Again, we have to remember that people are neither or drugs. There
11
decent nor bad. People or bad, but
When we
it is
may do
the action
things that
we
label decent
and not the person who
is
bad.
someone a bad person, we really mean this is a person who does what we call bad things. That is, a person isn’t bad or decent until we label him, and we base our label on the person’s actions. Mr. Hartman thinks that people have a “real” name, that there are bad people and decent people, and he can tell them call
44
Language and
apart. For
the Interpretation
of Reality
Mr. Hartman, the people running the Rocky
plant are “good” people,
Flats
and such people don’t commit
criminal acts. Therefore, anything they did couldn’t be crim-
because “good” people don’t commit criminal
inal
would argue
I
who, according
running the Rocky
that the executives
plant are neither
bad nor decent people, but they
to a
grand
acts.
jury, did
bad
things:
Flats
are people
They com-
Hartman knows they commit crimes.
mitted environmental crimes. But Mr.
some people
are “decent,” even
if
that
do
I
not
mean
me
of the accounts of how the people running the concentra-
tion to
to
camps
opera
make
in
too strong a comparison, but
Germany were such
at night,
it
reminds
cultured people, listening
reading Goethe, and playing with their
Were they “decent” people too? For Mr. Hartman, bad people sell drugs; decent people commit environmental crimes. Which really has to make you wonder what other children.
things “decent” people do.
Words and the World
There
is
a difference between the “world”
use to talk about that world.
On
and the words we
the one hand, there
the
is
world, which consists of things, processes, and events.
On
names we create for these The two are quite separate and
the other hand, there are the things, processes, distinct
and
in
and
events.
no way connected, except
connect them. Yet
we keep
as
we choose
to
forgetting this basic fact about
45
The New Doublespeak language and symbols, and because get ourselves into
some
we keep
we
forgetting,
kinds of trouble and end up saying
all
pretty stupid things.
Naming
on them— that is, using symbols— is an act of the human mind, and a very creative act. But it is just that: a creative act that has nothing to do things or pinning labels
name
with the “real” use comes from
us,
Any name we
of anything.
not from the thing
We forget this principle
at
our
itself
choose
to
or from nature.
peril.
Our commentator can call a person who sets off car bombs whatever he wants; that is his privilege. If he wants person a
to call that
tainly can.
bomb tator
and a “murderer” he
“terrorist”
But that doesn’t make those
either “terrorists” or “murderers.”
is
really saying
son should be
is
that this
is
who set off the car What our commen-
what he
called. In his political
cer-
thinks
such a per-
framework and from
his
of view, these are the appropriate labels
we
So too with Mr. Hartman of the Justice Department.
He
political point
should use.
can
call
the executives
who committed
environmental crimes
whatever he wants. But unlike our commentator, whose
words have no
effect
when Mr. Hartman some
the lives of the people he labels,
decides to use a label,
we might
say that
criminals escape prosecution.
Others that
on
some
may
not agree with our commentator.
I
am
people, including not a few high officials in a
sure
num-
ber of governments, would use such words as “freedom fighters,” “soldiers,”
the people,”
“heroes of the revolution,” “defenders of
and any number of
46
others.
While
it is
true that
Language and
the
words you use
point of view,
bombs
to describe is
it
the Interpretation
of Reality
such people depends on your
also true that people
who
set off car
name any more than anyone
don’t have a “real”
else.
Consider the following paragraph in place of the one previously cited:
Don’t
call
boys” or
bombs
them
“military personnel” or “our brave
Those who use
“air crews.”
laser-guided
to kill innocent civilians in the
freedom
American people
for the
and murderers, and
that’s
name
of
are terrorists
what we should
call
them.
You might personnel
object to
who do
my
their
version because U.S. Air Force
duty aren’t murderers. To which
I
would point out that U.S. Air Force bomber crews aren’t anything until someone pins a name on them. And the name that gets pinned on them will depend on the point of view of the name pinner. Whatever name is used will tell us more
who has chosen the name than about the named. The use of “terrorist” and “murderer”
about the person thing being tells
and
us about the political viewpoint of our commentator little
about the people
Finally,
who
you might note
set off the car
bomb.
the phrase “innocent civilians.”
What, you might ask, is a civilian, and what makes a civilian innocent? During World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and every war since then, “innocent civilians” have been
killed,
bombing of
many
cities in
quite deliberately, as in the massive
England, Germany, Japan, and
47
many
The New Doublespeak Were such bombing
other countries.
attacks acts of “terror”
and “murder?” Or were they an unfortunate but unavoid-
bombing campaign
able consequence of a strategic the enemy’s ability to
wage war? Or were they
to
reduce
instances of
“incontinent ordnance?”
The Three Umpires
The problems
of confusing words and things
the story of the three umpires
The
do.
first
umpire
and
I call
“There are
balls,
strikes,
see
them” The
them
says,
umpire
are describing
“There are
as they are.”
and there
third
who
first
“balls”
and
identify
which
he uses
identifies the reality.
word
is
is
I call
says,
them as I balls, and there
I call
them.”
“strikes” exist
and
his
job
to
is
which. This umpire assumes that the label
The second umpire
realizes that
not the thing and that whatever word he uses
simply his perception of illustrates the social
who
and there are
umpire confuses the word and the thing by
assuming that
the
and
“There are
are strikes, but they’re nothing until
The
balls,
what they
The second umpire
are strikes, says,
illustrated in
is
reality.
However, the
power of treating words
third
as things.
is
umpire
Those
put labels on things exercise great power, for the conse-
quences of labels are significant and far-reaching. After are those
who
planted the car
derers” or “guerrillas”
bomb
and “freedom
48
“terrorists”
fighters”?
all,
and “mur-
Language and
Naming
We
things
is
a
the Interpretation
human
act,
of Reality
not an act of nature.
it is
who
are the ones
through language create things out of the phenomena around us. Yet we forget that we control this
process and
let
we have
We
the process control us.
act as if the
very
beyond our control. Indeed, we act as if there’s nothing we can do about it. The world we create with words is not the same as the world in which we live. We confuse the two at our peril. The Cowardly Lion has no more courage after receiving his medal than before, the Tin Man is as emotionless after things
created are
receiving his heart as before,
and the Scarecrow
rant after receiving his college degree as he
thing.
The menu
not the meal. Forgetting
is
as igno-
was before the
The word
degree was conferred by the Wizard.
is
is
not the
this principle
can lead to a signal reaction.
Watch Out forlhose Signal Reactions
A
signal reaction simply
unthinking response to a tion observed
vates even
we have an automatic, symbol, much like the famed reac-
means
that
by Ivan Pavlov: Ring
when
the bell
A
the food isn’t there.
and the dog
signal reaction
saliis
a
reaction that occurs whether or not the conditions warrant. Yell “Fire!” in a building est exit.
I
doubt
whether there
is
a
if
and everyone
many
fire
will
run
for the clos-
people will look around to see
and then decide
49
to leave the building.
The New Doublespeak On
the other hand, a
tion, a reaction that
symbol reaction
conditional
is
symbol reaction involves some
we know
that there
symbol and
that for
opponent believes welfare
is
state,”
upon
analysis
the circumstances.
which
it
stands. “Like
in continuing the
says the candidate.
minimum
A
and thought because all liberals,
bankrupt
To which
my
policies of the
the object of his
like all conservatives,
to destroy Medicare, gut the social
vide a
a delayed reac-
no necessary connection between the
comments responds, “My opponent, wants
is
programs
that pro-
of care for millions of poor children, and
repeal the laws that protect our environment
from the
ages of the unchecked greed of big business.” If
rav-
we choose
to
respond to these statements not with a signal reaction as our speakers would like but with a symbol reaction,
we would
find both statements sorely wanting as examples of responsible public discourse,
no matter what our
When the Word Becomes
A
political beliefs.
the Thing
when we identify the symbol with stands, when the word becomes the
signal reaction occurs
the thing for thing.
which
which
it
A signal reaction means we’re acting without thinking, is
probably a good thing
when someone
yells “Fire!”
or “Duck!” But signal reactions can lead to results that range
from the
Gore
tragic to the absurd.
Consider these examples.
Vidal, in an article in Esquire magazine, recounts the
tragic story of Ibrahim, the
Egyptian soldier
50
who was on
Language and
maneuvers
in the desert.
the Interpretation
One
night,
of Reality
Ibrahim forgot the pass-
when he approached the guard post he could not give it when challenged. So Ibrahim says, “Look, I forget. I did know but now I forget the password but you know me, anyway, you know it’s Ibrahim.” But they shot him anyway because they had orders to shoot anyone who couldn’t give word, so
the password. “Oh, they were sorry, very sorry,” says the
narrator of the story, “because they
but you
see,
he did not
know
knew
it
the password.”
was Ibrahim,
Even Ibrahim
joined in the signal reaction that caused his death, because as
he was dying he said they were right
Then there’s this November 30, 1971,
story
to kill him.
from the New
12
York
Post.
On
armed men shot out the glass doors of a New York bank and entered the bank firing automatic weapons, wounding twelve people. One of the bank tellers ran from the robbers and made it to an upstairs women’s restroom. One gunman chased her, but he stopped door
at the
When finish
to the ladies’
room, shouting
at
her to come out.
she refused, he went downstairs to help his colleagues
robbing the bank.
The
old television
tions as the basis for ple,
five heavily
show Candid Camera used
many
of
its skits.
In one classic exam-
two telephone booths were placed next
One booth was
labeled
“Men” and
signal reac-
the other
to each other.
“Women.” As
no one who used the booths violated the signs. Men used only the booth labeled for men, and women used only the booth labeled for them. Even when there was a line for the men’s booth and the women’s the camera recorded the scene,
booth was empty, no
man used
51
the
women’s booth.
The New Doublespeak In each of these instances, people reacted automatically,
without thinking, without taking into consideration what the conditions warranted. Unfortunately for Private Ibrahim
meant teller
his death,
meant
it
refuge. For the
phone booths strating
while fortunately for the
why we need
the conditions warrant before
York bank
men and women using
in the Candid Camera
once again
New
we
segment
to think act
it
it
the
tele-
meant demon-
and consider what
on any symbol.
Sources of Signal Reactions
Signal reactions are an important part of advertising. advertisers seek a signal reaction
when
from consumers,
Many
especially
more expensive, upscale products that have little to distinguish them from their competitors, other than price, fancy packaging, and a big advertising campaign. Advertisers want us to react automatically to a product’s it
name
comes
(called
to the
brand recognition
in the advertising business)
so that without considering anything else about the product
we buy
it.
name],
must be good.
it
After
all,
if it’s
Now
[fill
in the
that’s a signal reaction that
pay big money for the manufacturer. To achieve signal reaction,
dollars
on
brand can
that kind of
companies spend hundreds of millions of
advertising.
Slogans are also a source of signal reactions. Slogans are
designed to short-circuit thought, not to stimulate
52
it.
Slogan
Language and
the Interpretation
of Reality
want an automatic, unthinking
writers
thoughtful, considered response. “America, It.”
“Keep America
in America.”
Love
It
not
a
or Leave
Dead Than Red.” Way With LBJ.” “It’s Morning
Beautiful.”
“Nixon’s the One.” “All the
reaction,
“Better
“Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity.”
“Deutschland
• •
Uber Alles.” I’m sure you can add a few dozen more. Some words, too, may produce a signal reaction. Sometimes
this
is
not a bad thing. After
all, if
someone
yells
“Duck!” you should react instantly and automatically, and not take the time for thoughtful reflection on your course of action. rare,
But such instances of signal reaction
and are an exception
words are
to
to the rule.
All kinds of people are constantly trying to induce a signal
reaction
words,
to
“Communist,”
words
such
using
as
“fascist,”
wing,”
“right
wing,” “racist,” “feminazi,” “welfare queen,” “ruling
class,”
and many
“bureaucrat,” is
to
“conservative,”
“liberal,”
The
others.
guard against signal reactions
respond
to
words with the
consideration
we should
Governments and
“left
list is
to
endless.
words and instead
seek instead
give to
all
symbols.
politicians also seek to induce signal
careful, analytical consideration. is
and
careful, thoughtful reflection
reactions to words. Often these groups don’t
words given
Our job
a knee-jerk reaction.
And
they
want
their
What
they
work hard
achieve a signal reaction and to use words to induce a nal reaction. Here’s just politicians
work
to use
one example of
words
to
voters.
53
how
to
sig-
hard some
produce signal reactions in
The New Doublespeak GOPAC and
In 1990,
GOPAC,
Signal Reactions
a conservative Republican group
general chairman was Representative
Newt
lished a booklet titled Language:
A
The
for use
booklet,
which was designed
didates for office, contained a
urged candidates
list
whose
Gingrich, pub-
Key Mechanism of Control
by Republican can-
of 133 words that
to use to attack their
GOPAC
opponents and
to
“The words and phrases are powerful,” mailing to candidates. “Read them. Memorize as possible. And remember that like any tool, these
praise themselves. said the
many
as
words
will
The
not help
booklet
Among
they are not used.”
included
Governing Words” vision.”
if
to “help define
the
words
flag,
rights,
freedom,
fair,
children,
truth,
humane,
“Optimistic
sixty-nine
listed
Positive
your campaign and your
were “environment, peace,
duty, we/us/our, moral, family,
hard-working,
care(ing),
liberty,
reformer, vision, visionary, confident, and candid.” Thus,
using
this
fident,
list,
a candidate could call himself a “humane, con-
caring,
who has that we can
hard-working reformer
vision of peace, freedom,
and
liberty
through a crusade for prosperity and
a moral all
build
truth.”
Words” to “define our opponents” and “create a clear and easily understood contrast.” The booklet recommended: “Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their Included also was a
party.”
Among
the
list
words
of sixty-four “Contrasting
in this
sick, pathetic, lie, liberal, radical,
list
were: “traitors, betray,
hypocrisy, corruption, per-
missive attitude, greed, self-serving, ideological, they/them,
54
Language and
the Interpretation
of Reality
anti-flag, anti-family, anti-child, anti-jobs,
and coercion” Using
cracy, impose,
your opponent a
whose
“sick, pathetic,
this
ideology
With
list,
you could
call
incompetent, liberal traitor
self-serving permissive attitude
bureaucracy and an
unionized bureau-
promotes a unionized
anti-flag, anti-family, anti-child, anti-jobs
” 13
these
lists,
Republican candidates didn’t have
bother with thinking or knowing anything.
They
to
didn’t have
examine, evaluate, or respond to their opponents’ propos-
to als
and
ideas, just label
them using
the
words provided. By
following Gingrich’s advice, Republican candidates also didn’t
need
to get involved
their ideas
and
beliefs.
kind of thought.
words
them
off the if
with specific proposals or any
list,
The
No
details of
need for logic or reason, or any
candidates only had to pull a few
drop them in
asked questions.
their speeches,
and repeat
No
thinking necessary by either
own
version of the signal reaction;
candidate or voter.
George Orwell had he called
it
his
“duckspeak,” which was “to quack like a duck.”
Duckspeak has no meaning. With duckspeak it makes no difference what the subject is, “whatever it was, you could .” be certain that every word of it was pure orthodoxy. After all, “it was not the man’s brain that was speaking; it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words but it was not speech in the true sense; it was .
.
a noise uttered in unconsciousness, like the quacking of a
duck.”
With
the efficient use of duckspeak, the speaker can
ensure orthodoxy, which “means not thinking— not needing to think.
Orthodoxy
is
unconsciousness .”
55
14
The New Doublespeak Signal Reactions, Duckspeak, and Doublespeak
When we who
have speakers
who
use words without thought,
use words only for the automatic, unthinking reaction
they will produce, a response,
we
when we have an audience
are engaging in duckspeak, a kind of signal
With duckspeak,
reaction.
a signal reaction,
When
that has such
we
as
with words designed to induce
are not using symbols to communicate.
the Environmental Protection
Agency
using the term “wet deposition” for acid rain,
insisted
it
on
effectively
prevented people from thinking about the causes and conse-
no one knows what “wet deposican be no symbol reaction. When I read about
quences of acid tion”
is,
there
rain. Since
a “severe adjustment process” I’m not sure what reaction to
have since there
is
no way
I
can
know
that this
phrase for a recession.
The doublespeak
can work well to blunt
all
is
another
of signal reaction
thought and leave a void where
there should be meaning, thought,
56
and
action.
3 Abstracting Our into
Way
Doublespeak
Stepping into the Same River Twice
Heraclitus of Ephesus, writing around 500 B.G., gave us
what philosophers Everything
is
call
the doctrine of perpetual change.
in a constant state of flux, said Heraclitus, like
a flowing river.
We
because the water
cannot step into the “same” river twice
we
step into the second time
same water we stepped
into the
first
time.
So
we
think
is
it is
not the
with the
world.
The world
isn’t
the stable place
Heraclitus’s river, everything
change.
We
is
it
is.
Like
in a constant state of flux, of
give stability to this constantly changing world
57
The New Doublespeak through our
ability to re-create
and ignoring
When we
differences.
abstract,
we
it
by focusing on
This process
select the
called abstracting.
is
information
attention to while ignoring the rest, focusing
amount of information
that
able patterns. Abstracting
is
we
similarities
we
pay
will
on a
limited
then arrange into recogniz-
a continuous process that allows
us to give stability to a very unstable world.
and
All our senses are constantly selecting, organizing,
generalizing the information they receive.
When we
abstract,
we create a kind of summary of what the world is like. We may not be able to step into the same river twice, but by abstracting we act as if we can. Watching television is a simple example of how we constantly abstract without being
“picture”
on
aware of the process.
the television screen
A
when
there isn’t
We
see a
any
pic-
composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny dots. As some dots are lit and some aren’t, our brains collect the sensations and organize them into patterns that we see as moving pictures. Those tiny dots on the screen are lit about thirty times per second ture there at
all.
television picture
is
while our brains organize the dots they see into patterns
about ten times per second. Yet even this process,
and not
in
after
most of us think the picture
is
we understand on
that screen
our heads.
Consider
this
example of the abstraction process involved
in seeing a chair.
As any
physicist will
A chair is
tell
you, a chair
isn’t
a
composed of billions of atomic and subatomic particles in constant motion, and even those particles aren’t solid matter but are made up of bun“thing” at
all; it’s
an event.
58
Our Way
Abstracting
We
dies of energy.
moving
particles
world
not the
our
is
chair,
tion,
of
and the
all
because then
way we
see
it.
we
its
of world,
is
see
struct the entire chair
important
of
remember see
these
all
that the
when we
look
particles.
see the chair because
no one has ever
You can
see parts of
whole chair— top, bottom, sides— all
enough of and
at
a summary, an abstrac-
the chair that
act as if
we know
But sometimes our construction can lead us
we
it’s
made up
will
entirety, all at once.
the chair, but not the
we can
is
What we
motion of all those
Even then we don’t
once. But
our chair
that
at the rest
seen a chair in
Doublespeak
can’t see these particles, but
remind ourselves
to
into
we can
at
con-
whole
chair.
astray, as
when
the
don’t see the crack in the leg and find ourselves on the
floor
when our
chair collapses.
Still,
our assumptions about
enough most of
the time so that
our chair
will serve us well
we never
question the abstracting process. Indeed,
tinue our abstracting
events that
when we
make up our
use language to
we conname the
world.
Words and Things
Naming tion, it
in
things— using language— is a very high level abstrac-
and when we name something we “freeze” it by placing a category and making a “thing” out of it. But now we
encounter a curious but most important aspect of abstracting process. tion
we
label
When
an event a
this
through the process of abstrac-
“chair,”
59
we have
created a
word
for
>
:
The New Doublespeak something that does not “chair” all
in
exist
The word and summary of
the world.
an abstraction, a generalization
is
work
those things in the world that look and
way.
The word
“furniture”
and
includes our chair
anything
like a chair
And we
functions.
all
is
a
still
in a similar
higher abstraction that
those other things that don’t look
but share some similar features and
could abstract even further and include
our chair in “home decoration” and “personal
assets.”
Here’s another example, starting with a specific object
and moving through increasingly higher tion.
Notice
how
each
new
levels of abstrac-
level of abstraction ignores
more
and more differences while focusing on fewer and fewer similarities
Camry —» Toyota —» new car — —» motor vehicle —> vehicle —> private
1996 red Toyota automobile
—>
transportation
we
transportation
moved quite a distance from our 1996 red Toyota Camry. The higher the level of abstraction, the more detail we leave out, the more we ignore differences, and the more we concentrate on simiBy
the time
larities,
get to “transportation” we’ve
no matter how few or how tenuous those
might be.
When
I
talk
about transportation,
I
similarities
am
only those aspects of the 1996 Toyota that place
it
including in a cate-
gory that includes bicycles, airplanes, and trucks. Let’s look at a cat Phil
—
>
named
Phil.
— mammal —> animal —> living thing — thing
Maine Coon —» male
—> vertebrate
cat
—»
cat
>
>
60
Our Way
Abstracting
Phil
male time
and he
cat,
we
a
is
known
Maine Coon. He is also a mammal and a vertebrate. But by the
a breed of cat
is
Doublespeak
into
as a
way from the collection that make up Phil.
get to “thing,” we’re a long
of atomic and subatomic particles
There
is
usually less ambiguity at the lower levels of
abstraction. If
I
refer to
my
1996 red Toyota Camry, you
have a better idea of what I’m talking about than
my
if I
refer to
The words we use which we are operating.
“vehicle” or “private transportation.”
reveal the level of abstraction at
The word refer to
“thing” excludes a lot of detail
both
my Camry
my
and
other objects in the universe.
It is
and can be used
house, and a whole
word
a
lot
to
of
at the highest levels
of abstraction.
The less abstract our cific we are because we
language, the
more concrete and
are using language that includes a lot
of detail and refers to a very low level of abstraction. say, “I like to
ball cific
and
play sports,” or
basketball.”
spe-
I
Language
creates pictures in the
can
that
say, “I like to
is
mind of
more
I
can
play base-
concrete and spe-
the listener, pictures that
should come as close as possible to the pictures in your
mind.
Highly abstract language speak, especially is is
a
a
meant.
The government
many
And
the
common form
politicians.
good example of using a very
besides taxes. in
among
is
has
“Revenue enhancement”
abstract term to hide
many
what
forms of revenue
government can increase
its
revenues
ways, with a tax increase being just one of those
ways. Indeed, even the term “tax increase”
Which
of double-
tax will be increased,
61
is
fairly abstract.
and by how much? Are we
The New Doublespeak on corporations by 1 percent, or are we talking about increasing the income tax for anyone making $25,000 a year or less? Those are two very different tax increases, and we might want to talk about talking about increasing the tax
them.
However, some people would say that they don’t tax increase
is
Of
bad.
what they mean by
we might want
course,
“bad,”
and “bad”
for
to ask
whom?
any
care;
It’s
them
bad
for
To which we might say, what do “economy”? That’s a very abstract term,
the economy, they reply.
you mean by
the
my
probably as abstract as calling “transportation”
them to be a Using a high
like
dump
my cat Phil
and
little less
a “thing.”
abstract
specific picture
from the concrete the terms
They
little
more
we can
specific.
call
the
new
reality
no
abstractions
specific
their creators
want them
to
in
our minds since we’re
When
confronted with such
picture at
we have
call to
they are supposed to symbolize. In
do exactly what
create
Such terms do not
because they are so far removed
not sure what they mean.
some
Maybe we would
a “resource development park” and sewage sludge
mind any
do:
and a
level of abstraction
“biosolids” or “organic biomass.”
fact,
Camry
1996 Toyota
all
who use them to give us move down from their high levels
to ask those
examples, to
of abstraction to specific examples that clearly illustrate what
they are referring tion,
some
officials
to.
By using
were able
the doublespeak of abstrac-
to get approval to build a
dump in a residential neighborhood, won approval for a new sewage plant.
62
while other
new
officials
Abstracting
Our Way
into
Doublespeak
Reports, Inferences, and Judgments
At the lowest
reports. Reports are
heard,
felt,
ward:
we can use language that based on what we have directly seen,
levels of abstraction
or experienced. Reports are pretty straightfor-
“It is raining.” “I
have a temperature of 101.”
“I
paid
We can verify reports and confirm that We can look out the window and see the
$4.99 for that book.”
they are accurate. rain.
We
ature.
can use a thermometer to check a person’s temper-
And we
can see the
sales receipt to verify the price
paid for a book. Report language In our everyday lives time.
we
Did General Motors
is
concrete and specific.
accept reports of reports
really
make
a profit
last
The newspapers said so, and even though we that report, we accept it. Without giving it much accept reports of reports
all
and our doctor’s advice.
We
and
matics,
history,
the time.
We
all
the
quarter?
can’t verify
thought,
follow road
we
maps
read books on science, mathe-
and assume
that the authors are giving
us reliable information.
Inferences
Much
we might like all language to be in the form of we wouldn’t get much done if it were. Instead, we
as
reports,
use inferences to conduct our daily
63
affairs.
An
inference
is
a
The New Doublespeak statement about the guess, sometimes
unknown based on
the
known.
It is
a
an educated guess, and sometimes a wild
leap of logic.
An
inference starts with
what
notice the newspapers piling
Then you car
is
known
is
or observed.
You
up on your neighbors’ porch.
notice the mail overflowing the mailbox. Since their
gone and you haven’t seen anyone around the house
for
have gone on vacation. Your
a few days,
you
inference
based on your observations, observations that we
could
call
is
infer that they
reports because they are
all verifiable.
However, the
statement that the Bergers have gone on vacation ence, a conclusion
possible, of course, that
It is
ence.
drawn from your
killer fled in their car.
Or
you
are
wrong
We make
your
infer-
that
perhaps Mrs. Berger took the
out of town on business.
have forgotten
in
you could family has been murdered and the
dren to her mother’s in Florida for a
gone anywhere while
infer-
observations.
There are other possible inferences
draw. Perhaps the entire
an
is
visit
Or perhaps
their car
while Mr. Berger
the Bergers haven’t
and newspapers.
hundreds of inferences every day, and
most part our inferences work. Since infer that stores will
stop because
we
be open
infer that the
it
for business.
bus
is
being repaired and they
is
to collect their mail
chil-
is
for the
a weekday,
We
go to the bus
will stop there again
up passengers. We can test the stores are open or they
we
today
to pick
these inferences because
either
aren’t,
stop or
We
it
and the bus
will
won’t.
also
make
quickly verifiable.
other inferences that aren’t so easily or
We
infer a person’s
64
economic and
social
Abstracting
status
Our Way
from the quality of her
into
Doublespeak
infer the geopolitical strategy of Iran infer a person’s feelings
way he
from
about us from
we infer the existence we collect; we infer the
treats us;
based on
fossils
civilization
from the
his
we
We
its
actions;
we
words and the
of certain creatures
nature of Egyptian
and
ruins, written records,
examine. Without inferences,
car.
and
clothes, jewelry,
artifacts
we
couldn’t function in our
and without inferences our knowledge of the world would be greatly reduced. However, we have to be everyday
lives,
aware of our inferences because we can inferences without
A
knowing
easily
draw
false
it.
segment on the television evening news shows us a
home
for unmarried, pregnant teenage girls.
mentions that the
home
is
is
room
at the
home. This
followed by an interview with a politician
is
we have
reporter
overcrowded, that there are more
pregnant teenagers than there report
The
who
says
do something about teenagers having babies, which has become a crisis that demands action. Moreover, that
to
our politician adds somberly, teenagers having babies
more evidence of our moral
decline.
The
next day,
tion in conversation that there’s a serious
is
we men-
problem with
all
those teenagers having babies.
From
the television report
that there are a large
number
that
is
we have drawn
number of teenage
growing.
We
might even
girls
the inference
having babies, a
infer that there
is
an
“epidemic” of teenage pregnancies. But our inference would
be wrong. Teenage pregnancies are not increasing. In birth rate
among
teenage
girls is
lower today than
it
fact,
was
the
forty
years ago. In 1955, approximately 90 out of every 1,000
65
The New Doublespeak 1
women between
the ages of fifteen
and nineteen gave
while in 1993 the birth rate for that age group was
59 out of 1,000. ers
who
And most
is false.
And
is
So perhaps our
is false,
what about the inference
we are in a moral decline, assuming that we can all what we mean by such an abstract term? Drawing false that
ences
is
to
an epidemic of teenagers having babies
that inference
if
down
of those babies are born to moth-
are eighteen or nineteen years old.
inference that there
birth,
sometimes called leaping
agree infer-
to conclusions.
Judgments
Often we move from inferences tion
known
as
to a higher level of abstrac-
judgments. Instead of saying,
have a temperature of 101,” and
we might “I
say,
paid too
“The weather
much
are judgments.
is
“I
A judgment
or disapproval of what
we
is
paid $4.99 for that book,”
terrible,” “I
for that book.”
“It is raining,” “I
These
look
terrible,”
last three
statements
an expression of our approval
are describing. In other words,
judgments are nothing more than our personal opinions. get into trouble
when we
confuse judgments with reports.
Consider these sentences:
The man 2. The man 3. The man 1.
and
lying in the street
is
unconscious.
lying in the street
is
drunk.
lying in the street
is
a
66
bum.
We
Abstracting
The
first
sentence
second sentence
The
judgment. sentence
that the
may
is
first
sentence
drunk.
We
is
a
while the second
verifiable,
is
he
is
the
“Allen
man
drunk. That the
man based on
is
stupid,”
is
“Socialized
bum
a
know
is
a judg-
our inferences.
and judgments.
“The Toyota Camry is
don’t
Based on those observations we
often confuse reports
great writer,”
We
known.
accept as a report statements such as:
buy,”
The
only see him, his physical condi-
ment, our evaluation of the
we
fact.
an inference, and the third sentence
is
his appearance.
infer that
We
Doublespeak
a report, a description of
unknown based on
man
and
tion,
into
an interpretation of an observation, a statement
is
about the
is
Our Way
How
often
“Hemingway
the best car
medicine
is
do is
a
you can terrible,”
“Socialism and freedom are incompatible,” “Conservatives are fascists,”
world.”
and “America
Yet each of these
is
the greatest country in the
statements
is
a judgment,
an
expression of the speaker’s evaluation of the person or thing
being discussed. These statements say nothing about the people and things being discussed but do reveal something of the speaker’s values. Even
ments we do not have a Unfortunately,
we
if
others agree with our judg-
report, just a similarity of values.
too often treat judgments as
if
they were
reports.
Here’s
a
little
story illustrating
abstraction process to
make
how we
inferences
do not coincide with a description of the
67
can use the
and judgments facts.
that
The New Doublespeak A Tale
The
of Faulty Inferences
Hungarian countryside. In a
train rushes across the
compartment Nazi
a mother with her attractive daughter, a
sit
and a Hungarian
officer,
through a tunnel, the compartment
is
sound of a loud
When
the train emerges
is
one says a word, but the Nazi
certainly
showed
daughter looks
that
“What
from the tunnel, no bears the unmis-
The mother
a good daughter
I
Nazi he can’t fool with
stares
officer
“That Hungarian slapped,
and
Hungarian kiss
The
facts
was a noise sounded
at
get
ment.
have. She
The
her.”
He
nothing
steals I
official
a kiss
can do
The
kiss.”
and and
about
thinks, gets
it.”
me The
blankly as he thinks, “Not bad.
away with slapping
is
I
a Nazi.”
of the story are simple: In the darkness there that
sounded
like a kiss,
followed by a noise that
like a slap.
Based on these
drew a
clever.
is
there’s
and
Hungarian
the
official stares
my hand
looks at
her mother and thinks, “Mother sure
at
brave to take on a Nazi officer over one stolen
Nazi
by a
kiss followed
officer’s face
takable signs of having been slapped.
her daughter and thinks,
the train passes
engulfed in darkness.
the
Suddenly there shattering slap.
When
official.
facts,
each person in the compartment
different inference
The mother
and arrived
judg-
at a different
inferred that the Nazi
had kissed her
daughter and that her daughter had slapped the Nazi.
The
daughter inferred that the Nazi had kissed her mother and that her
mother had
retaliated
with a
68
slap.
The Nazi
inferred
Our Way
Abstracting
that the
into
Hungarian had kissed the
girl,
him in error. Each of these people then made
The mother
inference.
is
a
prompting her
daughter
The daughter
“brave” because she slapped the Nazi.
thinks the
Hungarian
“good”
is
thinks her
The Nazi
“clever” because he kissed the girl
is
The Hungarian,
but got the Nazi slapped.
what happened. While
to slap
judgment based on the
her
thinks
because she slapped the Nazi.
mother
Doublespeak
all
of course,
knows
the other people think they
know
the “facts” of the incident, they
know
only what they have
and the judgments they have made. Abstracting is a fundamental and necessary process
inferred
dealing with the world.
With
world with which we can that that
we we
are constantly
it
interact.
engaged
it
But we must remember
in a highly selective process,
in dealing with
can also get us into trouble
abstracting if
construct a coherent
are choosing to ignore large chunks of our world.
While abstraction can help us ment,
we can
for
and
start to treat
if
we
our environ-
forget that
we
are
our inferences and judgments
as
they are descriptive statements of the world.
Verbal
Some
years ago
I
was a guest
China. At the end of Beijing seeing
all
Maps
my
lecturer at a university in
lectures,
I
spent
the usual tourist sights.
69
some time
One
day,
I
in
struck
The New Doublespeak on my own without my guide and translator. Since my map was in Chinese, I was trying to find my way by matching the significant landmarks on the map with the landmarks as I walked past them. I soon became lost. Eventually I found someone who could help me, but I was puzzled. I couldn’t figure out how I got lost. That evening at dinner, my more experienced colleagues at the guest house laughed off
my
as they explained the source of
maps
the
distributed
problem.
Any knowledgeable
you cannot
on
rely
seems that
by the Chinese government were
least at that time) deliberately altered so
omitted.
It
the
tourist, I
important
was
maps provided by
sites
were
knows
told,
(at
that
the Chinese gov-
ernment.
We
all
We
countries.
bal
maps
lost,
maps of cities, maps of our world.
use maps, and not just also use verbal
are inaccurate like
my map
If
our ver-
we can
of Beijing,
and get
or a whole lot worse can happen to us.
In a sense,
we
live in
experiences, the world
small world because
two worlds. One
we know
it is
have directly seen, heard,
is
the world of our
firsthand. This
don’t exist unless
is
composed of only those felt,
or experienced. In
France, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Frank Sinatra, and
we have
a pretty
things
we
this
world,
Dan
Rather
visited these places or seen these
people in person. This world
is
very small because there
we know firsthand. Most of what we know we know through
very
states,
is
that
little
We
language, that
is,
most of our knowledge from
friends,
newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and school,
among
through words.
our
many
sources.
get
And
the
knowledge we
70
get
from these
Abstracting
sources
we
history, for
Our Way
Doublespeak
into
get through language.
Most of our knowledge of
example, comes not from our direct experience
The only proof we have that New Orleans ever happened is that we have
but from the reports of others. the Battle of
reports that
did.
it
And
even most of the reports are based
who were
not on the accounts of the people
And
other reports.
these reports are based
we
other words,
get
who
on
still
back in a chain
reports, with the reports extending
reach the reports of the people
there but
actually
saw
on
other
until
we
the battle. In
most of our knowledge about the world
through the reports— the language— of others.
The world
that
we know through our
our extensional world. extensional
world.
We
use report language for
Such language points
processes in the world around us. If today,”
I
am making
the world around me. result of
direct experience
a statement about
Most
what
is
95 degrees going on in
importantly, this statement
my direct experience,
and
it is
verifiable
this
observable
to
say, “It’s
I
is
by
is
the
others.
Our Verbal World
On
the other hand, there
know through
words.
is
the intensional world that
we
of the intensional world
The language
points to processes within us, not to the world around us.
Our
intensional world includes
all
the inferences
ments we are continuously making. today,”
I
am making
If I say, “It’s
and judgvery hot
an intensional statement, a statement
71
The New Doublespeak about what
were
is
going on in me, not in the world. Even
to agree
if
you
with me, you would simply be agreeing that
your intensional world
would have no
effect
is
on
same
the
as mine.
around
the world
Our agreement
us.
Our verbal world is a kind of map of the world. But just as a map of New York is not the city of New York but only a representation, so too is our verbal map of the world a representation of the world
and not the world
itself.
map, our verbal map should represent the
When maps
rately as possible.
bear a
their
way
quickly
my faulty map
become
lost,
like
any
territory as accu-
false or inaccurate rela-
who
tionship to their territories, those
And
use those maps to find
or worse, just as
I
did with
of Beijing.
Three Rules for Verbal Maps
We
must remember three important
map
the
is
Second, no
And
third,
rules
about maps.
First,
not the territory but only a representation.
map
every
can represent
map
all
reflects the
aspects of the territory.
mapmaker’s point of view.
While we must depend on our verbal maps of the world order to function,
we must always remember
in
these impor-
tant limitations of our verbal maps.
A verbal map to the territory
bal is
map
found
should correspond as accurately as possible
it is
supposed
to represent.
Moreover, a ver-
has to be constantly checked for accuracy, and to
be inaccurate we must adjust the
72
map
if it
accord-
Abstracting
Our Way
into
Doublespeak
ingly. Failure to constantly
map when
the
distortion,
The
check a verbal map, or to adjust found to be in error, produces confusion,
it is
and misunderstanding.
accurate use of verbal
ment. That
is,
when we
maps depends on
use labels that
ment we are using our verbal maps expand the verbal map “murder”
reflect social agree-
accurately. If
during war, then the bombing of
an
murder.
we
Often, however,
use in labeling an
act.
we
agree to
to include the killing of
civilians
act of
social agree-
becomes
civilians
map
don’t agree on which verbal
Are those who deliberately
to
set off car
bombs to kill civilians “terrorists” or “freedom fighters”? If we have international agreement that those who intentionally
engage in
of violence and destruction shall be
acts
no matter what
labeled “terrorists”
the term will have objective
some
No tive
their stated purpose, then
meaning and we can use
it
with
accuracy.
matter
we may
how
find
map
beautiful a
it,
the
map
Who
no matter how
is,
useless
is
if it
attrac-
does not show the
by
the travel
brochure, only to find a completely different place
when we
territory accurately.
got there? Likewise a
hasn’t been seduced
map
rately portray State Street or
O’Hare
we
Michigan Avenue, or leaves out
airport because there wasn’t
very useful map. that
of Chicago that does not accu-
want.
We
Of
can draw a
the middle of Philadelphia or
useful in finding our
is
we can draw any kind
course,
of parks in Detroit, but
enough room
map with an attractive a map with a beautiful
we wouldn’t
way around
73
those
find such cities.
not a
of
map
lake in
system
maps very
The New Doublespeak False Verbal
Just as
we can draw
false verbal
maps of
false
maps of
can create with language
kinds of
Of
tion to the extensional world.
But
false
they
maps
maps
that
false
have no
no harm
course,
false verbal
maps
to find
that distort, mislead,
rela-
will
be
our way
and con-
and even death. While words
fuse can lead to serious harm,
used
we draw
any other number of devices, we
all
done unless we use such
so too can
cities,
Using imaginary or
the world.
reports, false inferences, or
in the world.
Maps
mean whatever we as a society decide mean, once we have reached that social agreement we as labels
must use words
can
do not
carefully so they
distort the territory
they purportedly represent.
We
can accumulate
we make
false
maps
false
maps
in a
for ourselves
maps. Second, we have
false
number of ways.
by misreading accurate
maps given
to us
sources as government, advertisers, business, and ers
who want
third,
First,
by such
many
oth-
maps and not our own. And maps ourselves, constructing them by
us to follow their
we make
false
not having enough information, or by misreading the
terri-
tory.
We must remember not verbal
map must be
against the territory
always ask whether
critically it
this
is
maps
automatically.
Every
examined and then
tested
to trust
supposed
map
gets us
to represent.
We
where we want
must to go.
Moreover, we have to check our verbal maps constantly.
The world changes
continuously, so our
74
maps have
to
be
Abstracting
We
adjusted accordingly. particular
gave
it
to
Our Way
also
into
Doublespeak
have
to ask
where we got a
map. Did someone give us the map? If so, who us, and for what purpose? Does the map take us
where we want
where the map giver wants us to go? Good map reading is an essential skill for economic, political, social, and cultural survival. to go, or
Verbal
Maps
Most of us haven’t been were
to visit those countries
limited. So, as
we do with
picture of a country. rate,
to
articles
we were
China or Cuba, and even
if
we
our direct experiences would be
everything
else,
we
create a verbal
Sometimes our pictures are
When my apprehensive. We had
and sometimes they’re
visited Paris
of China and Cuba
not.
about the rudeness of Parisians
fairly accu-
wife and
I first
read numerous
to tourists, especially
we met nothing but friendly, charming, helpful people during our stay. The Paris we experienced wasn’t at all like the verbal map that had been created for us by others. So too with our knowledge of much of the American
tourists. Yet
world.
Our
maps of the world, and it is up to us to determine whether their maps are accurate. And we certainly don’t have to accept their maps political leaders
offer us their verbal
just because they offer them. In fact, our job their
maps
to close, careful, critical examination.
75
is
to subject
— The New Doublespeak Here
are
two verbal maps
Bush
that President
one
offered,
forming the basis of American policy toward China, the other toward Cuba. Since
I
have removed the name of each
you have to figure out which country he is describing in which speech. Which of these maps corresponds to the verbal map you have of each country the president
is
discussing,
country?
MAP
On May 20,
MAP 2
1
1991, President
President
Bush
“We want
declared,
Bush made a radio broadcast in which he reiterated
tive
America’s “unwavering com-
through the force of our
mitment
for a free
democratic
—
C
.”
and
The
from
shall turn us
presi-
president called
the leaders of
C
—
away on
“to free
political prisoners in
change in the world
our
purity.
.
.
.
We want to
advance the cause of free-
this objective.”
The
posi-
example, not simply profess
dent emphasized that
“Nothing
promote
to
C
dom, not just snub nations that aren’t yet
wholly
He
right to export
said, “It
is
the ideals of freedom
democracy
to
C
free.”
and
— C— C— .
...
It is
we
and allow the United
wrong
Nations Commission on
hope
Human Rights
to investigate
This nation’s foreign policy
human rights violaThe president C
has always been more than
possible tions in
went on
— C— .”
to challenge the
leaders of
“to put
to isolate
to influence
if .
.
.
.
simply an expression of
American
interests. It
is
an
extension of American ideals.
76
,
Abstracting
democracy
Our Way
to a test: permit
and a
free press to thrive.
Hold
free
and
American policy
Our
.
C
nation
—
.
.
.
democracy. ...
and
fully free
means
are plain If
C
—
and
holds
tions
.
.
.
we can
white.
The
cantly.”
improve
evils.
That’s
and
Very few moral president said he
G
would hold
rela-
between our two coun-
tries to
trying to chart a
absolutes.”
human
expect
in
times, that
the real world, not black
under international supervirights
engaged
Many
world of lesser
fair elections
sion, [and] respects
requires us
moral course through a
goals for the .
active,
the world.
fair elections
.
remain
to
under international supervision.
Doublespeak
This moral dimension of
organize
political parties to
into
strictest
—
human
to the
rights stan-
dards and spoke of the sanc-
signifi-
2
tions that
on
C
—
had been imposed
in the past.
Mr. Bush said that he
means
to bring the influence
of the outside world to bear
on
C
—
.
the point
“Critics ... act as if is
as if hurting will
punish
C—
to
somehow
’s
The
—
economy
help the cause
of privatization and rights.
C
human
real point
is
to
pursue a policy that has the best chance of changing
C
77
—
’s
behavior.”
H
The New Doublespeak So what’s your guess? Which speech
a verbal
is
which country? Here’s some information
that
map
of
might help
you. At the time he offered these maps, President Bush was
being
criticized
because he declined to impose any kind of
on the government of China after the massacre of students in Tiananmen Square. At the same time President Bush also declined to make any diplomatic moves to sanctions
improve relations with Cuba, a country that did not have the
same kind of record of human response to
this criticism,
rights abuses as China. In
President
Bush
offered these two
verbal maps.
Speech his
map
1 is
Mr. Bush’s
of China.
What
map is
are really interchangeable.
of Cuba, while Speech 2
interesting
is
is
maps how you
that these
Look again and
see
could read the names of both countries into each speech.
Then
what’s the difference between the two speeches?
Only
the president’s point of view, only his opinion, only
his
words.
Verbal Maps, Courtesy of the Government
One
of the functions of government
is
to
propose verbal
maps for us as a nation to follow. When we talk about “our China policy” or “our Cuba policy,” we’re really talking about our verbal maps of these two countries. There was a time when the official verbal map of China portrayed a
78
Abstracting
Our Way
into
Doublespeak
country that was implacably hostile to us, a country bent on
our destruction, a country that sought only war, a country that couldn’t officially
bal
be
trusted. Indeed,
as country didn’t
recognize that China existed.
Now
map, denying the existence of a few
said that
China
some
ver-
billion people.
But
that’s
existed but that
it is
a country with which
could be friendly. Nothing in China had changed. There
was no change
no change
in the leaders of the country,
the system of government. Yet almost overnight all
even
magic of a new verbal map, we not only
then, through the
we
we
things Chinese
became popular
in the
United
in
China and States.
By simply changing the verbal map China was transformed from our enemy to a country that, if not our friend, at least was a country with whom we could have normal relations. From a country that U.S. citizens could not legally visit,
nor with
whom
any U.S. business could
trade,
China
became almost overnight a popular destination for tourists and businesspeople. The whole episode echoed an incident in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
At
this
moment
.
.
.
Oceania was
Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. or private utterance was three powers
ever admitted that the
any time been grouped along Actually, as Winston well knew, it
had
different lines.
it
war with In no public
at
at
was only four years since Oceania has been with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. 1
79
at
war
The New Doublespeak The Semantic Environment
Language occurs
in a situation, a context,
which language occurs
creates the
and the context
meaning communicated
by the language. As researchers have pointed being
than
rather
operation.
.” 5 .
.
We
a
thing,
becomes
ships
out,
“meaning,
an
event
or
shouldn’t think of meaning as a “thing”
but as the result of a situation in which to create
in
all
the parts interact
meaning. As the parts change and as the relation-
between the parts change, the meaning
will change.
Meaning is not static but dynamic. Words in one context or semantic environment can take on an entirely different meaning in another. There’s a big difference between saying “I do” when a friend asks you if you like your steak cooked rare, and saying “I do” when the minister says “Do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?” So when we examine language, we have
to
examine not just the words but the semantic environment
in
which the words
occur.
A semantic environment any situation in which language plays a role. A semantic environment composed of (1) the is
is
people using the language, both the speaker and the audience to
whom
the language
the speaker
is
addressed;
and the audience;
(3)
(2)
the purposes of both
the language normally
expected and used to achieve such purposes; and
(4)
the
actual language used in a particular situation. In other words,
who
is
saying what to
whom, under what
80
conditions and
cir-
Abstracting
Our Way
into
Doublespeak
cumstances, with what intent, and with what results?
There
are
many
kinds of semantic environments: science,
law, politics, war, business, economics, religion, sports,
any number of
others.
Each of
which people use language or against other people.
should look
ronment
at the
which
in
a context within
is
do something
to
When we
to or for, with
examine language, we
language in terms of the semantic enviit
occurs, considering the relationship of
which
the language to the situation in
Oliver North and the
A
these
Gash
it is
used.
of Semantic Environments
serious conflict of semantic environments occurred
Colonel Oliver North
testified
when
before a congressional com-
mittee investigating criminal charges that were
The
and
made
against
was which semantic environment would control the hearings. Colonel North insisted on using him.
basic
issue
the language of patriotism, while the tried to use the
members of Congress
language of law. While the committee
bers spoke of bribes, illegal payments,
arms,
illegal
illegal
mem-
purchase of
dealings with foreign governments, falsification
and destruction of official government documents, and other legal matters, Colonel North spoke of following orders, doing his duty, obeying the president, supporting freedom fighters,
and being devoted
to his family
.
81
6
The New Doublespeak President Push’s Semantic Environment
Another example of a
conflict
between semantic environ-
ments occurred when President Bush used the language of patriotism in pardoning six former holders of high govern-
who had
ment
office
affair.
These
played major roles in the Iran-Contra
six officials
cally forbidden
by
had
secretly
engaged in
law, including dealing in
rorist state, failure to obtain congressional
sales
to
another
and
state,
some of
arms with a
illegal acts
the officials lied under oath
ter-
approval for arms
transferring
Nicaraguan contras. After these
acts specifi-
arms
to
the
were exposed,
and destroyed evidence
of their crimes.
Bush called the people who comcrimes “patriots” and said their legal troubles
In his pardon, President
mitted these
were simply a matter of a “criminalization of policy ences.” President
Bush applied
differ-
the label “patriots” to govern-
ment officials who acted secretly in the service of a president by committing acts specifically forbidden by law, and who when they got caught by Congress lied and covered up for one another and for the president. President Bush also applied the label “policy differences” to the selling of arms to
Iran and giving arms to the Nicaraguan contras, as well as lying to a grand jury ically
and
to Congress, all acts that are specif-
forbidden by law. Thus, by using the semantic envi-
ronment of patriotism instead of the semantic environment of law, President Bush could declare breaking certain laws
82
is
Our Way
Abstracting
simply a “policy difference” that
commit
know map and
lawyers
their verbal act.
excusable
is
if
those
who
the crime are “patriots .” 7
Maps
Verbal
Good
Doublespeak
into
Lawyers
for
“junk bonds”
argued during
Courtroom
that their job
to get a jury to accept
is
thus accept their labels for their client’s
Michael Milken, once called the king of
(which
is
an interesting case of
his trial that
and “kickbacks” were clients to
in the
what prosecutors
really “sales credits,”
labeling),
called “bribes”
and
that helping
evade taxes was just “account accommodation”
The
jury did not accept the proffered maps and came up
with
its
own map and
its
own
which
label,
saying that Mr. Milken was convicted
Doublespeak
thrives
when we
is
way
another
of
8 .
deliberately use the lan-
guage of one semantic environment in another semantic environment. So we’re examining it
is
used.
We
we must determine whether is
the language
appropriate for the environment in which
need
to ask
who
is
whom,
saying what to
under what conditions and circumstances, with what
and with what
results?
This
is
as
any when examining language, and for doublespeak.
83
good a
intent,
starting point as
especially
when
looking
The Doublespeak of Law
In the interest of
ning of
this
full disclosure, I
chapter that
I
must admit
have a law degree,
admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, and
American Bar Association. However, lawyer since
from
I
do not
practice law.
I I
My
am
a
at the beginI
have been
member
do not
call
interest in
of the
myself a
law stems
my interest in language.
Legalese, legal gobbledygook, legaldegook— all are terms for that arcane
form of English used by lawyers and judges,
and by few other
rational
human
beings.
plain about legal language, they usually
When people mean
the language
in these examples:
For purposes of paragraph
(3),
described in paragraph
shall
(2)
85
com-
an organization be deemed
to
The New Doublespeak include
an
501(c)(4),
or
(5),
paragraph
described
organization (6)
(2) if it
in
section
which would be described
in
were an organization described
in section 501(c)(3).
No
savings
and loan holding company,
directly
more
transac-
or indirectly, or through one or tions, shall
.
.
.
acquire control of an uninsured
more than one year
institution or retain, for
after
other than an insured institution or holding com-
pany
thereof,
the date any insured institution
subsidiary becomes uninsured, control of such institution.
Trial court did not abuse
ing
post-judgment
a
its
discretion
by order-
temporary injunction
to
enforce a permanent injunction that was part of a
judgment when the court made adequate findings that the permanent injunction was violated and tailored the post-judgment injunction to final
only enforce the provisions of the permanent injunction.
Examples such Yet
we make
as these,
a serious mistake
and confusing language law. In fact,
Law
is
and even worse ones, abound.
is
such language
the is
if
we
think that such confused
problem with the language of
not the problem.
the profession of language.
86
Law
is
language.
To
The Doublespeak of Law
learn law, to
ence the all
full
work with law, to experience law is to experiforce and power of language, and to experience
the imprecisions, limitations,
the use of language. In
much
like
many
and problems inherent
respects, reading
reading poetry. But just as
law
we might
is
in
very
miss the
power of poetry by concentrating on the syntax of the poem, so too can we miss the power of law by concentrating on its sometimes convoluted syntax and odd vocabulary. Our examination of the doublespeak of the law
will
go beyond
such limited considerations.
The Power
to Define
and
make your
Power means being
in a position to define
definition the only
one people use. The great power of law
to
power to define, and to apply its definitions. What is a crime? Whatever the law says is a crime. Each year Congress, state legislatures, and municipal governments create new crimes and erase old ones. In fact, what is resides in
its
a crime in one city or state
In
some
places
it is
legal to
may
not be a crime in another.
walk a
city street
with an alco-
one hand and a gun in another, while in having either object in your hand will get you
holic drink in
another city
Much
arrested.
ways
in
of law involves learning definitions and
which those
definitions can
situations.
87
be applied
to specific
The New Doublespeak How Hot
What
Is
Too Hot?
are simple questions in everyday
of litigation
when we
In Chapter
1 I
mentioned the concept of
meaning of a word.
doesn’t agree with
We
fee.
tion,
my
and what
is
is
mentioned
also
I
fuzziness, the prob-
definition of
what
and
in headlines in
my
wife
this defini-
newspapers across the country.
famous McDonald’s hot seized
on
this
coffee case.
case as an example of the
system gone mad, proof that Americans
spill
of a cup of coffee. After
all,
how
was hot when she bought
we should look
First,
it,
so
why wasn’t
at the facts
will sue at the
could anyone sue
because she spilled hot coffee on herself? She
knew
the cof-
she careful?
of the case before
drawing our inferences. As we examine
remember train
that
constitutes hot cof-
legal
start
not included
have worked out our disagreement over
am referring to the Many critics have
fee
the stuff
but for others, a disagreement over hot coffee ended up
in court, I
become
enter the semantic environment of law.
lem of determining exactly what in the
life
case,
this
the story in Chapter 3 of the four people
we
on
the
and the inferences they drew and the judgments they
reached based on the “facts” they were sure they had. Stella
Liebeck was
sitting in a
her cup of coffee in her
lap.
parked car when she
The
hot coffee caused second-
and third-degree burns, requiring skin with scars.
When
grafts
and leaving her
she asked McDonald’s to reimburse her
medical expenses, the restaurant chain offered her half of
spilled
what she had
spent.
less
than
So Ms. Liebeck sued, asking
her medical expenses.
88
for
The Doublespeak of Law
During the serves
is
the jury learned that the coffee
trial,
McDonald’s
kept at 180 degrees, or 40 degrees higher than
home
coffeemakers produce. Moreover, McDonald’s had received over 700 complaints about
numerous claims $500,000.
A witness for the
McDonald’s knew injuries, yet
it
hot coffee, and had even settled
some claims in excess of McDonald’s corporation dismissed
for burns, with
700 claims as
the
its
“trivially
that
its
from
different
zero.”
In short,
hot coffee was causing numerous
refused to lower the temperature.
The jury responded
to
McDonald’s seeming
indifference
by
awarding Ms. Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages, and then sent a message to McDonald’s by awarding her $2.7 million in punitive damages.
designed to do:
known
It
The damage award
drew public and corporate
did what
it is
attention to a
hazard. However, the judge reduced the award to
$480,000, and Ms. Liebeck later settled for a lower, undisclosed
amount
by McDonald’s.
to avoid a long process of appeals
1
What inferences are we to draw now about the tort system? Do we change our minds and say that the system seems to be working and we shouldn’t change it? Not at all. Remember, this is
only one example, and
ranging inferences and
The
we should never draw
final judgments
quality of our inferences rests
on
from just one example. the quality of our infor-
mation, and one example, one anecdote
is
seldom a
solid basis
for
an inference. So before we reach such judgments
tort
system
is
or
is
not working,
we need
information than the story of one case in
However, there case:
How
hot
is
is
still
too hot?
wide-
as the
to gather a lot
more
New Mexico.
the fundamental question of the It
seems
89
safe to say that the folks
The New Doublespeak at
McDonald’s
coffee,
didn’t think 180 degrees
was too hot
for their
while over 700 of their customers, including Ms.
Liebeck, and the jury thought that 180 degrees was too hot.
So what should McDonald’s do? While
accommodate our
my
wife and
its
coffee for each
customer. But what McDonald’s can do, and what bly should have done, was determine
how
can
McDonald’s
differing ideas of hot coffee,
can’t very well adjust the temperature of
I
hot
it
proba-
its
coffee
should be based on a variety of information.
At the
trial,
McDonald’s
degrees to maintain eration, tion,
that
its
peak
flavor.
While
that’s
one consid-
not the least of which was the over 700 claims for burns
had been made. Then
home.
happens it.
kept the coffee at 180
it
McDonald’s should have considered other informa-
sidered that 140 degrees at
said
Finally,
to
is
too,
McDonald’s might have con-
the temperature for coffee served
McDonald’s might have considered what
human
skin
when
180-degree coffee
is
poured on
In other words, McDonald’s should have realized that the
definition of hot
and too hot depends on the people using
the coffee. In this instance, a court decided for
what the
definition of too hot
McDonald’s
is.
What lime
Is It?
While trying
to
the source of
some disagreement, we don’t normally have a
determine what
90
is
hot and too hot can be
The Doublespeak of Law
problem answering a question
like
“What
time
is
it?”
Yet in
the semantic environment of law there can be instances in
which the question
not easily answered, and
is
we might
not
was
in
agree with the answer.
A
mentions
to
on business
last
friend
California
you
replies,
she
you ask when
“Around
hour.” Yet there are times
when
week, she had a car accident. In
talking about the accident,
Your friend
that
five o’clock,
when
it
happened.
during the rush
the answer to this simple
question— “What time did the accident occur?”— is not so simple.
A
couple of years ago, on
C-141B
Force
November
two U.S. Air
30,
transport planes collided during a night
refueling mission over
Montana.
All the
men on
the two
planes were killed. Shortly before the accident, nine of the
men had
signed up for a $100,000 supplemental
ance policy that was scheduled to take 1.
effect
is
insur-
on December
Since the military operates on Greenwich
(which
life
Mean Time
seven hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time),
two transports read 4:30 However, the Department of Veterans
the clocks in the cockpits of the
A.M.
December
1.
Affairs said that because the transports crashed at 9:30 P.M.
Mountain Standard Time, no supplemental benefits would be paid. So what time was it when the transports crashed: 0430 GMT, the time showing on the clocks in the cockpits, or 2130 MST, the time showing on clocks on the ground? And how do we determine which time is the “real” or “correct” time?
2
91
The New Doublespeak When No Means
Yes
mean
In the semantic environment of law, no can
was the case
least that
After a
woman
yes.
At
in Pennsylvania not too long ago.
brought rape charges against a
man
for forc-
ing her to engage in sex with him, the charges were dropped
when
The woman had
with words.
Under
saying no
is
that”
tried to protect her-
by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court,
a ruling
not enough to sustain a rape charge. So in the
is
no means yes
state of Pennsylvania,
There
protested only
and “don’t do
said “no”
had not physically
repeatedly, but she self.
woman had
the prosecutor said the
some evidence
in the language of sex.
that this principle holds true in
another activity in Pennsylvania. 3
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Papadakos said he
was “offended”
describe
the
cash
word “bribery” was used to members of the Philadelphia
that the
“gifts”
Roofers Union delivered to various Philadelphia judges during
the
Christmas
envelopes
Papadakos
instead. For those for
very easily
$300
containing insisted
mean
yes.
the envelopes were
These
season.
to
whom
$500
I’m sure
handed
to
$500
term
the
that
in
cash.
“gratuities”
in cash
that’s
consisted
“gifts”
what
is
a
of
Justice
be used
“gift,”
no can
the judges said as
them: “No, no, don’t give
me
that envelope.”
We
can view a
ing the definition trial,
trial as
a formal proceeding for determin-
we want
to
apply to an action. During a
a defense attorney will argue for one definition while
92
The Doublespeak of Law
the prosecutor argues for another. will
be which definition
The
decision of the court
and what the conse-
will prevail,
quences of that definition will be.
Courts constantly struggle with defining words, and often the words they seek to define are words that we use every day not just in our conversations but in our legal discourse as well. In
one
case, the U.S.
what
determining
is
a
Supreme Court was faced with
country.
Chief Justice
Rehnquist wrote that “country” simply
refers to
William
some land
mass and does not require the existence of an actual political state or sovereign. Other definitions enunciated by the Supreme Court have serious and far-reaching consequences.
Who
The
Are the “People”?
word “people” mean, espeFourth Amendment, which states, “The right of
question
cially in the
is,
what does
the
the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, effects,
against unreasonable searches
be violated
.
.
.
”? This question
case of United States
v.
and
seizures shall not
came before
Verdugo- Urquidezp in
and
the court in the
which a
citizen of
Mexico was charged with conspiring to ship tons of marijuana into the United States. Mexican officials had seized the accused drug dealer and turned him over to U.S. authorities. After his arrest, and while he was being held in a U.S. prison,
Mexican and U.S.
officers
93
searched the various
The New Doublespeak houses he owned and seized evidence. Did these warrantless searches violate the defendant’s Fourth
Upholding
warrantless
the
Amendment
searches,
rights?
Chief Justice
Rehnquist said that the term the “people” was “a term of
employed
in
select
Rehnquist then defined
who
of
parts this
are part of a national
the
term of
constitution.”
art as “a class
Justice
of persons
community or who have
wise developed sufficient connection with considered part of that community.”
Of
this
art
other-
country to be
course,
we might
means to have a “sufficient connection” with this country, and what is meant by a “class of people,” and what the “national community” is. But Justice Rehnquist achieved what he wanted with his definition. The want
to ask
what
it
evidence gathered in the warrantless searches was admissible in the
trial.
However,
this definition resulted in
dox.
Now
have
classes of “people”
something of a para-
under the various Supreme Court decisions we
who
enjoy the protection of the
Amendment and classes who do not. Foreigners livtheir own countries are subject to warrantless searches
Fourth ing in
by U.S.
agents, while U.S. citizens living abroad are secure
from warrantless searches by U.S. agents. However, within the United States the rights of foreigners against a warrantless
search depend
country.”
The
on
their status or
defendant in
this case
“connection with
held a green card, so
obviously possession of that card doesn’t special class of “people”
who
Amendment. Of course, U.S.
94
move you
are protected
agents
this
had
into that
by the Fourth
better
be careful
in
The Doublespeak of Law
Mexico because no searches
are allowed in
Mexico without
a warrant.
Women and
A basic principle
and
color.
We
any group of items
in classifying
basis of classification
couldn’t classify
Other Nonpregnant Persons
all
must be
is
that the
consistent. For example,
we
the cars in a parking lot according to size
could classify them according to
size,
then
them according to color. But if we were to classify them on both size and color we would run into problems. The red Corolla belongs in the same group as the red Cadillac based on color, but based on size the two cars reclassify
belong in different
be careful
do
to
So when we
classes.
it
classify
according to one principle
we have at a
to
time.
Classifying according to two principles simultaneously leads to not just a
confused classification but an invalid one. Yet
this is
exactly
what the Supreme Court did
cases
on sex
discrimination,
Electric
Company
v.
Gilbert
Geduldig
v.
in
two landmark
Aiello
and General
5
.
In these two cases health benefits were denied to preg-
nant women. Justice Rehnquist wrote that in each case the health plans did not discriminate against
women
because
program divides potential recipients into two groups— pregnant women and nonpregnant persons,” and pregnancy unique to women.” Because is just “an additional risk “the
0
.
.
.
95
The New Doublespeak not
all
women
are pregnant, there
Moreover, pregnancy
Of course, cific
the
is
is
no discrimination.
“voluntary,” said the chief justice.
same health plans covered such non-sex-spe-
voluntary conditions as vasectomies, circumcisions,
and prostectomies. Dividing the members of the insurance plans into pregnant
women and
nonpregnant persons
the basis of classification.
That
on two bases would incur a grade of F ing his group
We
is,
a case of shifting
the chief justice
at the
in
is
same
time,
is
classify-
an
act that
any science or philosophy
members of the insurance plan as pregnant and nonpregnant women, or as pregnant and nonpregnant persons, but we can’t mix women and persons in the same classification, since the class “women” includes course.
might
classify the
women but excludes men, while the class “persons” includes women and men. Even the class “nonpregnant persons” includes women and men. Yet as based in error as it was, this definition
held as the law of the land until Congress
passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
What
Is
a Person?
someone asked you “What is a person?” you might think the question a little odd because the answer is so obvious. You might point to yourself, your questioner, and the people around you and say, “That’s a person.” But remember now If
that we’re asking
our question in the semantic environment
96
The Doublespeak of Law
of law, so the obvious
obvious, and often the obvious
isn’t
is
wrong. In 1959, Congress provided that a poor person would not
have
pay a
to
California
Mens
state prison suit.
filing fee for a federal lawsuit.
Colony
The lower
right to
file
as a
“pauper” in a law-
court ruled that the association of inmates their lawsuit
Supreme Court ruled
fied for the
v.
a group of inmates in a California
,
wanted the
was a “person” and the
7
In Rowland
could proceed. However,
that only a “natural person” quali-
waiver of filing fees and denied the association of
inmates the status of “person.”
The Court reached
this decision
even though Congress
has provided that “in determining the meaning of any Act of
Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise” the words
“person and whoever include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, nies, as well as individuals.” it
and joint stock compa-
But the word “person” does not,
seems, include an association. So General Motors
son, but a group of inmates in a California prison
Which
a per-
not.
brings us to that most curious of definitions of
“person,” the corporation. ten,
is
is
corporations as
When
the Constitution
we know them
did not
was
exist.
writ-
But
in
1809, a Pennsylvania corporation wanted to sue a Georgia tax collector. Normally, the corporation
would have sued
in
a Georgia court, but instead the corporation sought to sue in
a federal court. Article III of the Constitution states that federal courts States.” is
can hear disputes “between Citizens of different
Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that a corporation
nothing other than a group of individuals associated with
97
The New Doublespeak one another.
And
because they are
citizens, this association
should not keep them out of court. Corporations, Marshall
mere
noted, are inventions of the state, “being the law.” Thus, a corporation
is
and
a person
creatures of
and can bring a
a
person with Fourth
Amendment protection. However, for Amendment (“No person shall be
purposes of the Fifth
lawsuit
federal
in
court,
is
.
.
.
compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself. tion
not a person and
is
So what
nation.
is
it’s
a “legal” person.
One Man, One
You enter
a group of It all
Vote, But
the voting booth
as a citizen
and
cast
.”)
a corpora-
your
its
If
a creature
members, and some-
depends on the
Only
it’s
definition.
You Vote the Right
Way
ready to exercise your rights
all
ballot for the candidate of
your
more fundamental, more impordemocracy? The Supreme Court has written that citi-
choice. Is there tant to
it’s
.
not protected against self-incrimi-
a corporation? Sometimes
of the law, sometimes time
is
.
any
activity
zens have “a constitutional right to vote and have their votes
counted.” Indeed, the Court has emphasized that “no right
more precious
in a free country than that of
in the election of those
good
citizens,
who make
we must
live.
the laws
Other
basic, are illusory if the right to vote
98
is
rights,
is
having a voice
under which,
as
even the most
undermined .”
8
The Doublespeak of Law
Secure in
this
knowledge, you look
discover that there
happen
is
in the
to be.
name
if
you
is
for office,
to vote
know he won’t
him than not voting
In Burdick
lose.
and you
whom you
a crook for
So you exercise your right
vote for
only to
he were the only candidate, which he
of your choice. You
ter a write-in
Well,
one candidate
to think that this candidate
wouldn’t vote even
happens
just
at the ballot
Takushi
v.
at
the
,
by writing
win, but bet-
all.
Supreme Court
ruled that despite the sacredness of the ballot, despite the basic
and important nature of
count because count
if
the
a write-in vote,
it’s
city, state,
write-in votes.
You
and
write-in votes don’t
county, or whoever has a law banning
According
Supreme Court, you do not vote for any particular candi-
to the
have “a fundamental right date.”
your vote doesn’t
voting,
to
are “simply guaranteed an equal voice in the elec-
tion of those
who
govern .” 9
This certainly sounds
way they used to run elecof Communism: You could
like the
tions in Russia before the fall
vote for anyone you want, as long as
party candidates. So
now
it
was
for
one of the
in Hawaii, Louisiana,
Nevada,
Oklahoma, South Dakota, Kentucky, and Virginia your right to vote does not include the right to write in the
name
of the candidate you support. But you are free to
vote for any of the party hacks, crooks, and other incompetents
who happen
to vote, as defined
to
be on the
ballot.
by the doublespeak of
Court.
99
This
is
the right
the U.S.
Supreme
The New Doublespeak When
Sitting in Jail Isn’t
Punishment
Perhaps the most fundamental principle of American criminal law
is
the presumption of innocence.
proven guilty in a court of
until
law.
You
are innocent
Because of
this pre-
sumption of innocence, the government cannot imprison
you are
the
you are found guilty of the crime with which you charged. At least that’s the way things used to be. Then Supreme Court stepped in and with a little doublespeak until
transformed the presumption of innocence into the presump-
and granted
tion of guilt,
police
and courts the power
keep you in prison before you’ve even had a
Under
the Bail
that a suspect that
he was
held
this
Reform Act of 1984,
trial.
courts could order
be held in “preventive detention” on the basis
likely to
commit
further crimes.
Lower
law unconstitutional on the grounds that
a suspect’s right to due process of law
Eighth Amendment’s right to the
Supreme Court decided
without a
trial
to
bail.
v.
someone all, nor was
Salerno
10 ,
in prison
that putting at
violated
it
and violated the
In United States
wasn’t imprisonment
courts
it
punish-
ment. Pretrial
someone
detention, as the in jail without bail,
Supreme Court is
is
holding
simply a “regulatory” proce-
dure. According to Justice Rehnquist: “the
person
calls
mere
fact that a
detained does not inexorably lead to the conclu-
sion that the government has imposed punishment.” So, as
you
sit
in jail for
months awaiting your
trial,
you can keep
reminding yourself that you are not being punished, that
100
The Doublespeak of Law
your stay in that
when
and
a regulatory stay,
jail cell is just
that
you innocent, all the time you spent be returned to you by the court that put you there.
the jury finds
jail will
Today,
thousands
of Americans
in
charged with federal
will
under preventive detention. Some of them be found guilty and sentenced to prison terms, others
will
be found not guilty and released, and others
crimes
in jail
sit
have
will
charges against them dropped, and they too will be
all
released.
them
But
will
brought
The
all
will share
one
have served time in
common jail
experience: All of
before they were ever
to trial.
to
weapon of totalitarian governments is the power throw people in jail and keep them there without benefit
of
trial.
we
great
But that can’t happen in the United
States
because
believe that people are innocent until proven guilty in a
court of law, and until they have had their day in court the least that’s the
way
Supreme Court rewrote
the
government cannot keep them it
used
to
be,
Constitution with
until its
the
in
jail.
At
legal doublespeak.
“Harmless” Errors
We
As Dick “Night Train” Lane of the Detroit Lions once said, “If I were perfect, no one could all
make
afford to pay
mistakes.
my
salary.”
When
the police
make
a mistake,
there can be serious legal consequences. For example,
101
when
The New Doublespeak the police coerce a confession
from a defendant, the courts
have always thrown the confession out. sion
is
used
to obtain a conviction,
the conviction are
And
Amendment
the confes-
both the confession and
thrown out and the defendant
At one time the Supreme Court
again.
if
called
right against self-incrimination
is
tried
this
Fifth
“one of the fun-
damental tenets of our criminal justice system .” 11 But no longer.
In Arizona
v.
Fulminante
12 ,
the
Supreme Court decided
that a
conviction could stand although a coerced, involuntary confession
had been admitted
by the jury
in reaching
as evidence
its
decision.
and was considered
The Court found
the
admission of a coerced confession could constitute “harmless error” because, in
its
defendant guilty even the
would have found the the confession hadn’t been used in
opinion, the jury if
trial.
According sion
is
to the Court, the issue isn’t
whether a confes-
unconstitutionally coerced; the question
is
whether
the confession influenced the jury’s decision, whether the
“error” affected
of introducing a coerced confession in the the jury’s
decision,
“harm” or was “harmless”
trial
whether the “error” caused
in the jury reaching
its
decision.
don’t
how do we know if the error was harmless or not? We know until the trial is over. Then someone will have to
look
at the trial
But
and decide whether the defendant would
have been found guilty without the coerced confession. as if the
Court said
that
the criminal law process
vinced the defendant
is
It’s
any violation of the Constitution is
okay
guilty.
102
if
the
Supreme Court
is
in
con-
The Doublespeak of Law
Those Honest Mistakes Will Get You
The
had a search warrant
police
third floor.
When
doors, both open. the police
began
If
You Don’t Watch Out
for the apartment
on
the
they got to the third floor they found two
Assuming
there
was only one apartment,
their search, finding drugs,
money, and
drug paraphernalia. But then they discovered there were two apartments, not one, and that they were in the wrong apart-
Was
ment. If
their search a warrantless search?
you were
bly react as
to
read the
I did.
The
facts
of the case, you would proba-
police thought they were following
the law but in fact they weren’t.
say the search was legal, is
how
While you might want
could you?
The
to
Constitution
pretty clear, requiring that a place can be searched only
with a warrant “particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Clearly the police
had no such warrant
named another apartment
searched because their warrant
and named
apartment they
to search the
different things to
be
The Supreme Court upheld
seized.
the search
by
calling
it
an
made a mistake, but they didn’t mean to make a mistake. They made their mistake in good faith, unlike a mistake made in bad faith, whatever that is. How do we know that the police made an honest mistake “honest mistake.” Yes, the police
acting in
good
Just ask them.
faith?
And
We
don’t, but the
the police do,
Court keeps hearing about faith,
and
When
it
all
Supreme Court
the time. In fact, the
police mistakes
keeps saying that the search was
made
in
good
fine.
the police stopped a motorist for a
103
does.
minor
traffic
The New Doublespeak computer check and found there was
violation, they ran a
an outstanding
him and searched
They
warrant against him.
traffic
his car, finding a
arrested
bag of marijuana.
But the computer was wrong, and the warrant had been
removed over two weeks
the
earlier. Still,
man was
tried for
possession of marijuana. Again, the Court said the police search was in “good basis for the search,
faith.” it
was
So even though there was no legal.
The
court did not find
very significant that the police computer system
made on
it
the
average 12,000 inaccurate or invalid reports on suspects
every day. So,
hope
better
if
you’re ever stopped by the police, you’d
that you’re not
made by
one of those 12,000 daily mis-
Crime Information Center’s computer. Because you have no protection against a “good faith” search by the police. While the police and prosecutors enjoy the benefits of “good faith” and “harmless error,” defendants do not. In the Court said that if inmates fail to Coleman v. Thompson meet all the state court system’s procedural requirements, for takes
the National
13
,
almost any reason, they
forfeit their right to
challenge the
constitutionality of their conviction in federal court.
Robert Coleman’s attorney missed a three days, he forfeited
all
case in the federal courts.
with nor did
state filing deadline
by
constitutional rights to appeal his
The Court was
not concerned
care about the merits of Coleman’s argu-
cared only that his attorney had failed by three
ments;
it
days to
file
one
it
So when
a petition with the state court.
to face death
because his lawyer
said the Court, “the petitioner
Is it fair for
made an
must bear the
104
some-
error? Yes,
risk of attorney
The Doublespeak of Law
Ydu d better be very careful if you ever need to hire a lawyer. To be safe from the rulings of the Supreme Court, you d better hire a perfect lawyer, one who never makes miserror,
takes.
But then
lawyer?
The
how
could you ever afford to pay such a
price of perfection runs high. Just ask Night
Train Lane. In the language of the
Supreme Court, “harmless error” and “good faith” mistakes are made only by the police and prosecutors, and never by defendants and their attorneys. The power to define is indeed awesome, especially when exercised by the Supreme Court in criminal cases.
Consensual and Other Encounters
Imagine that you’re waiting for friends sitting
on
the
hood of a
police officers pass by.
car in
One
meet you. You’re your neighborhood when two to
of the officers asks
if that’s
your
“Then why are you sitting on it?” asks the officer. “I’m just waiting for some friends to pick me up so we can go shoot some pool,” you say. “Then where’s your pool stick? How can you shoot pool without a pool car.
“No,” you reply.
stick?” the officer asks. You’re
pool hall has to
lots
own your own
thing the officers
some
about to point out that the
of pool cues to use and you never wanted
cue anyway, but before you can say any-
move
closer
and ask you
to
show them
identification.
What do you do? Do you
refuse
105
and walk away? That’s
The New Doublespeak what you’re supposed People
(.
v.
According
Lopei
u
standing by
left
)
Supreme Court.
the
Court you are involved
to the
meaning
encounter,”
to do, according to a California ruling
that the police don’t
in a “consensual
have any right
to
you so you can walk away at any time. So, if the police stop you on the street, question you, and order you to produce identification, you are merely engaged in a “consensual encounter” and are not entitled to any constitutional protections against warrantless searches and seizures because all you have to do is just ignore the police and walk away. detain
And what do you
suppose would happen
if
you did
Sheriff’s deputies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
that?
took their
cue from the Supreme Court and created a technique they call
“working the buses.” They wait
state
highway
at rest stops
for long distance buses.
the deputies board the bus, walk
When
down
the
on
the inter-
the buses stop,
aisle,
and, with-
out any reason to suspect any passenger of anything, they question passengers and ask whether they can search their luggage. If
you were a passenger and they asked you, would
you refuse? According
to the
Supreme Court
can say no because
and the search deputies don’t
have bus
testified that if
is
you
that
v.
Bostick
15 ,
you
another “consensual encounter”
a “consensual search.”
is
tell
this
in Florida
you have a
Of
course,
the
right to refuse. Riders
they thought they would be taken off the
they refused to cooperate, so they cooperated.
The
Court’s use of “consensual” in both these cases gives a
whole new meaning
to the
word, a meaning that could have
interesting implications in the relations
106
between
men and
The Doublespeak of Law
women, employers and employees, and
a whole range of
relationships.
What
Counts,
Words or Intent?
In recent years, the Supreme Court has rendered decisions that were so clearly contrary to the intent of the legislation as
passed by Congress that Congress has passed subsequent to correct the Court’s rulings. Yet
bills
purpose of the Court, intent
When
will
when
it
serves the
outweigh words.
Supreme Court completely reversed a 1971 ruling that had been delivered by Chief Justice Warren Burger for a unanimous Court, it did not say it was reversthe U.S.
ing the 1971 decision. Instead, the Court implied that for the last
eighteen years lawyers, judges, Congress, and the Court
had been misreading the decision: “We acknowledge some of our earlier decisions can be read as suggesting
itself
that
otherwise. But to the extent that those cases speak of an
employer’s ‘burden of proof’ with respect to a legitimate business justification defense, they should have been under-
stood to
mean an
employer’s production— but not persuasion-
burden.” 16 In the case of United
States
v.
X-Citement Video,
17
the
faced a problem. If the Court read the law as written, clearly unconstitutional
didn’t
want
Court it
was
and the defendant won. But the Court
the defendant to get
off,
so
words of the law and read the law the way
107
it it
just ignored the
wanted
it
to read.
The New Doublespeak Under
was
consideration
Against Sexual Abuse Law.
the
Under
knowingly transports or ships” or
of Children
Protection that law,
“any person
who “knowingly
who
receives
or distributes” a “visual depiction” of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct faces
up
to
up
to ten years in jail
and a
The defendant was convicted of were made by a well-known sex film
$100,000.
videotapes that
fine of
selling
actress
before she was eighteen years old.
The problem with As
“knowingly.”
the law
written,
it
modifies “transports or ships”
and does not modify anything erally,
the placement of the adverb
is
Read
else in the sentence.
lit-
the law requires only that the transport, shipping,
or
receiving,
distributing
be intentional,
with
no such
requirement for the sexual contents or for the age of the per-
As Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote, the literal interpretation “would produce results that were not merely odd, formers.
but positively absurd”
“We do such cial
How
to solve the
problem? Easy.
not assume that Congress, in passing laws, intended
results.”
Because “the age of the performers
is
the cru-
element separating legal innocence from wrongful con-
duct,” the
Court should invoke a presumption
that a knowl-
edge requirement applied.
This
is
a wonderful
law the way
it’s
is
principle of law. Don’t like the
way you want it would have none of this new principle.
written, then just read
to read. Justice Scalia
The Court
new
it
the
“not in the business of rewriting statutes.”
No
matter what Congress’s intent might have been, what the
law actually says is
is
that “all a person has to
shipping a visual depiction.”
108
know
is
that
he
The Doublespeak of Law
words don’t mean what they appear to say, or even what most of us would agree that they say What they So, written
mean
what the Supreme Court there any greater power than this? Is
really
says they
is
there
source of doublespeak than this? This that affects
our
lives in
mean.
Is
any greater
the doublespeak
is
ways we cannot begin
to imagine.
Pro-Life or Pro-Choice
The
debate about abortion
is
essentially
a debate
over
semantic environments and definitions, and which environ-
ments and definitions
will prevail. I place this brief discus-
sion of the language of abortion in the section
because, in reside.
on
my
Although
politics, the
days,
I
believe
judgment, I
could place
arena where
it
that’s
it
this
where the
on law
issue should
discussion in the section
seems
be conducted these
to
more properly belongs
in the semantic envi-
ronment of law.
The problem with flicting
on abortion is one of consemantic environments. Those who are opposed to the debate
abortion operate in the semantic environment of morals and religion, while those
who
ate in the semantic
environment of
two environments
are not
opposed law.
in the language each
to abortion oper-
We
can see these
group
uses.
While
both groups use some of the language of science from time to time, neither conducts
its
discussion in the semantic envi-
ronment of science.
109
The New Doublespeak we can
Before
among
discuss
we must
abortion
which the
the various semantic environments in
now
cussion
takes place,
which we might want
it
differentiate dis-
and the various environments to take place.
in
Only then can we
begin to examine the language of the debate, and only then
can in
we hope
to
have even a chance of making any progress
our discussion. I
think
it is
safe to say that those
who oppose
abortion see
the issue as a moral one, basing their arguments in morality, ethics,
and
religious doctrine,
drawing from
and interpretation of the Bible or Thus, they operate
in a semantic
their reading
similar religious works.
environment in which they
use the language and definitions of their morality and their religion.
declared I
think
Their purpose, of course,
is
have abortion
to
illegal. it is
also safe to say that those
who
are not
opposed
to abortion see the issue as a legal one, basing their argu-
ments in in
law.
Thus, they operate
in a semantic
which they use the language and
purpose, of course,
is
to
environment
definitions of law.
have abortion remain
Their
legal.
In the discussion of semantic environment in Chapter 3, listed the
I
elements of a semantic environment. In addition to
people— including both speaker and audience— a semantic
environment consists of the purposes of both speaker and audience. Since the purpose of both groups
on
is
to achieve a
would seem that we should be in the semantic environment of law. That is, the language of law should be the language of any debate decision
the legal status of abortion,
it
over abortion. Yet, while both groups have a legal goal, one
110
The Doublespeak of Lazo
group uses
language while the other does not.
legal
even the group that uses itself to just
And
language does not confine
legal
the language of the law but draws language
from
a variety of other sources as well.
A
semantic environment consists also of the language normally expected for a particular environment, and the lan-
And
guage actually used.
problem
here
lies
a significant part of the
in the discussion of abortion.
While we can the discussion
is,
what
readily discern
we
have,
I
think, a
the actual language of
much more
difficult task
what language is normally expected for this Those opposing abortion believe the discussion
in determining
discussion.
should take place in terms of the language of their religion
and
their morality,
Those not opposed
even though
their
purpose
a legal one.
to abortion believe the discussion
take place in terms of law.
While both
guage of science from time
to time, neither
position or
is
sides
mix
should
in the lan-
group grounds
language in the semantic environment of
its
its
sci-
ence.
Here, then,
When we
is
the intractable problem in this discussion.
have two competing semantic environments we do
not have a discussion.
have people talking
at
each other,
no communication taking place. For as we saw communication takes place within a context, within a
but there earlier,
We
is
semantic environment where
same language.
When we
all
the participants share the
have conflicting semantic environ-
much is communicated, and little Remember the conflicting environments
accom-
ments, nothing
is
plished.
of Oliver
North and the congressional committee, and President Bush
111
The New Doublespeak and the findings of congressional committees and the Court decisions.
Since the debate about abortion will be resolved
mately in the courts,
I
think
we must admit
ulti-
that the semantic
environment for any discussion of abortion should take place in the semantic environment of law.
our semantic environment, we can
By
at least
clearly defining
begin to have a
we can communicate with one
discussion in which
another.
And by conducting our discussion within this environment, we will be able to use words that have some fairly established definitions, while dropping that
A
do not belong
from the discussion words
in this environment.
major function of our
legislatures
and our courts
is
to
become the basis for law and the enforcement of law. Through these institutions, we reach agreement on what some words mean, and These
define words.
then
we
legal definitions then
we have
agree to abide by these definitions. So
legal
definitions for murder, insanity, bankruptcy, burglary, per-
son, death, religion,
Those on both words choice,”
as
and many
others.
sides of the abortion debate
who
use such
“preborn baby,” “product of conception,” “pro-
and
“pro-life”
use words that have no definition
except the private definition of those
who have
invented and
who
use these words. Moreover, these words have a conclu-
sion
imbedded within
cussion even before the discussion
Having
said
on
it
their
meaning so
begins.
that they
end a
dis-
Such words cannot advance
abortion.
all this I
must admit
in the discussion of abortion.
On
112
that
I
do not
the contrary,
see progress I
see a hard-
The Doublespeak of Law
ening of the discussion, with each side retreating more and
more
into
its
cussion with
own vocabulary, carrying on its side of the disits own words, and ignoring and rejecting the
words of the other
side.
Worse, neither side seems
willin g to
work on any kind of new vocabulary, one that will allow for a discussion of the various positions. As long as this continues,
we have
little
hope of resolving the
discussion, of
com-
some agreement. Language will play a crucial role in the debate on abortion, for it is through language that we as a society will ultimately come to agreement. For any agreement in human affairs must ultimately be reached through ing to
language.
So
let
us begin our journey to a resolution of our disagree-
ment over abortion by examining our language within
the
semantic environment of law. Let us define our words in law,
which
is
the proper function of our legislatures. In the
process of defining our words,
we
some agreement. Instead of talking
will at
be forced
come
to
one another using our
own special words, we can begin to talk we work to build a shared vocabulary.
113
to
with one another as
,
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
How Do Fire Thee? Let Me Count the Ways I
Business
filled
is
with dozens of doublespeak terms for firing
much
of
number
of
or laying off employees, probably because there’s so that going
workers
on
who
these days. Estimates vary, but the
have been given the boot
is
enormous, with
almost 3.5 million workers losing their jobs from 1989 to 1995.
1
And
as corporations continue to eliminate jobs
and
get rid of thousands of employees, they continue to invent 2
new ways to avoid saying that they’re firing all these people. The doublespeak for firing thousands of employees falls
115
The New Doublespeak generally into three categories.
make
sound
it
as if laying off
Some companies want
workers
is
to
a positive experi-
ence for the workers and not a negative one, as in “construc-
which means losing your job
tive dismissal,”
kind of kid.
like that bad-tasting
However,
I
am
is
good
for you,
medicine you had to take as a
willing to bet that the experience
constructive for the
company than
for the people
is
who
more have
just lost their jobs.
Then
there are the companies that don’t really fire work-
ers;
they just
tally
happen
make some
other changes that only inciden-
to result in the layoff of
There might be a “production factory
is
thousands of workers.
cessation,”
which means the
closed and everyone working there
job, or the “elimination of positions,”
is left
without a
which means
that since
the jobs have been eliminated there’s
no need
for
all
those
workers to hang around. Finally, there
company even future,
is
new
the
better,
strategic plan that will
make
the
ready to face the challenges of the
engage in global competition, and, oh, by the way,
lay off 13,000 workers.
Such
is
the result of Procter
8c
Gamble’s plan for “Strengthening Global Effectiveness.”
Meanwhile, General Motors of Canada was working on
its
“lean concept of Synchronous Organizational Structures.” Officials at layoffs.
GM conceded that this “concept” would result in
How many
wouldn’t
workers would lose
their jobs,
they
say.
However,
I
think the winner for the best doublespeak for
firing
comes from the computer
fired;
you’re “uninstalled.” Gall a vice president at this corn-
116
industry,
where you’re not
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
pany and the voice mail message
will tell
you
that
“you have
reached the number of an uninstalled vice president” I’m
we
hope he gets installed someplace else real soon. As more and more companies lay off more and more workers, the doublespeak flows more thickly. Workers are sure
all
never laid
they’re
off,
“redundant,”
“excessed,”
“transi-
tioned,” or offered “voluntary severance.”
Your job can be
declared “excess to requirements,” which
means
haven’t been laid
off,
By
your job no longer
the way, since
you
come
just that
that
you
your job has been eliminated. exists, there’s
no need
work anymore. You can always be “correctsized,” which means, I guess, that you were the wrong size all along and never knew it. But now the company has taken care of that problem, and made you the correct size, even if you don’t want to be, and your new correct size means you’re out of a job. for
to
When
to
one firm
fired 10 percent of
to “a refocusing of the
offered
some of
its
company’s
its
workers
skills set.”
it
referred
General Motors
employees a chance to participate in a
Those who entered the program had to leave the company once they had completed the program. Entering that program just might make you “career transition program.”
think of the inscription over the gates
of Dante’s
hell:
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” At Stanford University it’s “repositioning,” while Tandem Computers calls it “reducing duplication” or “focused reduction.”
Digital
National Semiconductor had a
Equipment Corporation
“reshaping,”
referred
to
while
“involuntary
methodologies” that resulted in the “involuntary severance”
117
The New Doublespeak of 3,500 employees. Pacific Bell announced the elimination of
“employment
its
security policy” for
managers. Once
its
Bank of America and Security Pacific Bank was completed, up to 14,000 workers lost their jobs, a consequence that the Bank of America called a “release of the merger of the
resources.”
Window
The
Sun announced
Baltimore
Program (VWIP)
“Voluntary
its
more than 1,200 union and non-union employees.” This program is Incentive
available to
part of the newspaper’s “restructuring,”
manent
Wal-Mart
‘downsizing.’”
which “involved
stores called the layoff of
1,200 workers “a normal payroll adjustment.” Atlantic City,
New
Jersey,
per-
“restructure”
The
casinos in
departments and
“realign” their workforce.
Some companies implement “chemistry
change,”
a
“vocational
assignment and relocation.”
Then
adjustment,”
“skill-mix
or
relocation,”
“career
there’s a “realignment” or
“rebalancing” of the workforce, or a “consolidation of operations.”
Varian Associates of Palo Alto, California, decided to
“undertake a major repositioning” and “scale down”
its
workforce. At Sunset Publishing 20 percent of the workforce
was declared
“duplicative.”
in California,
“One hundred and
support personnel
been
who have
be
Pacific National
fifty
administrative
“involuntarily
It
was an
separated
from
the
payroll.”
offer” to
600
offer they couldn’t refuse.
With economic hard
many
and
overlapping positions have
Meanwhile, Sears made a “severance package employees.
Bank
Labs announced that 140 employees
displaced.” Bell
would
At Security
times hitting the health care business,
hospitals are laying off workers, but like
118
most other
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
businesses,
they don’t say they’re laying off employees.
Instead they use such doublespeak as “operations improve-
“work
ment,”
and “operation
“proactive downsizing,” hospitals
“employee
reengineering,”
even ask employees
should be made. This
is
excellence.”
to help decide
called
repositioning,”
Some
where reductions
“employee empowerment,”
although some employees are empowered right out the door. Harris
Bank of Chicago announced
“rightsizing the bank,”
substantially reduce
count.” If the
its
which
a
payroll costs through reducing head
bank were
should
be
who were
called
described as “a program to
it
the
wrong
size all those years
they’re just getting the size correct now,
executives
program
in
rightsized.
maybe
all
and
those
charge of the wrong-size bank
employees
Fifteen
at
Clifford
of
Vermont weren’t laid off. “This was not a cutback nor a layoff. It was a career-change opportunity,” said Jim McNulty, president. Stouffer
Foods Corporation did not lay off 300
part-time workers. “These are called schedule adjustments,
not
layoffs,” said
Roz O’Hearn,
Research reduced tion,”
while
IBM
its
public affairs manager.
Cray
workforce through “voluntary termina-
asked for “voluntary resignations” from
its
program
to
“population.”
When AT&T
embarked on a
lay off 40,000 workers, the
company
using the words “fired” or “laid out
its
“force
well-publicized
off.”
assiduously avoided
Instead,
AT&T
carried
management program,” which was aimed
reducing an “imbalance of forces or
were not “invited” back
to the
“unassigned.”
119
skills.”
at
Employees who
company found themselves
The New Doublespeak A recent survey of employees trial
at
some of the
largest indus-
corporations revealed that for 69 percent of the employ-
term “reengineering” meant an excuse for
ees surveyed the
Moreover, 75 percent of the employees said they
layoffs.
feared for their
own
jobs,
and 55 percent
said that after
“reengineering” had been carried out at their
company they
were overworked. 3
The
question
we might want
to ask
some of the extremely
highly paid corporate executives in charge of this reengineering
is
why
invent
all
these
new terms?
Why
not just say
knows what’s going on, so what do you think you’re hiding, and from whom? you’re firing workers? Everyone
Certainly not the employees
who
lose their jobs.
Reengineering as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Indeed,
all
company announce stock
its
those stock analysts
on Wall
lays off lots of workers. All a
that
it’s
goes
laying off half up.
But
it
its
Street love
it
company has
when to
do
a is
workers and the price of
wasn’t
always
like
that.
Announcements of layoffs “used to be viewed as admissions of failure which prompted investors to dump stock, not buy 4
it.”
Then
all
that changed.
Around 1987 that
the stock market learned to love a
was “undergoing a
radical restructuring,”
and
company this
new-
found love for massive unemployment “turned restructuring
from a shame
into a bracing
embrace of change.” 5
120
And
the
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
era of downsizing
was born.
Now
sudden change is that nothing what companies were doing was no this
had done had done
before.
They were
is
interesting about
really changed.
different
That
is,
from what they
laying off workers, just as they
now
in the past, only
what
the stock market decided
was a good thing and not a bad thing, so instead of selling the company’s stock people started to buy it. And the this
price of the stock increased.
And
as the stock of the downsiz-
ing companies went up, other companies decided to get in on the game. Soon, everyone was laying off lots and lots of workers, and those companies that weren’t watched their stock suffer as they tried to explain the latest
corporate fad.
It
all
why
they weren’t joining
looks like a
self-fulfilling
prophecy 6 because a number of studies have concluded downsizing has actually harmed a lot of companies.
that
7
But the doublespeak does have an important function. Through the use of such abstract words as “downsizing,” “restructuring,” terrible cost in
and “reengineering,” companies can hide the
human
lives that their “streamlining” causes.
In a long article in the
Wall Street Journal 8 Susan Faludi ,
one downsizing exacted from 63,000 employees when Safeway Stores decided to get lean and recounts the
toll
just
mean. Faludi recounts suicides, attempted suicides, divorces, bro-
ken
families,
who had
to
whole towns devastated economically, children
drop out of
college,
and thousands of people
left
On
the
without jobs, or the hope of finding another one. other hand, the few executives at the top of the
company
shared a personal gain of $800 million after four years.
121
The New Doublespeak Was
the restructuring necessary to
more competitive? According
make
to
company
to Faludi, in the four years
before the downsizing, Safeway was doing
companies were supposed
the
be doing
to
all
the things
be more competi-
tive:
It
was remodeling
stores,
its
“superstores” that have success.
and creating upscale
now proved
such a big
was experimenting with employee pro-
It
ductivity teams, phasing out money-losing divisions,
and thinning
that included less painful
its
some
work
layoffs
methods
force with a
program
but generally relied on
like attrition.
9
And how was Safeway doing? Was it making money? Was it competitive? Again according to Faludi: All these changes
produced earnings that more
than doubled in the to a record
first
four years of the 1980s,
$231 million in 1985. The stock price
tripled in three years,
and dividends climbed four
years in a row.
But Wall
all
that wasn’t
Street,
where
enough
for takeover-crazed
virtually
no company was
invulnerable to cash-rich corporate raiders. 10
And
so Safeway Stores went the path of downsizing to
please Wall Street, very, very rich,
and
in the process
make
and thousands of employees
122
a few executives very, very poor.
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
This
one example of the reality hidden behind those abstract words for laying off millions of workers. just
is
Words must be connected Doublespeak will quickly
is
fill
to reality or they
always disconnected from in the reality
it.
Reality
trying to avoid
it
may be
so people
used the doublespeak
that
because the company thought they were
swallow
reality,
nothing.
behind the doublespeak. Then
company
they won’t trust the
mean
all
gullible
enough
to
unpleasant, even frightening, but
by using doublespeak,
especially a double-
speak so transparent, never works. Ask the people
who were
“reengineered.”
The Economy, and Other Abstractions
We
like to talk
about the “economy.” There are
all
kinds of
business magazines and television programs devoted to analyzing, discussing,
people
make
perform
omy
is
and even predicting
their living predicting
in the next
how
months, the next
in excellent shape,” said
the economy. Lots of
economy will “The U.S. econ-
the
year.
Robert E. Lucas
press conference discussing his 1995
Jr., at
Nobel Memorial
11
the
Prize
Economic Science. Lucas’s observation drew this sharp response from Sumner Rosen, a former professor of economics at Columbia University: in
I
see stagnant real wages, large-scale unemploy-
ment and underemployment,
123
increasing inequality
The New Doublespeak of wealth and income shares, rising poverty, persistent racial disadvantage
and much more
Are we looking
that bur-
at the
same
economy? Or have economists so narrowed
their
dens most people.
.
.
.
vision they cannot connect the intellectual world
they live in with the real world they purport to explain?
Do
these
12
two eminent economists see the same thing?
They can’t both be right, can they? Well, yes they can. But first we must remember whenever we read statements like these that there
is
no such thing
The “economy”
does
not
exist.
we have we use to
expressed in a word that of abstraction
process
abstractions that
Chapter 3? Just
omy
does not
we
think are
so
many
other
chair in
at the
hundreds, thou-
we
we should
simplistic at best,
we do with
so
join together into the realize that to
speak of
and downright mislead-
many
of our abstractions,
if it is real,
as if
it is
a thing,
speak about something that does not exist in the real
world. the
create
Looking around
we have reified this abstraction. To speak of the “economy” as to
same
created using the
so too the econ-
ing at worst. Yet, as
is
an abstraction
exist,
abstraction the “economy,” is
is
our chair does not
as
exist.
“economy”
It
Remember our
real.
sands, even millions of pieces that
the
“economy.”
as the
It
exists
only in our words, our symbols.
“economy” with words. Consider,
for example,
engage in the same process in creating the trade Japan.
124
We
create
how we
deficit
with
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
Language, remember,
we
a set of symbols
is
communicate about the non-verbal world.
we we
use to
When
say that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Japan, are using word symbols as a form of shorthand
communicate a broad general description of a complex set of transactions. to
In the trade
at
first
place, the U.S.
all.
The
words,
Japan” are symbols used
The governments
states.
in
the
business
and Japan do not
“United States” and
to designate
two nation-
of both countries are not
of trading.
They govern
their
respective nation-states.
So when we speak of the U.S. trading with Japan,
we
really
within the U.S.
mean sell
that individual businesses
goods and services
to people
in Japan. Likewise, individual businesses in Japan
goods and services
sell
Yet thing,
the
we
to
people in the U.S
treat the trade deficit
with Japan as
13 .
if it is
something we can measure and manipulate.
“economy” too
as if
a real
We
treat
some control, and
a thing, a thing that has
it is
kind of palpable realness that we can work on, manipulate, like an automobile engine.
We
speak of “fine tuning” the economy, “jump starting the
economy,” “revving up the economy,” “idling the economy,”
and “slowing the economy,” of car that
we
economy
not a
does not
is
exist,
drive to get car,
it is
economy is some kind where we want to go. No, the as if the
not a thing;
know
but you’d never
125
it is it
an abstraction that
to hear us talk
about
The New Doublespeak we
“economy,” that thing
the
on
see pictured
television
news.
when an
Television likes pictures, not words, so topic like the ture.
The
television
“economy” comes along we have
to
abstract
have a
pic-
next time you’re watching the evening news on
and a reporter
starts to talk
about the “economy,”
watch what pops up on the screen. There might be a few
maybe
scenes of people working, or
New York
floor of the
ment
rate,
maybe
a graph or
in prices, the
unemploy-
Stock Exchange, or
some
chart illustrating
a shot of the trading
rise
or
or whatever. This
fall
is
“economy” according
the
to
television news.
When we
look
“economy” we
at the
the economists quoted above are correct. excellent
shape,
and the economy
Because that “thing” we abstraction,
we can
and we’d be
call
in
is
an economy
am
maybe even
in
is
shape.
terrible
such a high-level
is
we want about
the president,
executive of a corporation, the economy, great shape. I’m
The economy
say just about anything
correct. If I
both of
realize that
CEO,
my
it
or senior
economy,
making hundreds of thousands of
is
in
dollars,
millions of dollars. (“Chief executive officers of
America’s largest publicly held companies received higher
pay than ever million.”
14
Life
in 1994, with is
65 percent earning
good.) So too
if
making enough money
standard of living that
your neighbor off.
Nothing so
is
I like.
to
pay the
After
all,
laid off; a depression
large, so
$1
I’m a stockbroker, brain
surgeon, bricklayer, machinist, or anyone else ing and
at least
who
bills
when
work-
and enjoy a
a recession is
is
is
when
you’re laid
complex, so changeable and chang-
126
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
mg
can ever be accurately frozen into one abstraction such
as the
Try
“economy” this exercise to get a better
word “economy” being
idea of what
I
mean by
so abstract. In Chapter 3
I
the
outlined
the process of abstraction, starting with a 1996 red Toyota
Camry and ending up
with the very abstract word “trans-
portation” Follow this same process, starting with “econ-
omy and working backward and keep getting more and more
is,
go as
far as
specific.
you
can.
That
Try something
like
this:
economy -» sales
car sales -> General
of Chevrolet
—> Tom’s
(a
—»
Bob’s
Chevy
can keep doing
going through a get the idea.
speak as
Lucas, our
list
ers
who
—>
how
money
Nob el- winning
is
just a
is
little
in
think
I
you
so vast that to
absurd. Robert
economist, finds the “economy”
This would be news
who have been
—
over and over, each time
to the millions of
“downsized,” the millions of work-
who can workers who have
are unemployed, the millions of workers
only find part-time jobs, the millions of
watched
the
“economy”
call the
a single entity
in “excellent shape.”
workers
this exercise
—
dealership sales
of entirely different items.
What we
if it is
sales
car salesman at Bob’s) car sales
Tom’s paycheck — » Tom’s bills Tom’s pocket after bills are paid
We
Motors
their earnings decline year after year,
no matter
hard they work. 15
To say
that the
“economy”
ply a nonsense statement.
is
Some
127
in “excellent shape”
is
sim-
people and businesses
may
The New Doublespeak well be in excellent shape— executive salaries, corporate prof-
stock dividends, and merger fees, for
its,
items that fits,
we
Of
availability,
in terrible shape.
course, low wages, declining benefits, fewer jobs,
job insecurity
own
make
for
corporation,
a
amounts of
good
“economy”— wages, beneand disposable income, for
consider part of the
job security, job
example— are
example— but other
for
an excellent economy,
run a corporation,
The same economic
stock.
one person and bad
economic condition
is
good
people suffer because of price of
it
happen
if I
own
or
and
large
condition can be
for another.
for everyone,
To speak
as if
doublespeak of
(low wages help keep
false,
an
even when some
down
the
goods so you can buy more with your low wages)
to use the
to
is
deceptive, or misleading
verbal maps.
The Verbal Maps of Economists
Economists are in the business of creating verbal maps. That is,
they create a world with words. As with
there
is
no necessary connection between
the reality they purport to represent.
all
verbal maps,
their
words and
The only
connection
between what economists say and what the world does that economists claim their
world.
and
(Remember
his
dissenting
is
words accurately represent the
maps of our Nobel economist colleague; each was convinced of the
the verbal
accuracy of his map.) Economists are constantly disagreeing
128
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
with one another over economic “facts” and the inferences and judgments derived from them. You can go shopping for the
economic map of the world
act as if all
the
it’s
that appeals to you,
and then
the only accurate one around. Politicians
time. Just
look
at
the
do
this
arguments between the
Republicans and the Democrats over which economic we should follow.
map
Remember the three important rules about verbal maps. First, the map is not the territory but only a representation. Second, no map can represent all aspects of the territory. And third, every map reflects the mapmaker’s point of view. If we don’t remember these fundamental limitations of all verbal maps, we’ll get into trouble when we use any map to find our way.
Do
high government
low employment
deficits
rates cause inflation?
deficits increase interest rates?
affect the lives
slow economic growth?
of
all
Do
Answers
Do
high government
to these questions
of us because government
officials, busi-
ness executives, investment bankers, and lots of other people
make economic maps,
know
to these questions.
that the
on the answers, the verbal And you might be interested to
decision based
answer
to
depending on the verbal
each of these questions
map you want
yes or no,
is
to use. Pick the
you want: no unemployment .
.
.
there
is
ating inflation.
model more
basis for the conclusion that rates threaten
And
permanently
low
acceler-
according to an alternative
consistent with
129
the
data,
inflation
map
The New Doublespeak might actually be lower levels
than
we
at
lower unemployment
are experiencing today.
16
what you may have been told, research shows no consistent relationship between growth rates and government spending. Contrary
to
17
.
.
.
budget
have fluctuated widely in the
deficits
past 20 years, yet the
by theory have
est rates predicted alize.
The
accompanying
shifts in inter-
failed to materi-
18
unemployment and two decades and is one of
between
relationship
inflation has held for
the best-documented linkages.
Take your
pick.
advanced by an
Each map, each
19
inference,
entire school of economics,
is
passionately
and each map
supported by reams of research data that “prove” rect.
But the question
maps
are based?
Reads
the
statistics
is,
John
how good
are the data
Paulos, in his
book A
notoriously
imprecise
and
cor-
is
on which
the
Mathematician
Newspaper, points out that “our standard are
it
is
economic
unreliable.
” 20 .
.
Consider these headlines, which are just a few of the dozens I
have collected:
“Economic
Statistics
Seldom on the Money” 21
“Washington’s Useless Forecasts” 22
130
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
“Forecasts Erroneous, but Vital ” 23
How
Does Your Economy Grow? Economists Know Surprisingly Little About the Cause of Economic Growth ” 24
“Does Anyone Have a Clue ?” 25
One
reason no one has a clue
Sumner Rosen’s question
to
is
that the
answer
to
our Nobel-winning economist,
“have economists so narrowed their vision they cannot connect the intellectual world they live in with the real world
they purport to explain?”
from a
top-of-the-line
“Monte
Carlo
is
yes.
Consider just two
titles
economics journal:
Methodology
and
the
Properties of Instrumental Variable
Finite
and
Sample
Statistics
for
Testing Nested in Non-Nested Hypothesis”
“Semiparametric Estimation of Utility Functions for
Monoton and Concave
Polychotomous Choice Model”
In citing these two examples of what passes for economic
wisdom, an economist observed: that I will cancel subscriptions to for a
one
article. ...
“Economics
may
is
In trying to it
useful .”
26
have a rule of thumb
economics journals
whole year without being able
have not made or
“I
to
understand
make economics
if I
go
at least
scientific,
they
As another economist observed,
giving elegant answers to questions that
may
not matter.” 27 But then economics has also been
131
The New Doublespeak called “the science of the utterly obvious, or, sometimes, the
science that denies the utterly obvious .”
28
and unreliable”
So, using “notoriously imprecise
statis-
tics,
economists forge ahead and create their verbal maps
and
call
them
“economy” Worse still, we follow these fact that most economic forecasts are
the
maps, despite the
no more on
“fatuous nonsense,
marksman with hundreds
of chalked bull’s-eyes on the wall
of his barn, each with a bullet hole in
asked that
how he
he
around
first it
.” 29
its
center.
could be so accurate, the farmer
made Yet
the shot is
it
the farmer
target than
maps
we pay and
ing, housing, transportation, medicine,
what we
call
bull’s-eye
that business
government use when making the decisions jobs; our pay; our taxes; the price
admitted
.
and then drew the
these verbal
specific acts that constitute
.
.
When
and
that affect our for food, cloth-
those other
all
our economic
life,
or the “economy.”
How’s Business?
Another abstraction
How
is
that
is
popular
the
is
word
business? What’s good for business?
regulated? Business
is
ailing.
Business
is
Is
“business.”
business too
recovering. Business
views with alarm. Business hesitates. Business Business
is
good.
anti-business.
The
Some
is
terrible.
people are pro-business, some are
business of America
132
is
business.
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
As with economy,
word
the
means nothing. It is so abstract that we can fill in just about any specific referent we want. The only way the word can have any meaning at all is in the context in which it occurs. But even then we may have trouble. Try this exercise. The next time you hear or see the word “business,” try to create a picture in your mind of what the word “business” means in the sentence you just heard or read. As we did with “economy” above, “business”
work backward to get a concrete, your mind of what the word means. try to
Speaking of business
We
speaking of the trade
like
is
specific picture in
deficit.
words (which are nothing more than symbols) communicate about a very complex reality, a reality that
to
are using
has no connection with the words
we
except the connection
And
as
easily fact I
we have
seen,
manipulated
to
we
use to describe
arbitrarily assign to
words
it
our words.
that are highly abstract can
be
when
in
appear to be communicating
they aren’t. can’t think of
anyone
against business. Yet
we
I
know
of or have heard of
often hear
who
is
someone accused of
being anti-business.
When we
ask exactly what
means. In what way can one be against
something
means
it
hear that charge,
as abstract as business?
that
we have
Often the charge simply
someone advocates something with which
speaker disagrees.
The
to
the
next time corporate executives or
members of Congress charge someone with being anti-business, ask them what they mean by business, and, given what they mean by business, what they mean by anti-business.
133
The New Doublespeak The Environment and Other Doublespeak
When
the oil tanker Exxon
William Sound in Alaska, a
rocks in Prince
Valdez hit the lot
more than crude
Faced with such a monumental environmental
Exxon swallowed
folks at
to clean everything
As
oil
flowed.
disaster, the
and proceeded
hard, bit the bullet,
up with doublespeak.
the residents complained of polluted beaches
slow to nonexistent cleanup, the executives calling almost thirty-five miles of beaches in
at
and the
Exxon were
Alaska “environ-
mentally clean” and “environmentally stabilized.” But then
maybe they never bothered to actually visit the beaches and look at them. Paul Nussbaum, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer did walk on the beaches that had been declared ,
clean or stabilized and found that they were
with
They glisten in the and come away with
oil.
stone
rock
“still
sun, slick with crude.
a handful of
oil.
covered
Wipe any
Beneath each
a pool of uncollected sludge. In the shallow pools cre-
is
ated by the outgoing tide, minnow-sized fish
rainbows of
oil
sheen.”
The
swim beneath
reporter for Newsweek magazine
walked the same beaches and found “the rocks were sticky
gritty,
and dark brown. Droplets of spray formed beads on
the surface, as they
would on waxed
paper.”
But that didn’t
bother Otto Harrison, Exxon’s general manager of the
Valdez cleanup operations, because he had a whole nition of the
word
“clean”:
off every rock. ...
stain
is
tants
can
live there
It
new
defi-
Clean “doesn’t mean every
means
oil
that the natural inhabi-
without harm.” In a twelve-minute film
134
“The
shown during
Doublespeak of Business and Economics
the
Exxon
shareholders’ meeting, the narrator
of the film described the Prince William shoreline as “the socalled beaches, mainly piles of dark, volcanic rock” In its press releases,
Exxon stopped
referring to the beaches as
being “cleaned” but called them “treated .” 30 This is a very effective form of doublespeak. Exxon has simply redefined a common word and used it the way it
wants
Since words are symbols, and since the only meaning a symbol has is the meaning we assign to it, Exxon can to.
go right ahead and say what “clean” means. But if there is to be any communication at all between Exxon and the rest of planet Earth, then the folks at Exxon need to use words the
way
the rest of us have agreed to use them.
to say that
few people would
covered with
oil”
call
I
think
beaches clean that are
and where “the rocks were
and dark brown” with
it is
safe “still
gritty, sticky
oil.
keep repeating that we need to test words by looking behind the word to find what it stands for, to find that to I
which
refers.
it
Now
the folks
if
beaches are “clean,” then
I
at
Exxon
think those
suggest that they picnic
on those
beaches with their families and go swimming in the water with their kids. I suggest we apply the same standard of “clean” to their clothes, their homes, their food, their offices.
Maybe bring
then they would adjust their meaning of “clean” to
it
upon by
in line with the
meaning more commonly agreed
the rest of the English speaking world.
135
The New Doublespeak Biodegradable, Recyclable, Degradable, Environmentally Friendly,
and Other Meaningless Terms
Surveys have shown that there
is
great
consumer
“environmentally friendly” products. In
much
interest that
is
there
fact,
is
consumers spend 15 percent more
products with such labels as “biodegradable.”
however,
interest in
The
so for
problem,
and
that terms like “recyclable,” “degradable,”
“environmentally friendly” have no fixed meaning. According to
Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey
these terms
“mean everything and
nothing.” So
III,
we have
the
war of environmental doublespeak. When Glad brought out a plastic trash bag it called “biodegradable,” Mobil Oil, the maker of Hefty trash bags, maintained that the plastic trash bag is impervious to degradation. But the sales of Glad trash bags went up while those of Hefty went down. So Mobil brought out its own “photodegradable” trash bag. This doublespeak attracted the attention of the attorneys general of seven states,
lawsuit against
Mobil
for claiming that
its
have a “special ingredient that promotes after
exposure to elements
like sun,
who
filed
Hefty trash bags their
wind and
breakdown rain.”
Hefty boxes carried the claim that once nature has gered” their
down
new
The “trig-
additive “these bags will continue to break
into harmless particles
landfill.”
a
even
after
they are buried in a
31
Meanwhile, Mobil admitted that ducted in 1988
it
in
its
own
tests
con-
took thirty days in the blazing sun of the
136
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
Arizona desert for a bag to reach a satisfactory level of decomposition, and then it simply dumped its contents
on
the ground. In other less
days for the bag to
won’t break
quoted
down
sunny climates it takes about 120 break down, and in a sunless landfill it
at
all.
Mike Levy, Mobil’s
lobbyist,
was
“We’re talking out of both sides of our mouth. Degradability is just a marketing tool.” 32 Mobil did stop using the word “photodegradable” for its Hefty trash as saying:
bags because of the lawsuit
filed
by the attorneys
general.
terms such as “biodegradable,” “recyclable,” “degradable,” and “environmentally friendly” have no fixed meanIf
ing, if
mean
they
“everything and nothing,”
why
are people
buying these products? Because this is the kind of doublespeak that works best. This is the doublespeak of abstraction.
own
who
People
read these words on the boxes
definitions,
shares.
definitions
that
believe
But since these terms do not have fixed
clear referents, Mobil, Glad,
are free to
make up
Exxon and
its
their
own
and
word
in their
everyone definitions,
of other corporations
lots
definitions.
Of course,
as
with
definition of “clean,” they’re not too anxious
to share their private definition
the
they
fill
doesn’t
mean what we
with us think
it
lest
we
realize that
means.
Mobil may well believe that a trash bag that sits in the hot desert sun for thirty days and then dumps the garbage it contains on the ground is “photodegradable,” but I don’t think people disposal
who
are concerned about the
would agree with Mobil’s
they accept
its
claim that
less in a landfill.
this plastic
definition.
bag
But the doublespeak
137
problem of trash
is
is
Nor would
ultimately harm-
a great marketing
.
The New Doublespeak tool. It tic
works;
it
sells plastic
trash bags. Lots
and
lots
of plas-
trash bags.
A
As we saw
earlier,
Different Kind of Downsizing
“downsize” has been a popular double-
speak term used by corporations
who want
to lay off thou-
sands of workers without saying that they’re laying off workers.
But there
another meaning for “downsize” that you
is
probably haven’t even noticed, yet
you go shopping “Downsizing” ufacturers
is
you every time
the doublespeak of choice for those
who want
to increase the price of a
who make
folks
affects
for groceries.
out increasing the price. Here’s
The
it
how
man-
product with-
“downsizing” works.
Velamints shaved the edges off their
mints, thus reducing the weight of a package of twelve mints
from 0.85 ounces same. Voila! other words,
And by
A
to 0.71 ounces.
But they kept the price the
downsized product with no price increase. In
you
get less for the
same amount of money.
the way, those folks at Velamint labeled their
new
“New Improved.” That’s not exactly my idea of either a new product or an improved product. But then from their point of view it’s certainly new downsized package of mints
(after all, it’s smaller)
and
it’s
certainly
improved (improved
in profit margin)
And
the folks at Velamint aren’t the only ones downsizing
their products.
Brut deodorant spray was reduced from
138
five
'The
Doublespeak of Business and Economics
ounces to four ounces, then labeled “Now More Brut!” while Mennen Speed Stick deodorant went from 2.5 ounces to 2.25 ounces. Even diapers are not exempt from downsizing.
The number
of Huggies
diapers
per package was
reduced by 10 percent but the price was reduced only 7 percent. In response to their competitor’s downsizing, Procter 8c
Gamble promptly downsized
the
number of
diapers in their
Luvs and Pampers brands. “Pampers and Luvs to better serve the consumer,” Procter
statement. will give
Believe that and
you a quarter
affairs director
you
11
at night,”
8c
are
Gamble
working said in a
believe the tooth fairy said Detroit
consumer
Esther Shapiro.
you think this kind of downsizing Downsizing has been going on for quite If
is
new, think again.
a while. In 1983 the
one-pound can of Maxwell House Coffee Master Blend suddenly contained only thirteen ounces, an almost 20 percent decrease. The label on the can assured buyers that thirteen ounces of coffee “makes as
many
cups as one
full
pound,” a
statement almost as reassuring as Volkswagen’s claim that
Eurovan was “the world’s
largest
bly didn’t notice, but over the
Gamble has
van
for
its size.”
last several years,
steadily reduced the size of
its
its
You probaProcter
8c
Bounty paper
towels from eighty-five square feet per roll to sixty square feet,
a hidden price
increase
StarKist tuna downsized
its
of more than 40 percent.
6.5-ounce can of tuna to 6.125
ounces but kept the price the same. By the way, that
little
0.375-ounce reduction means StarKist saves over 4 million
pounds of tuna a bigger profits.
A
year.
A little less
tuna per can means
much
can of Brim coffee beans went from 12
139
The New Doublespeak ounces to 11.5 ounces in the same old price.
Then
which came
in a
size
NutriGrain wheat
there’s Kellogg’s
“New
cent bigger, but the
Larger
can and for the same
Size.” Yes, the
amount of
cereal,
box was 15
cereal in the bigger
per-
box
increased by just 2 percent.
Downsizing, of course, raise prices
without raising prices.
increases will never
show up
living chart, they will hit
shopping. is
nothing more than a
is
With
in
And
way
to
while these price
any government
cost-of-
your budget every time you go
the doublespeak of package downsizing, less
more. 33
The term
“downsizing” demonstrates that just reading a
label doesn’t necessarily give
you
all
the information
you
To understand downsizing, you need to place the information on the label in a larger context. While reading a label will give you literal, factual information, to really understand what you’re reading you need to go beyond the label. Understanding doublespeak and becoming a good reader, and a good detector of doublespeak, means a lot more than knowing the meaning of words. need.
Educational Television Programs for Children
The 1990
Children’s Television Act was supposed to raise
the standards of television programs for children
by
requir-
ing television stations to “serve the educational and informational
needs of children.” Stations must also provide docu-
140
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
how
mentation of
they are meeting
requirement
this
when
they
file
how
well television stations were complying with this the Center for Media Education in Takoma
law,
to
renew
their licenses with the
FCC. To
see just
new Park,
Maryland, examined a bunch of the renewal forms that stations had filed. According to their own statements in these
how broadcasters are fulfilling their obligations under the new law. Instead of creating new programs, broadcasters created new definitions, new ways of seeing old programs. Here are some examples of how television is “serving the educational filings, this is
and informational needs of
children.” Station
WGNO
of
New
Orleans said that Bucky O’Hare, a rabbit in space who fights alien toads with guns and lasers, is “educational and informational” because “issues of social consciousness and responsibility are central themes of the program.” also claimed that reruns of Leave It
WGNO
Beaver were educa-
to
tional.
Other
stations claimed
such programs as The Jetsons The ,
Flintstones
“issues
,
G.I.
foe
,
Superboy
,
and Super Mario
of social consciousness
and
show
the value of “communication
cited
Chip
n Dale Rescue Rangers
,
trust.”
station
evil plot.
efforts are the focus in this episode.”
stations claimed that episodes of the Turtles
One
and
which the “Rescue
Rangers stop Chedderhead Charlie from an rewards of team
contain
responsibilities”
and in
Bros,
The
Other
Teenage Mutant Ninja
teach about nutrition and physical fitness, while an
episode of
To,
Yogi! in
which the hero
defeats a bank-robbing
cockroach promotes the value of “using
141
his
head rather than
The New Doublespeak his
muscles” Newsweek magazine called these characteriza-
tions “imaginative”
and “shameless flimflam
.’’
34
This reinterpretation and definition of these television pro-
grams
worthy of any
is
hidden meanings in such poems
“Humpty Dumpty.”
who
literary theorist
finds
‘Jack and
as
dark and
and
Jill”
Again, the doublespeak of redefinition
works wonders, transforming what many people would
mindless entertainment or at worst trash television
at best
and
into incredibly meaningful, educational, sion.
Why we
trations
we
don’t
ask some parents
if
inspiring televi-
they consider these
programs “educational and informational”?
television
don’t
call
Why
some parents if these programs are good illusof the meaning of the words “educational and inforask
mational television for children”?
As long words
as
we
that affect
manipulated,
friendly,”
our
and
“biodegradable,” tally
allow others to control the definitions of lives,
we
misled
be controlled,
will continue to
by
“recyclable,”
such
words
“degradable,”
“photodegradable,”
as
“clean,”
“environmen-
and “educational and
informational television for children.” Until
we
fight
back
and take control of such words, take control of how such words are defined, those who wield doublespeak
will con-
tinue to be successful, as successful as the
Exxon Corporation,
Glad, Mobil Oil Corporation, and
those television
tions that continue to
show
the
all
same old programs
sta-
for chil-
dren yet claim they are meeting their obligations under the law.
142
The Doublespeak oj Business and Economics
Wien
Well,
you
a Commercial Isn’t a Commercial
think, at least there’s public television,
kids can watch commercial-free programs.
where
my
PBS may have cuts, money had
once been commercial-free, but with budget to be found somewhere, and what better source than advertising? is
Of course PBS had
a slight problem because by law
noncommercial and not allowed
advertising.
it
accept commercial
to
So the Public Broadcasting System does not run
commercials. However,
acknowledgments
it
does offer “enhanced underwriter
.”
Such “acknowledgments” include “value-neutral tions of a product line or service”
descrip-
and corporate logos or
slo-
gans that “identify and do not promote.” Such “enhanced underwriting” port.”
is
designed to attract “additional business sup-
While publicly maintaining
ments” are not commercials,
that such “acknowledg-
officials at
Public Broadcasting
Marketing, a company that represents public radio and vision stations,
promote the
sion’s children’s
tele-
“sales potential” of public televi-
programming
Advertising Age, the president of
to corporations. In a letter to
PBM pointed out,
“Through
Public Broadcasting Marketing, corporations can place messages adjacent to ‘Sesame Station,’
and
‘Mr. Rogers,’ ‘Shining
Time
‘Barney,’ tapping the sales potential of these
acclaimed programs.
PBM’s
Street,’
More and more
corporations recognize
unique, high-impact environment.”
According
to
the
Communications Act of 1934, these
“enhanced underwriter acknowledgments”
143
may
well be
ille-
The New Doublespeak This act
gal.
forbids
specifically
from accepting compensation “promote any son
who
is
aren’t ads.
service, facility or
PBS
and
But with
profit.”
this
little
legal
reaping the benefits of running ads that
is
35
that
running ads on public television and
them “enhanced underwriter acknowledgments”
such a big deal, but
it is.
advertising determines
which
product offered by any per-
has maneuvered around
You might think calling
stations
for broadcasting messages that
engaged in such offering for
doublespeak restriction
noncommercial
don’t.
Pittsburgh
As
public
isn’t
on and
Public television’s dependence
which programs go on the
Michael
Fields,
station
manager
WQEX,
station
television
air
of
bluntly
explained as he canceled three programs:
“We
keep shows on the
community doesn’t
want
to support.”
35
air that the
business
By using doublespeak
can’t afford to
to hide
its
depen-
dence on corporate advertising and hiding the influence of such advertising, public television misleads
watch public tribute to
television,
and
all
all
those
who
who
con-
those individuals
it.
CIA-Approved Television
In
November
1991, the Public Broadcasting Service ran a
three-part series, Korea: The
Unknown War. However, the pro-
on PBS was not the same as that originally broadcast in England, where it had been produced. Instead,
gram
aired
144
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
American viewers saw the “revised” version
who
“corrected” after General Richard Stilwell,
Korean War headed the Far Eastern Policy
Coordination,
CIA’s
the
is
Stilwell
argued that “the
during the
division of the Office of
covert
operations
screened the program and objected to some of
General
had been
that
its
arm,
contents.
present form,
series, in its
not appropriate for an American audience.”
The documentary series was Thames Television, with WGBH
originally
Boston and Australian
in
National Television as coproducers.
produced by
The
chief historian for
was Bruce Cummings, professor of East Asia histhe University of Chicago and author of five books
the series
tory at
on Korea. The
when
the
General
Of
series
was reedited
series
Stilwell
took two years to make. However,
was allowed
for
American
to “review”
the twenty- two objections he raised,
ally inaccurate or plain lies,” said
the series. Professor
twenty- two
Cummings
objections
were
Jon
it
television,
“for accuracy”
many were
“factu-
Halliday, the writer of
said that eighteen of the
“wrong or misjudged,” and
ignored the scholarship that had been done on the war.
Cummings, went ahead and made twelve changes based on
Despite the protestations
WGBH
of Halliday and
S til well’s objections, and refused to consult with or to
Cummings
Halliday and broadcast.
Nor
did
see the revised
let
program before
WGBH take into consideration the doc-
umentation Halliday and Cummings provided
to
refute
Stilwell’s objections.
Among the
changes
to the size of the
made
in the broadcast
were references
South Korean army, the number of North
145
The New Doublespeak Korean war dead, the
role of the U.S.
China entered the war, and
retreat of U.S. forces after
tions that U.S. forces
army during
committed
the
allega-
atrocities against civilians.
Cut from the original program was a discussion of President Truman’s plans for invading China and using nuclear weapons against Korean and Chinese cities. The revised program also downplayed the fact that much of the South Korean military leadership collaborated with the Japanese occupation government during World War II. Cummings also charged that added misleading commentary by Dean Rusk and Paul Nitze, and that the version
WGBH
WGBH
misrepresented the role of General Douglas MacArthur.
Cummings wondered have been
if
rhetorically
the producers
an “accuracy” review
what the response would
had submitted the program
to the
KGB’s
covert operations chief
for East Asia at the time of the war.
wrote in Nineteen Eighty-Four. the future;
who
shown
37
As George Orwell
controls the past controls
controls the present controls the past.”
Sony
When
“Who
for
Corrects History
Bernardo Bertolucci’s film in Japan in 1988, the
The Last Emperor was
movie was missing a key
part:
old newsreel scenes of Japanese soldiers in Nanjing, China, in 1937 shooting ies.
The
Chinese
civilians
and dumping
their
bod-
movie’s Japanese distributor explained that the
scenes were cut because
“we had
146
better avoid unnecessary
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
confusion in the movie theaters.” Such confusion is regularly avoided in Japan where foreign movies and books that contain elements the Japanese find
shown or published
when
Thus,
Company
in the country. 38
the
ofJapan
uncomfortable are simply not
Matsushita
giant
Electric
Industrial
March 31, 1990: $37.75 billion) bought the American company MCA (total sales for the year ending March 31, 1990: $3.38 billion), there was some concern about a Japanese company (total sales for
the year ending
taking over one of the major movie, television, record, and
book publishing companies in the United States. Would MCA refuse to make movies or publish books that contain unflattering or unpleasant accounts ofJapan?
This
was
concern
when
heightened
reporters
asked
Matsushita president Akio Tanii whether the company would feel free, for instance, to
produce a film on the
role played
by
World War II, a subject strictly taboo in Japan. Replied Tanii (who according to press accounts was “visibly shaken”) “I could never imagine the late Japanese
emperor Hirohito
in
:
such a
case,
so
cannot answer such a question.”
I
asked whether movies practices
critical
of Japanese social or economic
could be made, he responded that “because of
broader U.S. -Japanese cooperation as countries ... that such a
movie
will
later “clarified” Tariffs
interpretations.” all
not be produced.”
MCA
Columbia
39
A
I
believe
press release
remarks blaming “conflicting English
Of course MCA’s management would make
creative decisions, said the statement.
runs
When
the
way
the
pictures, history
is
But
if
Sony corporation in for
147
Matsushita is
major rewriting.
running
The New Doublespeak February 1991, Columbia released, through
In
Home
Times
Video, the original 1943 Batman
not quite the original pitted against the
by
serial.
serial.
In the 1943 version,
Good Well,
Batman
is
Japanese master spy Dr. Daka, as played
Carrol Naish in bizarre, exaggerated, and hilarious
J.
Japanese makeup. Daka heads a sabotage ring composed of
American
traitors
and men
The
into living zombies.
whom serial
the evil doctor has turned
has long been considered
high camp and quite funny, unintentionally of course.
It
has
also served as a graphic illustration of the virulent racism
that swept the
United
States during that war.
now Sony owns Columbia, and some changes have been made. The narrative in the serial shifts the emphasis from the Japanese enemy of World War II to unidentified foreign spies. For example, as the camera pans down a But
deserted city
American
street,
citizens
the original narrative called Japanese-
who had been
interned “shifty-eyed Japs”
rounded up by a “wise government,” and Daka ter Jap spy.”
generic “vile foreign spy.” So
With
“the sinis-
In the new, improved Sony version, the govern-
now just a camp, so much for
ment rounds up “immoral hoods” and Daka racism,
is
and so much
Sony
for honesty.
control
in
much
Matsushita in control of
of
MCA
for
is
40
Columbia
Pictures
and
the possibilities for avoiding
“unnecessary confusion in the movie theaters” are almost endless. Bora
vers,
The
attack
on
Pearl
Harbor
as depicted in Bora, Bora,
can be remade as misunderstood Japanese naval maneu-
and The Bridge
on the River Rzoai can
become an Anglo-
Japanese cooperative development project designed to help
148
The Doublespeak of Business and Economics
an underdeveloped country of the Third World that is rudely interrupted by terrorists. But as for all those John
Wayne
movies,
maybe
well,
Department of History
new George Orwell
two companies
at the
work overtime preparing new
the
will
versions, keeping in
have
mind
department’s motto, borrowed from George Orwell: controls the past controls the future;
who
to
the
“Who
controls the
present controls the past.”
who run them
Corporations and those
source of doublespeak, manufacturing
sometimes
suspect,
even
it
an endless
are
automatically and,
unconsciously.
When
I
the
Rockefeller family sold a 51 percent interest in Rockefeller
Center
to
Japan’s
Mitsubishi
Estate
Company,
David
Rockefeller said in a press release that the sale preserved
commitment to New York City, which my made more than 50 years ago and which present gen-
“the abiding father
erations of the family continue to
feel.”
41
This comment, of course, turns the meaning of “commit-
ment” on
its
head. If the sale of a controlling interest in
Rockefeller Center represents the Rockefeller family’s com-
mitment
do
if
to
New
York, imagine what Mr. Rockefeller would
he didn’t have an “abiding commitment
New
York
maybe his “abiding commitment” is someabiding commitment corporations have to their
City”? But then thing like the
to
employees these days.
149
6 The Doublespeak of
Government and
Once upon beliefs,
Politics
a time (so every fairy tale begins), politicians
had
they had principles, they had a vision for a better
world, and these beliefs, principles, and visions prompted
them to run for office. And these same beliefs, principles, and visions formed the substance of their campaigns for office.
who
Now, however,
and
have market researchers
and conduct focus groups to find out what what they want, or what they think they want.
take polls
people think,
The
politicians
results of this research
become
the beliefs, principles,
visions of politicians.
When
Bush was preparing for his reelection campaign, he had his chief researcher Bob Teeter conduct a President
151
The New Doublespeak number
of public opinion polls, focus groups, and other
market research
develop a
all,
it
process
this
so ordinary as to warrant
1
little
is
that the press
or no comment.
how candidates run for office these days. All who can afford them hire high-priced consul-
this is
the candidates tants to
a research-created
selling the president in 1992.
remarkable about
is
considered After
of beliefs, principles, and
Bush had Bob Teeter develop
marketing strategy for
What
set
1992 presidential campaign. In other words,
visions for the
President
to
conduct the market research and construct the mar-
keting strategy for their campaigns. In addition to driving
up
the costs of running for office, market research has given us
a politics not of leadership but of marketing,
designed to give customers what they want, or
a politics
at least
what
they think they want. Market research has also given us
more doublespeak in politics than ever before. I do not mean that politicians change their beliefs and principles to accommodate polls and focus groups, although some politicians seem to do just that. No, what I mean is that politicians adjust their beliefs to the results of the polls
and focus groups by using doublespeak. Thus, live in
politicians
two worlds: the world of what they believe and the
world they want the public words, they
live in a
to think they believe. In other
constant state of cognitive dissonance,
using doublespeak to resolve the continuing contradictions
between words and
and
actions, using
doublespeak to explain
justify their actions, or to say that they didn’t
they did, or what they did
Confusing?
No more
isn’t
do what
what we think they
did.
so than the world of Winston Smith.
152
The Doublespeak of Government and
The Spin Doctor Will Confuse You
Because of ideas
and
The job
their
of the spin doctor tell
Now
dependence on marketing-research-created
beliefs, politicians
designed to
Politics
is
have come
to rely
on
spin doctors.
to construct a verbal reality that
the public that the politicians’ reality
and what the public saw or heard
isn’t
what
it
is
correct
is
saw or heard.
In a popular 1992 television commercial, Andre Agassi uttered the immortal words, “Image tics
image
tors,
is
everything.” In poli-
indeed everything. Thus the need for spin doc-
is
those “political henchmen, the minders and puppeteers
who make their living by calling the The term “spin” is derived from basketball in
which the
right spin
where the player wants tant art of
bending the
it
Titanic the
Love
on
the ball can
3
make is
2
and
sports such as pool
to go. In politics, spin
truth.”
Boat.”
it
go
“the bla-
Spin doctors insult our
intelli-
make up our own minds by assuming that they can tell us that what we saw isn’t what we saw, or what we heard isn’t what we heard. Spin doctors tell us that only they know what the candidate said or didn’t say, only they know what the candidate gence and try to usurp from us our right to
meant or American
When
didn’t
mean. Spin doctors continue the great
tradition of “snake oil salesmen
and
faith healers.”
4
faced with blatant contradictions between words
and deeds,
politicians
and
their spin doctors
pour on the
doublespeak. Consider the following examples, which are fairly representative,
any and
all
of how political doublespeak can resolve
contradictions, of
something other than what we
how
see.
153
deeds are
made
to
be
The New Doublespeak Putting the Spin on Taxes
new
After pledging “no in 1988,
and saying
Union address
in his State of the
proposed 1991 budget contained “no new
Bush proposed $21.7
campaign
taxes” during the election
in
billion
“user fees” in his 1991 budget. 5
taxes,” President
proposals” and
“receipts
Of
that his
between a tax and a user
didn’t explain the difference
Bush
course, President
fee or
a receipts proposal.
But then President Bush had already increased revenues
when
the previous year
me
“It is clear to
that
in a written statement
both the
size
he declared,
of the deficit problem and
the need for a package that can be enacted require
revenue increases.
“Read
my
lips.”
.
.
How
much
So
.”
Marlin Fitzwater:
can President Bush say one thing dur-
“We
feel
he’s saying the right thing it’s
true now.”
Representative
when
now. Everything
we
said
was
7
Later,
say, ‘Raise taxes.’
only
resolution
true
6
Newt Gingrich defended
very explicitly didn’t
Republican
in
he said the right thing then and
President Bush’s
statement about “tax revenue increases” by claiming,
revenues.’”
tax
.
according to White House press secretary
Easy,
then and
.
campaign pledge,
for the
ing the campaign and propose exactly the opposite office?
.
one
that
day
opposed
He after
any
said, ‘Seek
“He new
supporting tax
a
increases,
Representative Gingrich said he would “support and sponsor” such increases. “I think I’ve said there will be
more revenues and
154
all
along that
I
think
that they will only
be
The Doublespeak of Government and
acceptable cuts
and
if
real
Politics
they are pro-growth and include real spending
budget reform,” said Mr. Gingrich. 8
Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner joined the
how
cussion and explained
not
be
considered
a
Skinner
Secretary
new
said
that
taxes “was mainly geared
what people generally perceive to be income not what I call user fees. I think the gas tax is a user
towards taxes,
a “user fee” on gasoline should
tax.
President Bush’s pledge of
dis-
.
fee.”
He
“8%
to
.
.
said that the administration’s budget request for an
10%
viewed
as a
increase” in user fees
model
for
an increase
on
airline tickets
in fuel fees.
could be
9
President Bush, Representative Gingrich, and Secretary
may
no new
“new revenues” or new “user fees,” but I am sure many people would disagree with this characterization and use instead the more common term “tax increase.” Indeed, when Congress and the Bush Administration teamed up to enact a new tax that they Skinner
called
a
see
“passenger
taxes but only
facility
charge,”
few people outside
Congress and the administration bought the doublespeak.
It’s
What
is
Not a lax;
It’s
a Passenger Facility Charge
a “passenger facility charge”? This
airports levy
on
all
is
a “charge” that
departing passengers. So each time you
board an airplane you pay $3 on top of the regular federal tax on your airplane ticket. Thus, on a round-trip flight from
155
The New Doublespeak New
York
Los Angeles with a change of planes
to
Chicago you can pay up posed
go
to
to
improve
The money
$12 more.
to
on
all
sup-
is
the $7 billion
airports, just like
already collected from a tax
in
airplane tickets. However,
Congress and the various administrations have refused
spend the tax money in collected to
improve
the budget deficit.
So
this
separate fund (which
airports)
and instead apply
now we have
be used
to
pay
new
a
is
supposed
because Congress uses the
So we
doesn’t because the for
something
else.
And
now have
money
to
this
now
pay
is
supposed
under
understand
who
ready to confront politicians
is
for but doesn’t
reduce the
a nontax to pay for the stuff
collected
Do you
it’s
airport facilities that
all
to
pay
this
for but
tax
this? If
then you’re ready to run for Congress, or
demand
is
reduce
to
new nontax
airline ticket tax to
an already existing tax
that
it
tax that isn’t a tax because
new and improved
for
the airline ticket tax
deficit instead.
was and
10
called a “passenger facility charge.” to
to
is
used
you
do,
maybe you’re
use such doublespeak and
that they account for their false, deceptive,
and mis-
leading language.
While want, using
it
is
we can it
true that politicians can use
any word they
reply that language works only
when
those
agree on what words mean, and that the meaning of
words cannot be
unilaterally
changed by some without the
agreement of others. These examples
illustrate
cians ignore this principle of language
want with and
to language.
This
is
how
politi-
and do what they
the corruption of public
language that leads not just to a lack of communication but
156
The Doublespeak of Government and Politics
breakdown of public discourse and to a distrust of and contempt for those who would corrupt the language for their to the
ends.
The Doublespeak of Redefinition
use the simple doublespeak of redefining a
Politicians
term and then using
their
new
common
definition without telling us
or seeking our approval and agreement. Thus, Representative
Newt Gingrich can
say
“it’s
not a peace dividend.
It’s
a
peace non-expense” 11 and avoid discussing what will happen to the military
for
budget
now
that
an end
reduced military spending. Even the
little
sense.
expense”? niently
left
war calls new phrase makes
to the cold
What is a “non-expense,” let alone The invention of this nonsense
a “peace nonterm,
conve-
undefined, does not promote discussion of the
no information on which to base a response. Political doublespeak works best when it appears to say something but on closer inspection means issue but leaves the listener with
we figure out has moved on to
nothing. But by the time
that the language
empty, the discussion
other topics and
are
left
So
is
we
sputtering our questions and protestations.
it is
that in El Salvador the
their housekeeper,
and her
murder of six Jesuit
priests,
sixteen-year-old daughter, as well
murder of hundreds of civilians by army units, is nothing more than a “management control problem” as the
12
according to the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, William
157
!
The New Doublespeak Walker. Doublespeak works well to explain away not just
murder but the slaughter of thousands,
as
governments
all
over the world well know. Just look at “ethnic cleansing” in
Bosnia
or “purification” and “purifying the target” in Iraq
1
I
Didn’t Do
Doublespeak tradiction
What
I
Did,
and
I
Certainly Didn’t
Say What
also allows politicians to explain
between
their
words and
triumph of word over deed, the
I
Said
away
their actions.
the con-
This
verbal
politician’s
is
we have perceived it. After Secretary State James Baker had condemned the flow of Soviet arms
of to
Central America as the biggest obstacle to
in
improvement
a
map
replacing reality as
guerrillas
14 .
in relations
Soviet Union,
it
between the United
was revealed
killed in a plane crash in
that five
States
CIA
and the
agents were
Angola while carrying arms and
other military equipment to guerrillas
who were
fighting the
Angolan government. Confronted with this apparent contradiction between word and deed, Margaret D. Tutweiler, the State
Department spokesperson,
said the crash
would not
Bush from protesting Soviet arms shipments because there was no comparison between American involvement in Angola and Soviet involvement in Central America Why was there no comparison, a comparison that most people would normally make? No answer from Ms. stop President
15
.
Tutweiler. Just take our
words and ignore our deeds. Live
in
our verbal world. With such language, and such thinking,
158
The Doublespeak of Government and
Politics
can there be a basis for discussion, for any kind of agree-
ment? Saying one thing and doing another has become practice for politicians.
them
to
use
between
their
women do
it
doublespeak to explain the contradictions
words and
George Bush
didate
So too has
common become common for
their actions.
“We
said,
.
.
For example, as can-
need
.
to
assure
that
not have to worry about getting their jobs back
having a child or caring for a child during a serious illness. This is what I mean when I talk about a gentler after
nation.
about
Leave
.
.
.
It’s
not
When
it.”
Bill,
right,
and we’ve got
to
do something
Congress passed the Parental and Medical
President
Bush vetoed
it
because, according to
White House, he “has always been opposed to eral government mandating what every business the
country should do.” 16 Wouldn’t
Bush had After
told us this during the
the
slaughter
of the
Tiananmen Square on June
many
it
have been nice
if
the fedin
this
candidate
campaign? student
4,
demonstrators
in
1989, in Beijing, not too
people in America wanted to pretend nothing had
happened. In
fact, I
think
it’s
safe to say that the
overwhelm-
ing consensus in this country was that the Chinese govern-
ment should somehow be punished, that we as a nation could not look the other way and pretend nothing had happened. In response to this widespread opinion as expressed in
newspapers, on talk radio, and in other media, the White
House
issued a statement
on June
20, 1989,
suspension of U.S. “participation in
159
all
announcing the
high-level exchanges
The New Doublespeak of Government
with
officials
Chinese leaders
as usual.”
It
know
it’s
wasn’t until December
Republic
People’s
Bush
China.” In addition, President tant the
the
of
very impor-
said, “It’s
not going to be business 9, six
months
later,
that
Bush publicly sent National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence President
Eagleburger to China. However, on December 18 the White
House admitted statement
lic
Chinese
that in July, barely
two weeks
suspending high-level
government,
after his
exchanges
pub-
with
the
Bush had secretly sent China to meet with Chinese
President
Scowcroft and Eagleburger to
leaders. Calling the trips “contacts,” not exchanges, President
Bush denied he had been misleading:
“I said
no
high-level
exchanges.” It
was
also revealed that despite the public
usual” policy, the
“no business
Bush Administration had allowed Chinese
military officers to return to the United States to
work on
as
resume
a $500 million arms sale to China, authorized
licenses for three
communications
satellites for
China, and
allowed the sale of passenger airliners to China,
among
other projects that continued immediately after the massacre
Bush also waived restrictions on the Export-Import Bank’s power to grant loans to American companies that do business in China. In short, despite his public position, President Bush continued business as usual of the students. President
with the Chinese government. His words were clearly
at
variance with his deeds. 17
And
the doublespeak continued because President Bush’s
doublespeak forced Secretary of State James Baker to use
160
The Doublespeak of Government and
doublespeak.
On December
10, Secretary
Politics
Baker said
in a
television interview that the
“the
first
December 9 mission was time we’ve had-we’ve had high-level United States
offi-
cials
go
to the People’s
interview the
first
it
Republic of China.”
was revealed
that the
A week after
this
December mission was not
mission to China and that Secretary Baker had
known about
the
first trip
but had chosen not to disclose
during the interview. Secretary Baker then issued a
it
state-
ment claiming that he had not lied when he said the December mission was the first to China since the June suspension and regretted “that he may have misled some.” 18 Thus it is that deliberately making a statement you know is false
is
not lying.
Spotting the Doublespeak in Gear Language, or Preserving
Wetlands by Developing Them
Sometimes
doublespeak even
use
politicians
appear to be speaking clearly and
directly.
when
they
For example,
while campaigning for the presidency in 1988, candidate
George Bush
said,
“My
position
on wetlands
ward. All existing wetlands, no matter
how
is
straightfor-
small, should
be
Most people would consider this a pretty clear, unambiguous statement, the kind of language we would like preserved.”
all
politicians
to use.
No
from-the-shoulder plain
doublespeak here. Just
talk.
straight-
But what a difference winning
an election can make.
161
The New Doublespeak In 1990,
when
candidate Bush had
become President
Bush, that pledge came back to haunt him. Oil and mining companies, as well as real estate developers, wanted to open
up a big chunk of wetlands to commercial development, meaning they wanted to use wetlands to make money. What would George Bush do? Would he honor his campaign pledge, or would he go back on it? He did both. Through the use of doublespeak, President
Bush claimed
that
he was
keeping the pledge of candidate Bush, while President Bush
opened up millions of acres of wetlands nies
who hungered
to all those
to use these lands for their profit.
Using a form of doublespeak we might
meaning through
compa-
clarification,”
call
“changing the
which usually leads
to the
Bush changed his quite clear campaign pledge by “clarifying” what he meant when he made it, as if his words needed any clarifying. But instead of “clarifying” his pledge, he was really changing its meaning. First, President Bush said his pledge really meant not that all wetlands would be preserved from development but that there would be no net loss of wetlands. Then, a little later, he “retroactive
definition,”
“clarified” his
President
pledge even further to
mean no
net loss of wet-
lands except where protection or compensatory action
not be practicable,” that of land which all
is
is,
“where there
is
“may
a high proportion
wetlands.” So instead of a policy to preserve
wetlands, as promised in the campaign, there
policy that
means
the
more wetlands
area— like Florida or Alaska— the receive because such protection
there are
less
may
would be a in any given
protection they will
not be “practicable,” a
weasel word that allows anything to happen to any wetlands.
162
The Doublespeak of Government and
Politics
However, even these changes did not appease all the companies who wanted more wetlands opened up for their use. Since “clarification” of the campaign pledge didn’t seem to
be doing the job, redefinition would have
to
be used.
Bush Administration announced that word “wetland.” The original definition 1989 by a committee of scientists and
In August 1991, the
was redefining the had been written in it
technical experts
from the Environmental Protection Agency,
Department of the
the
Interior, the
Department of Agriculture,
and the Corps of Engineers, people who
know something about
wetlands and
are supposed to
who based The 1991
on extensive research findings. which had been urged by the National Wetlands tion
lobbying group composed of
Coalition, a
companies, real estate devel-
is
a bird flying over a
marsh— was
House Council on Competitiveness, politicians that included
as
definition—
mining companies, and corporate farmers, and whose
opers,
logo
oil
their defini-
Vice President
such
written by the
White
a six-member group of
scientists
and
technical experts
Dan Quayle and White House
Chief of
Sununu. Their knowledge of wetlands was limited these lands could be used for commercial and indus-
StaffJohn to
how
The Environmental Defense Fund estimated new definition enforced by the Competitiveness
trial
development.
that
under the
Council 33 million in the cial
United
acres, a third of the total of all
wetlands
protection from
commer-
States,
would
lose
all
development.
With this change in the definition of wetlands, President Bush preserved his campaign pledge, and those who wanted to use the wetlands for profit got their way.
163
Thus, by
“clari-
The New Doublespeak and then redefining the term “wetlands” to exclude large amounts of land that were previously included, President Bush could say that he was not breaking his camfying”
paign pledge— “All existing wetlands, no matter
how
small,
should be preserved”— while he was carrying out a policy
was
that
directly contrary to the clear
time he
at the
made
meaning of his pledge
19
it .
President Clinton and the Doublespeak of Investment
So too did candidate
when he became
doublespeak
using words such as tribute,”
Clinton discover the usefulness of
Bill
and
“invest .”
20
“fairness,”
The
amount of money
“special
which
the federal
defined as the addi-
is
government ought
spending. In other words, an “investment deficit” deficit
Now
we should be
investment
you
get that?
deficit
We
need
is
to increase the deficit,
“investment deficit”
deficit
a
frightening
budget
is
it
to
to
be
more
deficit.
reduce
deficit.
deficit so
Did
we
most people never
doesn’t
exit.
a classic example of dou-
word- “investment” -is couword— “deficit”— to justify larger
blespeak wherein a reassuring
with
budget
a deficit
even knew existed, probably because
pled
The way
to increase the
can reduce the investment
The term
yet
is
taking on because of the existing
follow this doublespeak carefully.
this
“con-
interests,”
Clinton Administration invented
the term “investment deficit,” tional
President Clinton, and started
spending by government
21 .
164
The Doublespeak of Government and
Politics
President Clinton seems quite fond of the
ment” For him
there
is
very
word “investspending and a whole lot
little
of investing as he uses “investment” as a substitute for the
word “spending” for “an billion
.
in his rhetoric
on economic
policy, calling
immediate package of jobs investments of over $30 .” and additional “investments in education, tech-
.
nology, environmental cleanup and converting from a defense to a
domestic economy” 22
Once Again a Tax Isn’t a Tax
In the doublespeak of President Clinton, a proposed tax on
an additional 35 percent of Social Security benefits isn’t a tax. Since such a tax would mean that less money would be paid out in Social Security benefits, the proposed tax became a
spending
cut.
So too with the proposal
which the Medicare tax called a
spending
cut.
is
levied.
uncap the sum on
This tax increase was also
In addition, the
proposed by President Clinton
to
will
be
new
health care plan
at least partly
by a “wage-based premium.” In other words, a
When an
When dawn
is
Invasion Isn’t an Invasion, and
War
an invasion not an invasion?
vertical insertion,” as the
tax.
Isn’t
financed
23
War
When
it’s
a “pre-
Reagan Administration
165
called
The New Doublespeak the U.S. invasion of Grenada.
Just Cause, as the
Or when
it’s
Bush Administration
called
Operation
called the U.S. inva-
sion of Panama.
Doublespeak allowed President Bush dreaded
to avoid using the
word. President Bush didn’t order an invasion
“I”
of Panama, nor did he start a war without benefit of following Article
Section 8 of the Constitution. According to
I,
President Bush: “Fellow citizens, last night military forces to Panama.”
protect
to
the
lives
Or he
ordered U.S.
I
armed
“directed our
of American
in
citizens
forces
Panama,”
“deployed forces” to Panama, “directed United States forces to execute
.
.
.
pre-planned missions in Panama,” sent troops
down
to
cratic
processes
Panama, conducted in
“efforts to
Panama” or
support the demo“the
democratic
Panama
Canal,” cre-
restore
process,” assured “the integrity of the
ated “an environment safe for American citizens,” but cer-
Panama and on December 21
tainly didn’t invade
start a war.
press conference
President
When
Bush
at a
said the
word he quickly corrected himself: “You could say, ‘How come you didn’t tell me that you were going down to invade “I”
the—send in those troops
down
into
Panama?”’ In the
official
language of the government there was no invasion and there
was no war.
nonwar Panamanian soldiers weren’t killed; they were “neutralized.” Panamanian soldiers didn’t fight; they engaged in “armed terroristic activity.” And while Fang Lizhi, the Chinese dissident wanted by the Chinese government, In the
may be
given asylum in the U.S. embassy in Beijing, General
Noriega “holed up” in the Vatican mission in Panama. 24
166
The Doublespeak of Government and Politics
Buying Access
to the Political Process, or Politicians for Sale
Both the Democratic and Republican reforming the
way
political
parties say they are for
campaigns are financed, but both
parties continue to accept large contributions
groups,
interest
corporations,
and
wealthy
from
special
individuals.
Although federal law prohibits contributions of more than $20,000 to a
political
party or $1,000 to a presidential cam-
paign from any individual, both parties use a loophole in the law: Wealthy contributors are asked to give $100,000 or
more
to state political parties for generic “party building”
exercises,
money
that quickly finds
its
way
into the general
election campaign.
Right after his acceptance speech in which he railed against “the stranglehold special interests have tions,”
Bill
on our
elec-
Clinton went to a $1,000- to $5,000-a-plate
fundraising dinner, an event that raised over $4 million.
During the 1992 Democratic convention there were parties,
cocktail
brunches, and dinners for those contributing $100,000
more apiece. Fundraising events at the convention were hosted by such groups as the Distilled Spirits Council and or
the
Smokeless
Tobacco
Council.
AT&T, Time-Warner, Arco and
Corporations
other
oil
such
as
companies, cable
and communications companies, and Wall Street bankers and investment firms also held special, big-money fundraising events during the convention. By the end ofJuly television
1992, lawyers and lobbyists constituted the single largest
group finance,
of contributors, real
estate,
with
almost
and insurance
167
$2.6
interests
million,
with
contributing
The New Doublespeak $1.35 million.
By Labor Day
tributions of over
$60
the Democratic Party
million.
While
the Clinton
had con-
campaign
did not accept any contributions from political action committees
(PACs), the Democratic National Committee did
accept contributions from PACs, and
it
used the
By June
support of the Clinton campaign.
30,
money
in
1992, the
Democratic Party had raised $14.6 million from huge donations
from wealthy contributors.
Bush proposed
In a 1989 speech, President
reform the financing of
elections.
However,
several steps to
in the following
he
years the president did not propose a reform
bill.
In
vetoed the only campaign finance reform
bill
passed by
Congress.
In
1988,
some 249
$100,000 apiece to help
gave
individuals
fact,
at
least
Bush, and those numbers will
elect
be exceeded in the 1992 campaign. As of June 30, 1992, the Republican Party had raised $34.7 million in huge donations
from wealthy contributors. At one fundraising dinner, the Republican Party even put out a detailed the biggest givers to the event. include: for $20,000 a will sit at
your
table
with President Bush
member
A
of the
list
of benefits for
sample of the benefits
House of Representatives
and you can attend a private reception at the
not only get a Cabinet
White House;
official at
your
for
table
$40,000 you
and the private
you also get to attend a reception with Senator Robert Dole and a breakfast with senators and members of the House of Representatives; for $92,000 or more you get all the benefits lesser donors get, plus you reception with President Bush,
have your picture taken with President Bush; and the contributors can
sit
at the
head
168
largest
table with President Bush.
Th e Doublespeak of Government and Politics
The
dinner raised a record $9 million. Said White House spokesperson A/Iarlin Fitzwater of the dinner, “We don’t
buying influence, but it’s buying access to the system. Both political parties engage in doublespeak when they claim they are for campaign finance reform but fail to do 25 anything about such reform. believe
it s
.
.
.
And
people continue to buy “access to the system.” The Democratic National Committee recently published a brochure listing the various forms of access you can buy and
how much
each access
Hurry and accessorize now. For $100,000 a year you can become a “Managing Trustee” of the Democratic Party, which means you get two meals will cost.
with President Clinton, two meals with Vice President Gore, the opportunity to go on two “issues retreats,” “private,
impromptu meetings” with administration officials when they visit your hometown, an upgrade to “Honored Guest Status” at the 1996 Chicago convention,
personal
staff
Committee
member from
to assist
the
and your very own Democratic National
you with your “personal
requests.” Plus
more. You can travel with Democratic Party leaders they go on a foreign trade mission, and you’ll get daily
there’s
when
faxes filled with inside information.
league?
How
about $1,000, which
Is
$100,000 out of your
will get
you a reception
at
which you can meet Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tipper Gore, or a few top women administration officials. So what do the ordinary people, the people
who
can’t afford to
buy
access,
Dodd, one of the people who designed this brochure, “Hopefully, good gov” ernment, as Huey Long would say 2h get out of this? Said Senator Christopher
169
The New Doublespeak But good government
is
not the same as “access to the sys-
who defend this system of buying influence feebly maintain. Ron Mazzoli, a former member of Congress, observed, “People who contribute get the ear of the member [of Congress] and the ear of the staff. They tem,” as those
have the access— and access clout.
That’s
how
this
is it.
Access
thing works .”
the Office of
major proposal workers,
it
to
power. Access
is
27
When an Improved Working Environment
When
is
Is
Bad
for
You
Management and Budget blocked
a
improve the working environment for
defended
its
by saying
action
the proposed regulations could
make
that carrying out
workers’ health worse.
How
could an improved working environment for workers
harm
their health?
Here
is
the reasoning used
by James
B.
MacRaeJr., acting administrator of the Office of Information
and Regulatory
Affairs.
Better-off workers tend to use their higher leisure,
more
nutritious food,
care, as well as
drinking
less
wages
for
more
and more preventive health
extending their longevity by smoking and
than poorer workers. But because of intense
competition, companies cannot raise their prices to pay for the cost of the
cut wages
new
and
regulations.
jobs.
So companies would have
to
Thus, workers would have reduced
incomes, thus affecting their health. Therefore, rather than
170
The Doublespeak of Government and
Politics
allow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to establish lower permissible exposure limits for more than 1,000 toxic substances used in industry and agriculture, Mr. MacRae ruled workers will be better off exposed to these toxic substances than
Mx.
MacRae didn
t
if
they weren’t exposed. 28
Of
course,
how companies were going to be wages to workers now that they don’t
explain
forced to pay better
have those new burdensome regulations
We Increased
to
contend with.
the Competition hy Decreasing
It
When is a decrease in competition an increase in competition? When the Federal Communications Commission says what you can do with a verbal map? Just draw any map you want and say that it represents the territory.) The it is.
FCC
(See
adopted
tion to
own
new
thirty
regulations that allow a single corpora-
AM
and
thirty
FM
stations, a substantial
from the previous limit of twelve and twelve. Moreover, the new rules allow one corporation to dominate up to 25 percent of a single large market, and there is no increase
limit
on how much of a smaller market one corporation may
control.
The new
rules also permit joint ventures
competing corporations, allowing them
to share
among
programs
and thus control
large segments of selected markets.
FCC
action supports
said that
petition
and
its
diversity in
its
aim of increasing com-
programming “by recognizing
171
The that
The New Doublespeak the existence of a vibrant marketplace
is
necessary to maxi-
29 mize those goals .”
The Free Market
The
U.S.
at
Work
Commerce Department
ruled that
Mazda and
Toyota minivans are being “dumped” in the United
How
do you dump a minivan? According
used by the a
company
below
its
its
production costs plus a reasonable
at a loss,
This ruling is
Because
profit.
Commerce Department.
raises
some
interesting questions. For example, sell their
a price that includes an unreasonable profit?
(and how) what a reasonable profit
company
company have wants, even
at a price
they had to raise the price for them according
there a similar law for companies that
gal for a
when
guilty of selling their mini-
determined by the
to a schedule
occurs
goods in the United States
Mazda and Toyota were found vans
to the definition
Commerce Department, dumping sells
States.
to sell
a right to
if it
means
its
is?
products at
Who
Why should
decides
it
be
ille-
products at a loss? Doesn’t a
sell
losing
its
products at any price
money?
Why
apply only to foreign companies? Shouldn’t
from the ravages of companies
in the
does
we be
United
this
it
law
protected
States selling
And, of course, what about the law of supply and demand, a law that government agencies seem to enforce selectively? Winston Smith would find this ruling
their
goods
at a loss?
172
The Doublespeak of Government and
familiar, since
it
sounds
as if
Ministry of Plenty in Oceania
How to
it
30
Dispose of Nuclear Waste and Make a Uranium Plant Disappear
nuclear waste that to
were promulgated by the
.
Worried about the problem of
where
Politics
put
all
is
how
with
to deal
all
the
produced each year? Worried about
that deadly stuff? Well,
worry no more. The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken a giant step in solving the nuclear waste problem by simply redefining what is
nuclear waste, a definition that makes one-third of the
nuclear waste simply disappear.
The
NRC
proposed a new
classification of radioactive
waste materials called “Below Regulatory Concern” (BRC),
which means
that radioactive wastes so designated could
disposed of any labeling,
way
the
no warning, no
dumped
could be
owner deemed appropriate with no notification. Materials labeled
in public
dumps, burned
trash incinerators, or recycled into
products.
The
policy
is
be
BRC
in municipal
consumer and
industrial
designed to reduce the huge volume
of radioactive waste and to save the nuclear industry millions of dollars.
As much
as one-third of
what
is
now
consid-
ered low-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants
would
fall
under
this
new
classification
Just redefine your problem and
away through
the
31 .
Got a problem?
make most
of
it
simply go
magic of words, the magic of doublespeak.
173
The New Doublespeak When
you don’t want
to upset the neighbors, just put
a sign that says you’re not in the business you’re
in.
years the uranium processing plant in Fernald, Ohio, identified
by a
sign
large
Production Center.”
calling
it
a
the
it
at
its
its
uranium
the people of Fernald discover
many
people
Chow. Only when program to clean up the
or Cat
cattle feed
Department of Energy began
massive pollution
was
even had a red and white checker-
It
made
For
“Feed Materials
board pattern on the water towers, misleading into thinking
up
sites
across the nation did
what was
in their backyard.
Only then did the folks at DOE acknowledge that for years they had permitted the emission of radiation in quantities known to be harmful to public health, and that groundwater up to a mile from the plant had been contaminated by 13 mill ion tons of nuclear pits.
32
Another reminder
waste stored in leaky underground that the
word, or the
sign,
is
not the
thing.
What’s
in a
Name?
Just because a group that doesn’t
mean
endangered sea industry’s
main
calls itself
Word
Is
Not the Thing
the Sea Lion Defense Fund,
really interested in the welfare of the
it’s
lions.
or The
In
legal
fact, this
group
is
the Alaska fishing
and lobbying organization
any government attempt
that fights
to limit the harvests of pollock,
one
of the sea lion’s favorite foods. Other groups have similarly
benign names
to
mask
their true purposes.
174
The Doublespeak of Government and Politics
The Maine Conservation tion for wetlands
and
Rights Institute opposes protec-
forests,
m
while the Friends of the River
Massachusetts fought the designation of the Farmington River as a federally designated wild and scenic river. The goal of the National Wetlands Coalition, which of real estate and oil and gas companies, is to
lands protection laws so for
commercial
largest timber restrictions
a
companies
on
more wetlands can be opened up
The
development.
Protection Association,
composed weaken wetis
trade
Washington
Forest
group composed of the
in the state of
Washington,
fights
cutting forests, while the Citizens for the
Sensible Control of Acid Rain lobbies against any
bill to
con-
Pfizer,
and
trol acid rain.
Anheuser-Busch, Ciba-Geigy,
Dow
Chemical,
Kraft General Foods teamed up to support the American
Council of Science and Health, a group devoted to refuting charges of cancer risks from chemicals and food additives.
What do you
Endangered
Coalition wants to do? Protect endangered species?
Reform Not on
your horned owl. This group, composed of
compa-
nies
think
the
and other corporations, wants
endangered species
law.
And
the
Species
utility
weaken the present Clean Air Working Group to
composed of representatives of the oil, steel, aluminum, paper, and automobile industries who fight strengthening the is
Clean Air Act.
When
350 timber and logging companies wanted
proposed federal laws
to protect ancient forests, they
to fight
formed
American Forest Resource Alliance. Meanwhile, all those mining companies and corporate ranchers formed the People the
175
The New Doublespeak for the West! to fight
any attempt
to
reform the 1872 Mining
Law, which allows private companies and individuals
to pur-
chase public lands for fees as low as $2.50 an acre, even the land
is
loaded with millions of dollars of minerals.
Finally,
the
there’s
Medicines, which tion,”
and has
as
Coalition
Access
for
purpose the defeat of a measure to help
purchases,
large
to
“an ad hoc volunteer organiza-
calls itself
its
Equal
for
lower Medicaid costs by forcing drug companies to offer counts
if
group was founded and
is
among
other reforms.
dis-
This
funded by the prescription drug
industry.
So the next time you read a statement or a study issued by
some
“grassroots organization” or
know
a
membership of the group, where
it
group, you might want to
it’s
really after.
more about the money, and what
bit
little
gets
“public interest”
its
33
Free Speech lor
Me
of
When
some
students,
hut Not for Ihee, or The
New Doublespeak
Freedom on College Campuses
faculty,
and administrators
at
Stanford
University were debating a ban on “harassment by tion,”
Canetta
Ivy, a student
who
serves
on
vilifica-
the three-mem-
ber Council of Presidents that heads the student govern-
ment,
what
said,
up something that tells students what they can do and what they can’t.
“You have
the limits are,
to set
176
The Doublespeak of Government and
We we
Politics
many restrictions on freedom of speech as What we are proposing is not completely in line
don’t put as should.
with the First Amendment. I’m not sure it should be. We at Stanford are trying to set a standard different from what society at large
is
trying to accomplish .” 34
This has to be one of the great doublespeak definitions of free speech since Nineteen Eighty -Four. I for one hope that Ms.
about freedom of speech never take hold in our society because I sure don’t want to live under her idea of free speech. By the way, who’s going to decide what restrictions should be placed on free speech? Ivy’s ideas
We
can get an idea of Ms. Ivy’s notion of free speech by looking at some recent incidents at two universities that are
supposed
to
be
among the how we define are
among
best, I
the best in the nation.
would sure
like to take
And
if
these
another look
at
“best” in relation to these universities.
The Doublespeak of Drown University
While drunk
late
one
shouted obscenities,
night, a student at racist
remarks,
Brown
University
and antihomosexual
remarks. According to witnesses, he did not threaten anyone, he did not urge any actions against anyone, and he did
not direct his remarks at any particular student.
however, reveal for
all
the world his ignorance
and
He
did,
bigotry.
After a hearing before the university’s Undergraduate
177
The New Doublespeak was found
Disciplinary Council, the student
guilty of the
subjecting of “another person, group or class of persons, to
threatening or demeaning actions
inappropriate,
abusive,
based on race,
religion, gender, handicap, ethnicity, national
origin
For
orientation”
sexual
or
this
offense,
he was
expelled from the university.
Vartan Gregorian, the president of the university, maintained that
Brown
University
is
firmly committed to free
speech and that he did nothing to limit anyone’s freedom of In upholding the decision to expel the student,
speech.
Gregorian maintained that the student was not expelled for
what he
said but for
what he
did.
According
to President
Gregorian, “the university’s code of conduct does not prohibit speech;
prohibits actions
it
,
and these include behavior
that ‘shows flagrant disrespect for the well-being of others or is
unreasonably disruptive of the university community.’”
He went on
to point out that the “rules
do not proscribe
words, epithets or slanders; they proscribe behavior.
The
point at which speech becomes behavior and the degree to
which
that behavior
being of others ing actions ...
.
is
.
shows flagrant disrespect
subjects
.
someone
for the well-
to abusive or
demean-
determined by a hearing to consider the
cumstances of each
case.”
Thus
it is
cir-
that speech ceases to
be
speech and becomes action; words are no longer words but behavior.
What prompted
did the
student
his expulsion?
homosexual remarks.
He
do
,
what were the
He made hit
actions
that
racist, anti-Semitic, anti-
no one, threatened no one; he
did not urge anyone to take action or
178
harm anyone
else,
nor
Th e Doublespeak of Government and Politics
did he paint racist
He
only shouted. Hateful speech, to be sure, but only speech. For his words he was expelled
from the Yet
graffiti.
university.
President
Gregorian
insists
that
the
was
student
expelled for his actions-his behavior, not his words. His
words, according to Gregorian, were actions that constituted harassment. But Gregorian does not explain how these
words can constitute harassment since the student never singled out any particular student or students for repeated
which
intimidation,
There
is
in
for his
the
Saddam,” “Gay Jesse
the definition of harassment.
a simple test to determine whether the student
was punished student
is
Helms
is
words or
What
his actions.
if
the
same circumstances had shouted is
same “Kill
good,” “Heterosexuals are living a
a racist,”
“Newt Gingrich
is
lie,”
an imperialist
warmonger,” and “Republicans are fascist pigs”? Would he have been expelled for these remarks? If not, then it follows that the student his
was expelled
for the distasteful content of
speech and not for any supposed actions.
President Gregorian and
Brown
University maintain that
they have an unyielding commitment to free speech, yet they retain for themselves the right to take action against speech that
they in their
own judgment believe
and unstated boundary of “disruption.” In short, to
has crossed some undefined
“disrespect,” “appropriateness,” or
by reserving the
be actions whenever they
like,
they reserve the right to pun-
ish speech that they find offensive. free
speech,
a definition that
right to declare speech
is
This
is
their definition
doublespeak.
Oceania and Nineteen Eighty-Four Brown University ,
179
Welcome style
35 .
of to
The New Doublespeak The Doublespeak
On
of the University of Pennsylvania
April 15, 1993, almost
Pennsylvanian
,
the student
all
the 14,200 copies of the Daily
newspaper
at
the University of
Pennsylvania, were taken by groups of African-American students and thrown into trash cans.
A
group
calling itself
Working Committee of Concerned Black and Latino Students issued a statement saying that the newspapers had been taken as a protest against “the blatant and covert racism at the university” and claiming that their action was a “legal protest” The Concerned Students said that their action was not a suppression of free speech because “not only are the papers free, but there exists no explicit restriction on the numbers of papers that any given student may remove” Moreover, the group declared that “we are not the
opposed
to free
speech or the diversification of opinions.
However, we were peacefully
politically protesting
satisfaction with the newspaper.
protected by the First
.
.
.
Our
our
dis-
political protest
is
Amendment, which upholds conduct
intended to be purely speech.” Thus, destroying newspapers
because you don’t
like
what’s printed in them becomes free
speech.
In response to the destruction of the newspapers, Sheldon
Hackney, president of the university, said that what hap-
pened was a seeming
conflict
between “two important uni-
versity values, diversity
and open expression.” So much
freedom of speech
University of Pennsylvania.
at the
After investigating the incident,
180
the university’s
for
Public
The Doublespeak of Government and
Safety Task Force said that the realized that taking
all
Politics
campus
police should have
the newspapers
and trashing them
was not “an indicator of criminal behavior” but a form of student protest. Instead of treating the situation as a criminal matter— the destruction of the newspapers— the campus police
should have notified administrators, tacted
fused
who would
have con-
“Open Expression Monitors” (who are not to be conwith Orwell’s Thought Police). These “monitors”
would then have “witnessed” the university’s
the actions to
“Open Expression
make
sure that
Guidelines” (which are
not to be confused with procedures from the Ministry of Truth) were being followed.
The
panel also criticized the security director of the uni-
versity’s
students
Museum of Archeology because he pursued two who had taken two large plastic bags of newspapers
from the building. According to the panel, once the students were outside the building he should not have pursued them, which is an interesting definition of the duties of a person charged with the security of so Professor
mended
Howard
that
many valuable works
Arnold, a faculty judicial
no action be taken against
had been charged with
“confiscating”
officer,
of art.
recom-
the students the
who
newspapers.
“Mistakes by students must be seen more as opportunities for
education
than
as
occasions
for
punishment,”
said
Professor Arnold in explaining his decision. Interim presi-
dent Claire Fagin and interim provost Marvin Lazerson said they accepted the recommendation of Professor Arnold and they would try to ease the frictions over racial
and
free speech.
181
sensibilities
The New Doublespeak Many means
people have long held the notion that free speech
the right to speak
on
controversial topics without fear
of being arrested, attacked, or shut up. If people didn’t like
what you
they could always argue with you, exercising
said,
their right of free speech.
supposed
to
At
least that’s the
work, according to
Now
way
the system
Thomas Jefferson and
is
a few
means the right to shut other people up because you don’t like what they have to say. To claim that destroying newspapers because you don’t like what’s printed in them is exercising your right others.
comes the idea
of free speech
doublethink. This principle seems to have
is
been forgotten
that free speech
at the
where Orwell’s novel
University of Pennsylvania, a place Nineteen Eighty -Four should
reading, especially during “sensitivity training.”
The Government’s Doublespeak
of
be required
36
War
Hiram Johnson was wrong when in 1917 he observed that in war the first casualty is truth. In war the Senator
first
casualty
truth. It
is
language.
was the Vietnam
was the Korean
And
with the language goes the
“conflict,”
not the Vietnam War.
“police action,” not the
the “pacification” of
Korean War.
It
It
was
Gaul by Julius Caesar, not the brutal
and bloody subjugation of Gaul. “Where they make a desert,
they
call
Calgacus of the
it
peace,”
Roman
observed the British chieftain
conquest of Britain.
language.
182
War
corrupts
The Doublespeak of Government and
The doublespeak
Politics
of war consists, as Orwell wrote of
all
such language, “of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer 37 cloudy vagueness. It is, fundamentally, the language of insincerity,
where there
and declared aims.
It is
is
a gap between the speaker’s real
language as an instrument for con-
and preventing thought, not for expressing or extending thought. Such language silences dialogue and blocks communication. During the Vietnam “conflict” we learned that mercenarcealing
paid by the U.S. government were “civilian irregular defense soldiers,” refugees fleeing the war were “ambient ies
noncombatant personnel,” and enemy troops who survived bombing attacks were “interdictional nonsuccumbers .” In Vietnam, American war planes conducted “limited duration protective reaction strikes” during “effective
which they achieved an delivery of ordnance.” So it went too in the Persian
Gulf.
Just as officially there was no war in Korea or Vietnam, so
was no war
officially there
in the Persian Gulf. After
Congress didn’t declare war, the “use of force,” a Article
I,
power
it
declared an authorization of
clearly delegated to
Section 8 of the Constitution, which
ently reads: “Congress shall have the
use of force.” So
now we have
all,
power
Congress in
now
appar-
to authorize the
not war but Operation Desert
Storm, or “exercising the military option,”
or,
according to
President Bush, an “armed situation.”
During
this
“armed
situation” massive
bombing
attacks
became “efforts.” Thousands of war planes didn’t drop tons of bombs; “weapons systems” or “force packages” “visited a
183
The New Doublespeak bombs on and
didn’t drop their tons of
These “weapons systems”
site”
and human beings, they “hit” “hard” During their “visits,” these “weapons sys-
buildings
“soft targets.”
tems”
“degraded,”
“eliminated,” tated,” or
“neutralized,”
“cleansed,”
“impacted,”
“sanitized,”
and the
who were
soldiers
nor did they blow up bridges, roads,
and the people who happened
If the
to
be
there.
A
when more enemy
were destroyed than expected.
“weapons systems” didn’t achieve
(blow up their targets) during their attack), as
uring out
Women,
first
“effective results”
if
everything was
completely destroyed),
will “revisit the site”
(bomb
children, or other civilians killed or
ing these
“visits,”
and any schools,
“collateral
damage,” which
produced by the
effects
the
again).
wounded
dur-
museums, were blown up
the undesired
is
it
(fig-
hospitals,
houses, or other “nonmilitary” targets that
casualties
(bombing
“visit”
determined by a “damage assessment study”
“weapons systems”
were
in them,
and other
factories,
“healthy day of bombing” was achieved “assets”
“decapi-
“took out” targets, they didn’t blow up planes,
tanks, trucks, airfields,
buildings
“suppressed,”
“attrited,”
damage or
from “incontinent ord-
nance” or “accidental delivery of ordnance equipment,”
meaning the bombs and rockets
that miss their targets.
To function as it should and as we expect it to, language must be an accurate reflection of that which it represents. The doublespeak of war is an instance of thought corrupting language, and language corrupting thought. Such language is needed only
if,
as
George Orwell wrote, “one wants
things without calling
up mental
184
pictures of
to
them .” 38
name Thus
The Doublespeak of Government and
Politics
the phrase “traumatic amputation” produces tures of soldiers with “light” or pilots
arms or
legs
blown
no mental
The
off.
pic-
terms
“moderate” losses invoke no mental pictures of
burned beyond recognition
their planes, of
hundreds of
in the twisted
soldiers lying
wreckage of
dead on a
battle-
or screaming in pain in field hospitals. Killing the enemy becomes the innocuous “servicing the target,” which field,
invokes no mental picture of shooting, stabbing, or blowing another human being to small, bloody pieces. Clean-sounding phrases such as “effective delivery of ordnance,” “precision bombing,” and “surgical air strikes” invoke no mental pictures of thousands of tons of
bombs
falling
on
electric
power
plants,
tories,
with women, children, and old people huddling in the
communication
centers, railroad lines,
homes and neighborhoods. The new doublespeak of war flowed smoothly
and
fac-
ruins of their
as military
spokespersons coolly discussed “assets” (everything from
male and female
soldiers to aircraft carriers
and
satellites),
the “suppression of assets” (bombing everything from soldiers to
sewage
enemy radar and and
plants),
radio,
missiles, shooting
enemy
“airborne sanitation” (jamming
and blowing up
down enemy
antiaircraft
guns
airplanes), “disruption”
(bombing), “operations” (bombing), “area denial weapons” (cluster
bombs, previously
called
antipersonnel
“damage” (death and destruction, or the
results of
“attrition” (destruction, or the results of
bombing).
The massive bombing campaign one
attack) directed against the
185
bombing),
(which included massed
bombs in Republican Guard units
bombing by B-52s dropping thousands of just
bombs),
tons of
The New Doublespeak of the Iraqi army was
General
Norman
“the delivery
American
Schwarzkopf,
who
based
methods and volume
on them.”
put
considered highly successful by
Returning from
pilot said
that
his
assessment on
we’ve been able
bombing
a
he had “sanitized the
an
attack,
A
area.”
to
Marine
general told reporters, “We’re prosecuting any target that’s
out there.”
we
And an
artillery captain said, “I prefer
are killing other people.
Even with all “armed effort” was subject
the target.”
When
ship.
language
is
I
we
prefer to say
not to say
are servicing
doublespeak, news of the
this
to “security review,” not censor-
what becomes of
so corrupted,
truth?
The
use of technical, impersonal, bureaucratic, euphemistic
language to describe war separates the act of killing from the idea of killing;
supposed
to symbolize.
up designed lies
separates the
it
to hide
by keeping us
numb war.
Such language
an unpleasant
is
With such language we
With
human
suffering that
is
is
which
it
is
a linguistic cover-
language that
from the
detachment from the horror that to the
that
reality. It is
as far as possible
tends to represent. logical
word from
reality
it
pre-
create a psycho-
war and become
the inevitable result of
war we are not responsible for And war becomes a “viable” solu-
the doublespeak of
the results of our actions. tion for our problems.
War
portrayed only through government-approved lan-
guage creates a
false verbal
map
is
that
governments
the reality
itself,
map. The
greatest threat to this
or a picture of that
strictly control
186
what
Thus it is of war they
reality.
pictures
The Doublespeak of Government and Politics
allow their citizens
to
When
see.
U.S.
military
censors
refused to release videotapes showing Iraqi soldiers being sliced in half by helicopter cannon fire, a spokesman for the
Pentagon defended the censorship quite logically: “If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.” 39 If anything is a testament to the power of verbal maps,
this
how
Just
by
comment must be
this bit
powerful
this
it.
verbal
A
of information.
map
when
All
confirmed
three- to eleven-year-old
interviewed referred to “people dying”
they talked about war in general. However,
when
they
about the Gulf War, only 21 percent mentioned
talked death.
who were
is
study by Purdue University
found that more than two-thirds of children
has been
40
governments use doublespeak
lence.
The
U.S. government
is
no
to hide their acts of vio-
different
from any
other.
As we have seen with
the language of war, a government
wants to create a verbal
map
erable;
one that
for the
war
that
will lead those
to accept the
war
is
favorable, or at least
who must
fight, die,
tol-
and pay
as rational, acceptable, reason-
able.
Unfortunately,
we
too often accept the
instead of creating our
government’s
ernment
map
own maps, map
offered us
or at least subjecting the
to rigorous testing.
offers a verbal
map
But sometimes a gov-
so outrageous that
no one can
Such was the case of the Chinese government’s explanation of what happened in Tiananmen Square on accept
June
4,
it.
1989.
187
The New Doublespeak No One Died
[Rjeality
nowhere
Not
else.
and
Party,
which
be truth
Tiananmen Square
not external. Reality exists in the
is
takes,
to
in
in
is
is
in the individual
mind, which can make mis-
any case soon perishes; only collective
truth. It
is
and
human mind, and
in the
mind of
the
immortal. Whatever the Party holds
impossible to see reality except by looking
through the eyes of the Party.
-George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
Thousands of troops did not
Tiananmen Square on June
4,
Square.
No
No
1989.
bayoneted, or crushed by tanks.
the
attack
No
students
in
students were shot,
one died
one died in Tiananmen Square.
in
No
Tiananmen one died
in
Tiananmen Square.
What rifice
really
happened was a triumph of
by the brave troops who
as they
restraint
and
sac-
approached the square
were viciously attacked by savage gangs of counterrevolutionary rioters armed, financed, and directed by “overseas
reactionary political forces.” Despite
due the
rioters, the troops
General Li Zhiyun
said,
pened
their attempts to sub-
were forced
“The
use violence to enter the
all
city.”
fact
is,
to
the
fire,
army was
But even then
“it
for as
forced to
never hap-
that soldiers fired directly at the people.” Indeed, as
the general so clearly pointed out, “There as
open
bloodshed on Tiananmen Square.
It
was no such thing is
not from any
instance from the soldiers directing their guns at the people.
This incident never happened within the area of
188
Beijing.”
The Doublespeak of Government and Politics
Yes,
it is
force
true, the general also said, “If
we couldn t have
happened.
we
didn’t use military
cleared the Square,’’ but then
it
never
No
one died in Tiananmen Square. The testimony of your own eyes cannot and should not
be believed. The extensive videotaped scenes of the violence and death in Tiananmen Square simply misled you from the
Yuan Mu, the spokesperson for the government, made so clear, “The development of modern techtruth. After
all,
as
nology can allow people
to turn out
distort the truth of the matter.”
No
even a longer film
to
one died in Tiananmen
Square.
Nor can you
Xiao Bin who
as
rumor-mongering eyewitnesses such claimed, “Tanks and armored personnel
believe
carriers rolled over students,
the soldiers shot at
them and
squashing them into jam, and hit
them with
clubs.
When
stu-
dents fainted, the troops killed them. After they died, the troops fired one nets.” lies
But those
more
bullet into them.
who know
They
better reported this spreader of
to the authorities. After the police
Xiao
Bin, he confessed his
anything.
I
tionary.
No
lies
on
one died
also admitted in
was not
harm
never saw
to the Party
he was a counterrevolu-
Tiananmen Square.
So too did Comrade Chou admit his shirt
had “talked” with
television. “I
apologize for bringing great
and the country.” He
also used bayo-
his error.
The blood on
that of people killed during the army’s
was wrong,” Chou
“The Party and the government have said nobody was killed, and I made a mistake. I was influenced by bad elements and counterrevolutionaries. The blood on my shirt was surely that of attack
on
the square. “I
189
said.
The New Doublespeak a martyred soldier.”
No
one died in Tiananmen Square.
Better to believe the four
were
on
We
had a
were
It is
“We
view of the square and
clear
saw what happened. The army did not anyone.
testified,
corner of the Great Hall of the People
at the northeast
the fourth floor.
young men who
kill
anyone or hurt
common people No one died in
not true that any students or in
killed
Tiananmen
Square.”
Tiananmen Square. To guide you in correct thinking and truly understand what really happened, the necessary guidance:
to ensure that
you
the party provides
“Without the Communist
Party,
would be no new China.” “Love the Party, love the socialist motherland.” As the loyal party member said, “What they really want is for you to say, ‘We love Deng, we love the party and we love socialism.’ And we all say it of there
course.”
No
one died
in
Tiananmen Square
Almost unconsciously he traced with table:
2 + 2
the struggle
He
loved
= 5.
...
was
it
was finished
.
41 .
his finger in the dust
all right, everything
He had won
was
Big Brother.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
one died
in
Tiananmen Square.
190
all right,
the victory over himself.
-George Orwell,
No
on the
How to
Words
Fight Doublespeak
are indispensable but also can be fatal-the
only begetters of all
civilization, all science, all con-
sistency of high purpose,
angelic goodness,
all
and
same time of all superstimadness and stupidity, all
the only begetters at the tions,
all
collective
worse-than-bestial diabolism,
all
cal succession of crimes in the
Nation, Party,
Dogma. Never
the dismal histori-
name
of God, King,
before, thanks to the
techniques of mass communication, have so listeners
mercy of so few misused words— those
been so completely
speakers.
hideously
Never
have
efficient tools
many
of
at the
all
the tyrants, war-
mongers, persecutors, and heresy-hunters— been so widely and disastrously influential as they are
191
The New Doublespeak today. Generals, clergymen, advertisers, rulers of totalitarian states— all
and the
have good reason
for disliking the idea of universal education in the
To
rational use of language.
the military, clerical,
propagandist, and authoritarian
mind such
train-
ing seems (and rightly seems) profoundly subversive
1 .
Despite in this
the examples of doublespeak
all
book,
haven’t
I
made
I
have discussed
a dent in the five
my
file
drawers
And
bulging with doublespeak that
I
add more examples every
Once you become aware of
how much can easily
doublespeak
feel
day.
our
fills
office.
is
use doublespeak, and
it is
you must overcome
you hope
if
doublespeak.
If
It is this
the great ally of those
this feeling
to
I
and our world, you
lives
overwhelmed and, worse, powerless.
feeling of powerlessness that
fight against
have in
who
of powerlessness that
make any
you want
progress in the
to fight doublespeak,
you must begin with some understanding of
the importance
of the problem.
Appreciating the Problem
you must appreciate just how powerful language is, how words have the power to pre-persuade us, how words and labels come to define and create our world for us, how First,
words influence and
direct
our thoughts and
192
feelings,
and
How
how words
to
Fight Doublespeak
thus influence our behavior. You must under-
stand what reification
is,
how
the abstracting process works,
and why you must be aware processes
work
at
we
in the language
every day of our
lives.
all
times of
how
these
and hear and use you must be aware of and take
And
see
seriously the consequences of language misuse, the conse-
quences of doublespeak.
You must
realize that the
misuse of language can and does
have serious consequences for you personally, and for
all
of
us as a society and a nation. Indeed, the misuse of language
can have serious consequences for us
have on,
no matter what
to get along,
and language
along.
is
the primary
as a species.
part of the planet
means we have
Language misuse, the corruption of public
can have consequences that reach
far
We we
all
live
for getting
discourse,
beyond anything we
imagine.
Language
serious business.
is
how
language and
it
is
used.
We
As
I
must pay
said in the
attention to first
chapter,
I’m not concerned with “proper” or “correct” English, whatever that might be.
The
issue isn’t
whether we should use
“between” or “among” in a particular instance, or whether “like” or “as”
correct.
is
The
issue
is
whether our public
dis-
course— the language we use every day to conduct our eco-
and
communicate
nomic,
political,
clearly,
whether our public discourse does indeed help us
create a verbal politically,
and
social affairs— serves to
world in which we can function economically, socially,
whether our public discourse helps
us grow and prosper personally and as a nation and a culture, or
whether our public discourse has become not just an
193
The New Doublespeak impediment
to
our functioning effectively as a society but
means of the disintegration of that society. Second, you must appreciate that doublespeak affects you personally You may easily identify the doublespeak of politithe
government
cians, advertisers,
and
all
speak
officials,
business executives,
the others, but simply being aware of the double-
not enough. You must realize that
is
doublespeak
all
you personally— affects your health, your well-being, your family, your neighborhood, your town, your entire life. As long as you excuse doublespeak by saying that it doesn’t affects
affect
you, you can’t even begin to attack the problem.
Third, you need a sense of humor. Using laughter to confront those
who
such language
and
all
those
use doublespeak reveals just
how
absurd
Politicians, judges, bureaucrats, executives,
is.
who
use doublespeak want to be taken
seri-
They want to be treated as if their words have meaning when in fact they don’t. So if we were to laugh at their doublespeak we might reveal that the emperor has no ously.
words have no meaning.
And
in laughing
teach others to laugh, and to pay
more
attention to
clothes, that their
we might
doublespeak and
its
consequences.
How
do you think Alan Greenspan would react if reporters and members of Congress were to laugh the next time he said something like the following, which his
remarks
at a congressional
interest rates to
While
may
part of
hearing on the need to lower
speed economic recovery:
you previously that we have, probably do have, enough mone-
I’ve indicated to
well
is
194
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
tary stimulus in the system to create that, I’m not
we
sure that
and
revisit this issue,
were
all
not need some insurance or to
will
looking
all I
can say to you
same
at the
set
is
that
of data, the same
economy, the same sense of confidence which pervades it. We’re all making our judgments with
how
respect to
nomic
that
is
evolving with respect to eco-
and where the
activity
ferent actions are.
And
risks of various dif-
there will be differences
inevitably 2 .
Clearly Mr. Greenspan keeps using such language because
we appear
him
to take
and don’t challenge something, as
if
he
seriously
when we
his language.
is
making
We
sense,
listen respectfully
act as if
when
and
and
use,
to
respectfully to such language
is
saying
in fact just
everyone agrees he doesn’t make any sense quietly
he
is
at
all.
To
about listen
encourage
to
its
encourage further pollution of the semantic envi-
ronment.
No,
it’s
time to stop
with the contempt tries to
his
nonsense and
deserves.
The
treat
such language
next time Mr. Greenspan
pass off his nonsense as words of thoughtful
we should offer
it
this
laugh, thank
him
for his
him another job, perhaps
as a
wisdom
comic routine, and then standup comic, because
language should evoke wild laughter in his audience,
much
as Professor Irwin Corey’s language
Fourth,
since
doublespeak
affects
once
you
did.
personally,
you
must appreciate the seriousness of the problem emotionally, not just intellectually. That is, doublespeak should evoke a
195
The New Doublespeak who
kind of righteous anger in you. Those are trying to
get
expense, and that those
who
away with something, usually at your should provoke some kind of anger. Also,
use doublespeak are polluting our semantic envi-
ronment, contributing
at the
very
least to a decline in public
language and public discourse. Since
human
on language, those who use doublespeak very foundation of our
Anger
is
use doublespeak
society,
the least they can expect
You can
society depends
are striking at the
our culture, our nation.
from
us.
You are not powerless. You should never be a passive consumer of language, especially doublespeak. You may feel frustrated when you encounter doublefight back.
speak because you don’t
know how
you might think
can’t fight
that
you
to fight back. In fact,
back because you don’t
own
a newspaper, a radio or television station, or
other
means
And
so, like
for getting
speak and
move
the world
and
I
to
your anti-doublespeak message
you simply note
others,
on, believing that doublespeak
there’s
believe that
of the tidal
many
too
it is
nothing you can do about this feeling
our growing cynicism about
the double-
is
the
way
of
it.
that engulfs us that has led politics, politicians,
political process itself. “After a while,
common
out.
of powerlessness in the face
wave of doublespeak
and fed up you
some
just turn off,” said
you
and the
get so disgusted
one former
voter.
“The
person just doesn’t have a voice,” said another 3 For .
a political system that voters, these
comments
You don’t need
is
based on the participation of the
are ominous.
to believe in public opinion polls to realize
that a lot of people
no longer
see themselves as part of the
196
How
body ple
Fight Doublespeak
to
politic in this country. Just
look
at the
number of peo-
who
don’t bother to vote in either local or national elections. People will vote when they believe that their vote has
meaning, that
it is
connected to their
lives.
But when candi-
dates for office use doublespeak to say one thing so they can do the opposite once in office, people consider voting a
meaningless activity that changes nothing, especially in their lives. Growing cynicism about politics and politicians, and
growing numbers of nonvoters is one result of the dominance of doublespeak in our public language.
The message
of
this
book, however,
is
not just that dou-
blespeak pervades our public language and
harm book
doing serious
important message of
this
you can fight back. Since doublespeak will be a while, you need to learn to recognize its influ-
that
is
around
An
our public discourse.
to
is
for
ence in your
life.
Indeed,
mine, as citizens in a discourse to do
all
I
think
political
we can
it is
your
stopped. In
1981
and
system that depends on public
to identify, call attention to,
eliminate doublespeak in public discourse.
Here’s an example of
responsibility,
And we
and
can do
it.
how one
use of doublespeak was
the
Reagan Administration
officials
in
started to talk about “revenue enhancement.”
Of
course,
they were talking about a tax increase, but they didn’t want
term “tax
to use the
increase.”
So they talked about “revenue
enhancement.” You know, increasing government revenues
by raising peared
taxes.
when
But the term “revenue enhancement” disap-
the press started to write such things as, “rev-
enue enhancement, the administration’s term increase
.
.
.”
That’s
all.
for
a
tax
Just an explanation of what the term
197
The New Doublespeak The
meant.
stopped
quickly
officials
using
“revenue
enhancement.”
But
strengthening.”
So once again the press pointed out the
meaning of
then
they
started
use
to
and refused
“receipts strengthening”
“receipts
to fall into
the trap of using the doublespeak uncritically.
we
Unfortunately, fight against
can’t rely
on
the
news media
doublespeak. Every once in a while a reporter
or columnist or commentator will highlight larly
in the
some
particu-
outrageous example of doublespeak, but generally the
news media seem unconcerned about the use of doublespeak. In
using
it
fact,
they help spread doublespeak by uncritically
and other
in their stories as they quote politicians
users of doublespeak.
The
fight against
individuals. as the
We
can’t look to others or to organizations such
news media.
us, that the fight
position to
“I’m just
doublespeak begins with each of us as
We
can’t say that the fight
should be waged by people
is
too big for
who
are in a
do something. You should never use the excuse, a common person, what can I do?” Just keep
reminding yourself,
if
you don’t do
it,
who
else will?
And
then begin.
Our
feelings of helplessness in the face of
come from
a misunderstanding of
how
doublespeak
language works. Too
many
people see themselves as passive participants in the
act of
communication. They simply
messages sent to them. speeches,
read
act as receivers of the
They watch
television,
newspapers and magazines,
absorb the messages. For them, there
is
listen
to
and simply
a sender of the mes-
sage and a receiver of the message. These are the people
198
How
who
say,
“But
that’s
You must be an
to
what he
an
said.”
As
if
saying makes
it
active not a passive user of language.
are not a receptacle into
are
Fight Doublespeak
which the words
are poured,
so.
Y)u
Y)u
active, critically functioning participant in the act of
communication, in the semantic environment.
you are not part of the semantic environment, communication does not take place, at least not for you. Language should never be an uncontrolled flood of words flowing into your head. You need to assert control over the language directed at you. Ernest skill
Hemingway was once asked
to
name
If
the essential
for survival in the twentieth century. People
need
to
become first-rate crap detectors, he replied 4 Becoming a crap detector isn’t all that hard, but it does require you to change some of your language habits. The first thing you have to do is stop looking for the meaning of .
any message
in the
words of the message. You need to look the whole context in which the message
meaning in occurs. To figure out what’s really being said, you need to ask who is saying what to whom, under what conditions and for the
circumstances, with what intent, and with what results. You
need in
to
be aware of and examine the semantic environment
which any language occurs.
situation, the semantic
It is
within the context of the
environment, that
we must
evaluate
language.
To whom are they talking? What’s the context (conditions and circumstances) of their talking? What’s their purpose in talking, that is, what are they trying
Who’s
talking?
to achieve?
What
are the results of their talking, that
happens or doesn’t happen
as a result of
199
is,
what they say?
what
The New Doublespeak As soon
you ask
as
these questions
you have done some-
You have placed yourself outside the context or semantic environment in which the message occurs. Now you are an observer of the message and its con-
thing very important:
text
and
the
full
less
of a participant.
Now you
can begin to examine
context and find the meaning of the language.
Sometimes we can
easily see the context of a
evaluate the message. Other times, however,
message and
we
can’t
even
see the context of the message.
Not too long ago, while the war in Bosnia was raging, numerous diplomats were trying to get the warring parties to negotiate an
end
to the war.
At the height of
all
matic efforts newspapers reported the following Sefir Halilovic,
way
commander of
to negotiate
is
comment by
the Bosnian army:
“The only
to fight.”"
This remark was greeted with loud
cries
of derision from
commentators and those members of the general
political
public
these diplo-
who
bothered to comment, usually in
letters to the
on one of the ubiquitous radio talk shows. I don’t know how the remark was treated in Bosnia, but I suspect Bosnian patriots and members of the Bosnian army found the remark quite reasonable. They were in a war, and what editor or
way to end the war than to win it? Wasn’t fighting the way to convince the enemy of your point of view? So
better
best
fighting
is
negotiating, in a way, at least
from the Bosnian
point of view.
The
response to Halilovic’s remark depended, of course,
on whether you understood the context or semantic environment of the general’s remark. Outside the general’s semantic
200
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
environment we might see this remark as doublespeak, guage that in this instance is at war with
language that
itself,
contradicts
itself.
are not the
might
say.
same
A
the general
s
Even
in Bosnia, negotiating
thing,
remark suggests
going to negotiate; he
s
and
no matter what General
careful analysis of the semantic that
he
going to
allows the general to claim he
is
is
lan-
fighting
Halilovic
environment of
saying that he’s not
fight.
This doublespeak
negotiating even as he con-
waging war. With every battle he fights he is negotiatThus, war becomes peace, or at least the negotiations
tinues ing.
for peace.
Well, for will
we
what
re
it is.
not fooled by that doublespeak.
But
let’s
take another
be in a context closer
When
We
can see
comment, only
this
it
one
to us.
Alexander Haig was secretary of
state
he
testified
before a congressional committee on the proposed massive military
How
buildup that President Reagan was conducting. would such a massive increase in troops and weapons
achievement of arms control? asked some members of the committee. Won’t such a massive military affect the
buildup lead to a proliferation of arms around the world,
making arms control even more difficult, if not impossible? Not at all, replied Secretary Haig, because a continued weapons buildup by the United States “is absolutely essential thus
to
our hopes for meaningful arms reduction .” 6
Few the
if
any commentators or pundits bothered
contradiction
in
Haig’s
remark.
to point out
Unlike
General
Halilovic’s remark, Haig’s passed almost unnoticed.
No
one
questioned the reasoning behind the remark. After
all,
this
201
The New Doublespeak was the U.S. secretary of official
“our” guy, speaking in his
state,
We
capacity before a congressional committee.
tend
any remarks made in that context. But Secretary Haig’s remark is doublespeak just as General
to accept uncritically
remark was. Indeed, they are almost the same: Fighting equals negotiating; building more weapons leads to a reduction in weapons. When I commented on Secretary Haig’s remark in my
Halilovic’s
own
small
edited at that time,
I
received a
number
of
letters in
which
I
called to task for daring to question Haig’s remarks.
was After
all,
more than one
strong defense
one
which
I
,
in the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak
way
if
else at bay.
to
have
moment’s
My
pointed out,
we need
a
we’re going to keep the Russians and any-
The
trol the proliferation
have
letter writer
lots
was obvious: If you want to conof the weapons of war in the world, you logic
and
lots
of weapons ready to go at a
notice.
point in calling attention to Haig’s remark
should pay attention to without thought or
it.
We
is
that
we
shouldn’t simply accept
comment and go on
it
to other matters.
That remark carried with it important consequences, and it was based on important assumptions. It’s those consequences and assumptions that we should examine because they are an essential part of the context, the semantic envi-
ronment, in which Haig
made
the remark.
more and more weapons would ensure a reduction in military weapons in the world as a whole. No one asked what would happen if every
No
one asked
how
building
202
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
nation believed that having lots and lots of weapons was the way to have fewer weapons in the world.
No
one asked
what would happen if the entire planet was a giant armed camp, with every nation armed to the teeth and ready for war at a moment’s notice. Standing outside Halilovic
the
context
of Haig’s
remark,
and
remark, makes us observers not just of the remark itself but more importantly of the whole context s
in
which the remark was made. By becoming observers of the remark and its context we become less interested in the
words and more context, in
how
interested in the situation, in the
words
in
words work, what the words do and do not do, what the words should do but don’t. The more questions
we
the
ask about language, the better
words do and do not say, selves from being misled. In the
we understand what the better we can prevent ourshort, the more we strive to
and analyze the semantic environment and to strive a symbol reaction to words, the more we will avoid a sig-
identify for
nal reaction.
Fighting Back
What One Person Gan Do So what can just one person do? Plenty. Here is a cific things that you can do to fight doublespeak.
203
list
of spe-
The New Doublespeak you find doublespeak in a memo, letter, announcement, or some other printed form, highlight the doublespeak. In the margins make a comment or two on the dou1.
If
blespeak, pointing out
why
doublespeak into
simple language that you consider
free of
clear,
Then
doublespeak.
comments and
revision
on a
bulletin
the
the writer of the doublespeak. to
know
tant to change. For
inventive.
board or in a similar
power of humor. Laugh
at
and don’t attack or humiliate
the doublespeak not the writer,
who seem
doublespeak. Rewrite the
post the doublespeak and your
And remember
public place.
it’s
Of
course, there are those
nothing but doublespeak and are reluc-
them you
will
have
But remember, your goal
is
to
be a
little
to eliminate the
more dou-
blespeak, not engage in personal attacks.
2.
Whenever you encounter doublespeak
in a
newspaper
or magazine, write a letter to the editor pointing out the doublespeak. Explain why you think the language you are objecting to
is
doublespeak, and suggest a revision that you
consider free of doublespeak and written in clear language.
Keep your comments faults
3.
of those
who
brief, to the point,
and
free of all the
use doublespeak.
Start collecting
examples of doublespeak on one topic
or issue, such as the economy, unemployment, foreign aid, or any subject that interests you. When you have a good
an op-ed essay on doublespeak using your examples and send the essay to your local newspaper, or to a number of local newspapers. Again,
collection of examples, write
204
How
remember
that
to
Fight Doublespeak
humor and
reason go far in revealing double-
speak.
If
4.
you spot any doublespeak
in the publications of
any
professional or other organization to which you belong, write a lettei to the editor pointing out the doublespeak. Rewrite the doublespeak into clear, simple language that you
consider free of doublespeak and suggest that this is the kind of language in which you think the publication should be written.
You might
also ask that the editorial staff
do
they
all
can to keep doublespeak out of the publication.
With
and fax machines you can build networks of people who want to fight doublespeak. You don’t have to 5.
fight alone
e-mail
because
who
find others
speak.
You can
now you
will join
collect
trade ideas for fighting cessful
You can
list
and other public
e-mail address, as
television stations, radio
all
and fax machines
to
send mes-
use doublespeak. Just about every
cian, business executive,
When
You can
of the biggest doublespeak offenders.
who
number and an
in the fight against double-
strategies for fighting back.
also use e-mail
sages to those
zines.
you
and trade examples of doublespeak, back, and exchange stories about suc-
and unsuccessful
also build a
can reach out electronically to
and
figure has a fax
do newspapers, radio and
television programs,
and maga-
they use doublespeak, send a message!
your fellow doublespeak
politi-
fighters to
messages to the offenders. Just think,
if
And
get
send e-mail and fax politicians
knew
that
using doublespeak would result in a flood of protesting,
205
The New Doublespeak chiding, admonishing, scolding faxes
they just might be a
little
more
and e-mail messages,
careful with their language.
You can start your own local newsletter fighting doublespeak. You don’t have to be fancy. Just a page or two of examples of doublespeak with some comments and observations, and you’re in business. You can ask others to join you 6.
and contribute examples and comments. Distribute your newsletter wherever the local
you can
locally,
newspaper and radio and
and be sure
to mail
it
to
television stations.
What Society Can Do The
you can take on your own. But there are other things that we can do to fight back that require the cooperation of larger numbers six things I
have
listed
above are
all
actions that
of people. If you are given the chance, you might want to
support these
one
to start
activities.
one of these
Or you might even want projects.
Here
is
to
a suggested
be the list
of
such actions.
1.
We
can ask our schools to take seriously Aldous
Huxley’s suggestion as outlined in the quote ning of
this chapter.
We
at the begin-
can write to our school boards and
school administrators urging that they include as part of the
curriculum the study of the rational use of language.
should explain that by
this
we do
206
not
mean
We
the study of
How
spelling, punctuation,
we want dents
to
Fight Doublespeak
and grammar.
We
should explain that
the schools to take a serious interest in teaching stu-
how
language works in the world and in their lives. Such study of language should begin in the first grade and continue in every grade until students graduate from high school. A/foreover, this study of language should be a major subject receiving major emphasis throughout the
curriculum
and
all
the grades.
We
can and should establish a center for the study of the misuse of public language, a center similar to the 2.
Institute for
Propaganda Analysis, which was established
1937 and flourished center
until 1950.
would conduct
7
Like the
institute,
our
in
new
studies of the misuse of public lan-
guage, publish a newsletter, conduct public panels, sponsor speakers, publish books, and in general conduct a vigorous
campaign
to
study and analyze the misuse of public
lan-
guage, and to provide materials for people to deal with doublespeak.
3. all
According
to Chase's
Annual
Events, the official
holidays and commemorations, June
designated National Simple Speak Day.
1
has been
We
guide to officially
should give that
day more prominence and conduct a variety of activities, such as public ceremonies honoring those who have contributed to the fight against doublespeak,
and those who
have avoided using doublespeak, especially those
in profes-
sions such as law or economics that are filled with double-
speak.
We
could also ask politicians, business leaders, and
207
The New Doublespeak leaders in the fields of law, education, finance,
and other
areas noted for the pervasive use of doublespeak to declare
publicly their
guage, and to
4.
Some
commitment to avoid doublespeak in their lanwork to eliminate it in their area of expertise.
advertising
on
television carries a required dis-
claimer such as “Dramatization,” meaning that what appears
be a documentary or
to
factual presentation
tional creation with actors pretending to
such as doctors, nurses, or police
be
officers.
that television stations start labeling other
and
similar warnings
composed of
“talking
tators, pundits,
on
is
really a
fic-
“real” people
We
should ask
programs with
disclosures. For example,
any program
heads”— a group of reporters, commen-
or anyone
who makes
a living
by just
talking
television— should carry the label “These people don’t
know what
they’re talking about.” This label should
be on
the television screen during the entire program. Moreover,
persons calling themselves “commentators” could speak only if
on the television screen the time they were speaking: “They make their living talk-
the following label appeared
entire
ing about anything they are asked to talk about.
ably don’t
know any more about
These remarks
this subject
many words might
Nightline
,
Of
and do
course, that
block out the speakers’ faces on the
which would be an additional
Whenever any such as
fact.”
prob-
than you do.
are simply their personal opinions
not represent any kind of reality or
vision screen,
They
tele-
benefit.
on any news program Ted Koppel or someone would have to “experts” appear
explain what specifically qualified
208
these
persons
to
talk
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
about the subject under discussion. Moreover, all “experts” and commentators” would be limited to one
television
appearance a month so that others would have a chance give their unsubstantiated opinions as fact
on
to
television pro-
grams. Finally, before they could offer their unsubstantiated opinions,
“experts” and “commentators”
all
reveal the sources
and amount of
would have to income for the past
their
year.
We
should encourage magazines and newspapers to run a regular feature in which they prominently display the 5.
most egregious instances of doublespeak. Perhaps they could put the examples in a box labeled “The Dumbest Statements
They might
of the Day.”
the statements are
also include a brief analysis of
worthy of such
why
notice.
Knowledge Is Power Michael
Kinsley
recently
observed,
Americans are scandalously ignorant. believe
they
that
ignorance.
.
.
.
have
“It’s
that they
It’s
democratic
a
not just
right
that
seem to
to
their
People are forming and expressing passionate
views ... on the basis of no information not only produces doublespeak, but
it
at all.”
8
Ignorance
encourages others to
use doublespeak because ignorance usually produces lan-
guage that
we
don’t
is
at variance
know what
with
has been
reality. left
209
Without knowledge,
unsaid, or
what has been
The New Doublespeak The following example of Alexander deny his own remarks is nothing less than
altered through words.
Haig’s attempt to
an attempt
to rewrite the historical record.
In 1993, the United Nations issued a report that docu-
mented widespread human
abuses by the military
rights
Reagan Administration to the American public
forces of El Salvador, abuses that the
knew about but did not fully reveal or Congress. The report also noted congressional testimony by then-Secretary of three
State
Haig on the rape and murder of
American nuns and a
lay
worker by Salvadoran troops
in 1981. In his testimony, Secretary
women
Haig suggested
might have run a roadblock and were
that the
killed in
an
“exchange of fire.” In a letter to the editor of the
United
Nations
claimed, “Not
report
on
this
New
York Times
a
“contains
,
Haig
serious
said the
or any subsequent occasion did
or imply that in
my judgment
an exchange of
fire.”
Haig on March
18, 1981, before a congressional
Here
state
I
there
had been a roadblock or
are the
words of then-Secretary committee.
In addition to being part of the Congressional Record this
testi-
,
mony
would like to suggest to you investigations would lead one to believe
on videotape.
is
some of
the
run a roadblock or
doing
so,
and
this
may have been
may have
who
inflicted the casualties
could have been
at a
fire,
tried
and
sought to cover
it
per-
up,
very low level of both compe-
tence and motivation in the context of the issue
Haig’s
that
perceived to have been
and there had been an exchange of
haps those
that
“I
perhaps the vehicle the nuns were riding in to
He
error.”
itself.”
9
attempt to rewrite history would have passed
210
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
unchallenged, but there were those who remembered his original remarks, who knew what his original words
had
been, and
who knew
that his letter
was an attempt
to erase
those words. His doublespeak was identified only because there were those who knew the historical record.
A
column by William
Safire illustrates a
of doublespeak, a form that pervades
more
much
subtle
form
of what passes
commentary in many publications. In his column, Mr. Safire was defending the CIA. True, concedes Mr. for political
the
Safire,
CIA
did not foresee the collapse of the Soviet
Union. But, wrote Mr. stopping the spread of
CIA did great work in Communism in Central and South Safire, the
America, even though
two generations of liberals have been infuriated by our support of anti- Communist regimes in .
.
.
Central and South America.
1954
that
defeat of
From
coup
the
threw out Arbenz in Guatemala leftists
in El Salvador
in
to the
and Nicaragua
in
the late ’80s, C.I.A. agents carried out their assign-
ment of helping
Communism
in
stop
the
spread
our neighborhood. Thanks partly
to those C.I.A. covert operations,
messily,
of Castro’s
we won— often
sometimes undemocratically, on occasion
war was being waged, and the alternative outcome— Soviet-Cuban hegemony up to our Mexican border— would have been far worse for democracy and human rights. Good ends do not justify evil means, but such scandalously. But real
.
211
.
.
The New Doublespeak dirty tricks that
some moral
would save thousands of lives gain 10
coloration. ...
One of Mr. S afire’s claimed areas of expertise is language. He enjoys the title of the “Language Maven,” and writes a weekly column
for the
New
in his opinion, use language incorrectly. Yet as this illustrates,
who,
York Times castigating those
one can use language “correctly” and
example still
con-
tribute to the corruption of language.
There
is
so
much doublespeak
my
will restrict
in these
few words that
I
observations to just the high points. Mr.
S afire says that “two generations of liberals have been infuriated by our support of anti- Communist regimes,” but he
never mentions
why
those
whom
he labels
“liberals”
might
have been infuriated by the support of such regimes, and
what he means by “our” support. simply being
anti- Communist
Is
Mr. Safire saying that
(whatever that means)
is suffi-
warrant the support of the U.S. government?
cient to
If so,
then by that standard the U.S. government should have supported
Hitler’s
Communist objects
as
government,
any government could
what other
anti- Communist,
criteria
If
Mr.
anti-
Safire
criteria
America
that
to
we
then
the
And what
is
to ask
by is
the result of applying
governments of Central and South
did support?
Mr. Safire has no problem with the freely
we have
does he judge whether a government
worthy of our support?
legal,
be.
as
and says we shouldn’t have supported Hitler simply
because he was
these
which was about
elected
government
212
in
CIA
overthrowing a
Guatemala
in
1954
How
Fight Doublespeak
to
because that government was, in his view, part of the spread of Fidel Castro s Communism. How this overthrow of the
government of Guatemala stopped the spread of Cuban Communism Mx. Safire doesn’t explain an explanation would be most interesting because Fidel Castro did not elected
j
come
to
power
in
Cuba
until 1959.
Since the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala, the country has been ruled by a series
of military dictatorships that have killed more than 100,000 people in forty years, according to numerous human rights reports.
But for Mr.
Safire, that’s just the price to
be paid for
Communism, a price that includes 100,000 dead men, women, and children. Of course, he doesn’t mention who paid that price, and whether they were asked if they fighting
wanted
to
pay
11
it.
Missing also from Mr.
Safire’s
defense of the
discussion of Psychological Operations
manual
the
recruited,
CIA produced
for the
CIA
Guerrilla
in
Nicaraguan
armed, trained, and equipped
is
Warfare
any a
guerrillas they
to fight the govern-
ment of Nicaragua. This manual contains detailed instructions on assassination, sabotage, kidnapping, and blackmail. Included also are instructions on
how
criminals to carry out “selective jobs,”
to hire professional
how
to arrange the
how to agimen equipped
death of a rebel supporter to create a “martyr,” tate
“the masses in a demonstration,” with
with “knives, razors, chains, clubs, bludgeons” joining a peaceful demonstration and marching “slightly behind the
innocent and gullible participants.”
Mr.
Safire
excuses
all
actions
213
in
the
name
of “anti-
The New Doublespeak Communism,” even though he concedes against
Communism was won
the
that
“war”
sometimes undemo-
“messily,
on occasion scandalously” Yet Mr. Safire neglects date on which Congress declared war, since if this was
cratically,
the
“real war,” as
he claims, the Constitution does require a dec-
laration of war
by Congress.
By using such words
as “messily,” “undemocratically,”
and
“scandalously,” Mr. Safire avoids having to deal with the reality of soldiers killing
thousands of men, women, and
children in Nicaragua, El Salvador,
who were
often trained
Safire intend
and Guatemala,
soldiers
and equipped by the CIA. Did Mr.
such words to describe the December 1981
massacre of 733 men, women, and children in the village of
Mozote
El
men
first,
in El Salvador?
women
were spared
as
(“The massacre was thorough:
next, children
long as
it
and babies
last.
Young
girls
took to rape them. Bullets did most
of the work, knives and bayonets some; several children
were hanged. Buildings were the soldiers
nism.”
13 )
left to
set afire
over the corpses, and
continue saving El Salvador from
Did he intend such words
commu-
murder of
to describe the
Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, or the murder of the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper,
and her
old daughter in El Salvador, or the
murder of
sixteen-year-
the three
American nuns and a
lay
that Secretary of State
Alexander Haig explained away with
his
own doublespeak
cited
worker
in El Salvador, a
murder
above? 14
In Mr. Safire’s doublespeak, killing tens of thousands of
men, women, and
American
civilians,
children,
including priests,
and overthrowing
214
legal
nuns,
and
governments
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
some “tricks,” “dirty tricks” admittedly, but still just “tricks ” With his doublespeak he avoids the slaughter of so many while at the same time he concedes, “Good ends do becomes
just
not justify
evil
thousands of appearing to
means, Mr.
means, but such dirty
lives
some moral
gain
it
to
coloration ” Thus, while
of the end justifying the
reject the principle
Safire uses
would save
tricks that
We
defend the actions of the CIA.
might ask what the color of that “moral coloration” might be. Red, perhaps, for the blood of tricks”
Mr.
those killed by the “dirty
all
Safire finds so necessary
and so innocuous.
As George Orwell wrote, “In our and writing
Thus
time, political speech
are largely the defence of the indefensible.
political
murder
.
.
language has to consist largely of euphemisms,
question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.
language ...
.
is
designed to
respectable,
and
make
to give
lies
sound
.
.
Political
.
truthful
an appearance of
and
solidity to
pure wind .” 15 In The Divine Comedy Dante presented for his fellow
citi-
,
zens an illumination of the
human and
believed were the basis of the moral
Dante,
“the
chronicler
is
the
life
most
political truths
of their country. For
centrally
moral agent of his time— a shaper of the moral tion
and an exemplar
Dante attempted
for future generations .”
to provide in his
he
responsible
life 16
of
To
civiliza-
this
end
work an understanding of
would rouse others to action. In his own way, he was doing what contemporary journalists such as William Safire and others attempt to do: “provide a picture of reality on which citizens can act, in the words of the political scene that
Walter Lippmann
17 .
215
The New Doublespeak But such chroniclers as users of language bear a heavy In Dante’s Hell, the worst sinners are the
responsibility.
who and those who
deceive,
and useful
crete
misuse language to mislead and
those
fraudulent,
the intellect .”
18
reality
use language not to render a con-
but to frustrate “the virtuous use of
For Dante, the irresponsible use of language
leads to the depths of Hell, for such language strikes at the
very core of an ordered,
just,
and virtuous
guage promotes the deterioration of the political structure
upon which
While Dante recognized guage
all
We
act as if
language
attack ads
19
all
we have
moral, and
at the
lost sight
moral of
this
tangential, malleable, fungible,
language has become for us
Radio and
.
and pundits,
spin doctors
is
at times. Political
a form of entertainment
lan-
that the irresponsible use of lan-
not harmless but an act that strikes
is
even irrelevant
television talk shows,
tabloid journalism
and
political
contribute to the destruction of any sense of
the role of language in the
language in the moral I
social,
such
of us depend.
foundations of an ordered society, truth.
society;
life
life
of the nation, of the role of
of our nation.
have presented here but a small chronicle of the irrespon-
sible
use of language that threatens the
social, political,
moral structure of our nation. Were Dante sure he
would
defense of the
much CIA and
find
to write its
alive today, I
about in William
role in so
much
and
am
Safire’s
bloodshed;
Alexander Haig’s apologia for the murder of four
women
in
El Salvador; President’s Bush’s rationale for dealing with the leaders
of
China
Tiananmen Square;
after
the
massacre
the massive sale of
216
of
students
weapons
in
to just
How
to
Fight Doublespeak
about any nation that wants to buy them while maintaining
we are controlling the spread Panama that isn’t an invasion;
that
of weapons; the invasion
war against Iraq that wasn’t a war; the repression of speech on university campuses that isn’t censorship; and the thousands of dead who of
the
are the price of our definition of government.
The struggle against doublespeak will be won only when we refuse to let those who use doublespeak escape unchallenged.
We
won’t win the
over a long time and after
And
fight in
many
one big
battle,
but only
small skirmishes. But
we
you have any suggestions for ways to fight doublespeak, send them to me and I will add them to the list. We won’t win today, or tomorrow, or even the day have to
after
fight.
if
tomorrow. But we
will
win.
217
Mleblespeak Quiz
1.
penile insertive behavior
A. failed
2.
rough-and-tumble neigh-
B. stolen
borhood
C.
3.
being walked
4.
thermal
soil
goods
liar
D. zoo
remediation
E. plastic trash
bag
unit F.
5.
victim of habitually
G. bankruptcy
detrimental lifestyle 6.
customer
H. temporary workers
capital cost
reduction 7.
I.
wildlife conservation
program with some manent facilities 8.
J.
per-
multidimensional gam-
lie
kickbacks
K.
dump
L.
an alcoholic
ment complex
N. death
air curtain incinerator
O. a
10.
thermal therapy
11
mental activity
.
a
M. junkyard
ing with an entertain-
9.
congressional pork barrel
P.
kit
lie
washing machine
Ck acid rain
at the
margins
R. cut off someone’s head
219
The New Doublespeak behavior
_12. dysfunctional _13. sufferer
disorder
from
S.
T. a
fictitious
syndrome
V. slaughter of large
lem sub-optimal
_16.
temporarily displaced
W. Coca Cola vending machine
inventory
X. retirement community for
immediate consumption
the elderly
channel
Y. test scores
chicken
go
AA.
_20. uninstalled
BB. dead enemy
.
laundry system
_22. just-in-time
down
Z. bribe
_19. positive restructuring
_2 1
number
of people
_15.
_18. fresh
lie
U. sexual intercourse
_14. political credibility prob-
_17.
frozen chicken
a
lie
soldiers
CC. death
employees
DD.
_23. negative gain in test
fire
workers
EE. farmers’ market
scores
FF. tax _24. purification _25. _26.
GG.
vinyl
HH.
slum or ghetto
synthetic glass
unique
retail
biosphere II.
27
insanity
wet deposition
.
_28.
reality
JJ. lost
augmentation
KK. _29.
luggage
fired
normal gratitude LL. poison gas
_30.
exceed the odor thresh-
MM. criminal activity
old _3 1
.
NN. open
congressional project of
burning trash
OO. down payment
national significance 32.
pit for
males with female features
220
PP. incinerator
Doublespeak Quiz
33. meaningful
downturn
QQ. bag of ice
in
aggregate output
RR.
34. after-sales services
munity
TT. com-
for the chrono-
38. logically gifted 37.
decommissioned aggressor
head resource development
park inhalation hazard
.41.
substantive negative out-
come 42. reutilization marketing
yard 43. release of resources 44. immediate
permanent
incapacitation 45. passenger facility charge .46.
misconnect rate
47.
terminological inexacti-
tude 48. single use .49.
mislead
50. waste
UU.
fired
W.
a casino
XX.
quantum
.40.
recession
WW. women soldiers
surgical isolation of the
_39.
plastic
SS. stink
35. vegetarian leather 36. senior congregate
cubes
management bag
221
disposable
The New Doublespeak Answers
to the
Doublespeak Quiz
U
26.
EE
2.
HH
27.
3.
KK or UU
a
28.
I,
29.
Z
30.
ss
F
1
.
o, T, or
5.
PP L
6.
OO
31.
7.
D
32.
WW
33.
TT
4.
8. 9.
W NN
12.
oa MM
13.
G
14.
I,
15.
16.
10.
11.
34. J 35.
ii
36.
GG X
37.
BB
39.
R K
A
40.
LL
B
41.
N,
38.
O,
T or AA
CC
17.
W
42.
M
18.
S
43.
DD
44.
N,
20.
G KK or UU
45.
FF
21.
P
46.
22.
H
U
47.
I,
23.
Y
48.
XX
24.
V
49.
I,
25.
RR
50.
E
19.
AA
222
CC
O, T, or
O, T, or
AA AA
Notes
Preface
1.
George Orwell,
“Politics
Collected Essays Journalism ,
and
Orwell and Ian George,
vol. 2
Jovanovich, 1968), 2.
and the English Language,”
in The
of George Orwell ed. Sonia
Letters
(New
York: Harcourt Brace
p. 137.
Ibid., p. 139.
Chapter
The Power and Problems of Language
I
A
1.
Philadelphia Inquirer 27 July 1993, p.
2.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 15
3.
The
4.
Mew New
York Times, 9 April 1992; Saence, 17 April 1992, p. 313.
U.S.
News
5.
6.
,
Progressive,
August 1993,
York Times,
&
October 1992,
May
14
Werner Heisenberg,
Physics
p.
A3.
p. 10.
1993; The
World Report, 24
7.
May
Progressive,
August 1993;
1993.
and Philosophy (New York: Harper,
1958), p. 58.
31 July 1989,
p. 41.
7.
Time,
8.
Alfred Korzybski, Science
and Sanity
(Lakeville,
Conn.: International
Non- Aristotelian Library Publishing Company,
223
1958), p. 409.
Notes
9.
Bohm
David
and David
York: Bantam, 1987), p. 10.
La
trahison des images
Peat, Science, Order, and Creativity 8.
(Ceci nest
1928-29. Los Angeles County 11.
(New
pas une
pipe).
Museum
Rene Magritte,
of Art.
Here’s an example of an ordinance that
lists all
the possible
used containers that junk dealers cannot use a second time. This
is
a real ordinance from a town in Wisconsin:
Use of
132.06 dealers.
The
receptacle
by other than owner;
as to
junk
using by any person or persons or corporation
other than the
owner or owners
their agent, of
any such
thereof, of his, her,
its
or
can, tub, firkin, box, bottle, cask,
barrel, keg, carton, tank, fountain, vessel or container, for
the sale therein of
any substance, commodity or product,
other than that originally therein contained, or the buying, selling, tle,
or trafficking in any such can, tub, firkin, box, bot-
cask, barrel, keg, carton, tank, fountain, vessel or con-
tainer, or the fact that
tubs,
firkins,
any junk dealer or dealers
in cans,
boxes, bottles, casks, barrels, kegs, cartons,
tanks, fountains, vessels or containers, shall
her possession any such can, tub,
firkin,
have
in his or
box, bottle, cask,
barrel, keg, carton, tank, fountain, vessel, or container, so
marked or stamped and a been
and
filed it
and published
hereby
description of
as
provided in
which s.
shall
have
132.04, shall be,
declared to be, prima facie evidence that
is,
such using, buying, selling or trafficking in or possession of is
unlawful within the meaning of
In other words,
if
ss.
132. 04 to 132.08.
junk dealers reuse containers they
will
be
fined. 12.
New
13.
Liberal Opinion Week 3
14.
Michael Kramer, “The Great Chicken Fraud.” Time 24 July
York Times 14 ,
October 1995, ,
p. 15.
September 1990,
p. 14. ,
9.9,4
Notes
1995, p. 34; 15.
New
York Times, 18
Michael Gazzaniga,
Nature’s
October 1995,
Human
Brain.”
Science
Gazzaniga, “Organization
S.
245
September
(1
947-952; Mind Matters (Boston: Houghton The
Social Brain
(New
Gazzaniga, The
17.
Gazzaniga, Nature’s Mind, p. 136.
18.
Leon
Festinger,
Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 1957).
20.
1989):
Mifflin, 1988);
and
York: Basic Books, 1985).
16.
19.
C4.
Mind (New York: Basic Books,
1992), p. 118. See also Michael
of the
p.
Social Brain, p. 5.
A
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Palo Alto,
Seymour Hersh, My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath (New York: Random House, 1970). Quoted in Neil Postman, Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk (New York: Dell, 1976), p. 78.
21.
David
Whipple,
Association
of
Former
Philadelphia Inquirer, 7
22.
New
York Times, 1
August 1991, July 1991,
p.
CIA
former
Intelligence
September 1991,
June 1991,
p.
and
agent
1;
5
head
Officers,
of
the
quoted
in
p. 6-A.
June 1991,
p. 10; Philadelphia Inquirer,
p.
A3; 11
5 June 1991, p. 3-A; 8
3-A; 30July 1991, p. 5-A; 12 August 1991, p. 9-A;
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, vol. 27, no.
22
(3
June 1991): 684. Chapter l
1.
Edward
Sapir,
Language and the Interpretation
“The
Status
of Reality
of Linguistics
Language 5 (1929): 207-214, reprinted in
Edward
Sapir,
ed.
David
G.
Edward Science
Sapir,
a
Science,”
Selected Writings
Mandelbaum
University of California Press, 1949), 2.
as
(Berkeley:
p. 162.
“Conceptual Categories in Primitive Languages
74 (1931): 578.
225
of
”
Notes
3.
Benjamin Lee Whorf, “Science and
Linguistics,” Language,
Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee ed. p.
John
B. Carroll (Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT
Whorf,
Press, 1956),
212.
212-213.
4.
Ibid., pp.
5.
Walter Lippmann,
Public Opinion
(New
York: Harcourt Brace,
1922), p. 81. 6.
Werner Heisenberg,
and Philosophy (New York: Harper,
Physics
1958), p. 58. 7.
Albert H. Hastorf and Hadley Cantril,
Case Study,” Journal of Abnormal and
“They Saw a Game:
Social Psychology
A
49 (1954):
133. 8.
DeCamp
Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy
Halo
Evidence
Effect:
Unconscious
for
Judgments,” Journal of Personality and
Wilson, “The of
Alteration
Social Psychology
35 (1977):
256. 9.
Chicago Tribune 19 February 1992, section 3, p. 3. ,
10.
Heisenberg,
11.
New
12.
Quoted
Physics
and Philosophy,
November
York Times 1 ,
262.
1993, p. A18.
Postman, Crazy
in Neil
p.
Talk,
Stupid Talk
(New
York:
Dell, 1976), p. 33. 13.
New
York Times
9 September 1990, p. 30; Chicago Tribune
,
September 1990; 14.
George Orwell,
EXTRA!
,
19
Update February 1995, p. 3. ,
Nineteen Eighty-Four
(New York: New American
Library, 1949), p. 48.
Abstracting Our
Chapter 3
1
.
2.
Philadelphia Inquirer 2 5 J anuary ,
Way
into
Doublespeak
1996,p.A17.
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
May
1991): 629.
226
,
vol. 27, no.
21 (27
Notes
3.
New 28
York Times,
May
28
May
1991, pp. 1-A,
1991, pp. Al, A8; Philadelphia
7-
A.
4.
Orwell, Nineteen Eighty -Four, pp. 31-32.
5.
Robert
Hoffman
R.
and
Richard
of Judgments
Bidirectionality
Inquirer,
P.
Honeck,
Synonymy.”
of
“The
Journal
of
Psycholinguists Research 5 (1976): 182. 6.
Taking the Stand: The Testimony of Lt. Col Oliver L. North
(New
York: Pocket Books, 1987). 7.
New
York Times, 27
December 1992; The
Progressive,
February
1993, pp. 8-9. 8.
23 February 1993,
Village Voice,
The Doublespeak of Law
Chapter k
1.
Philadelphia Inquirer,
May
9
28 April-5 May, 1995,
Paper,
p. 8.
1995, p. A19; Philadelphia p. 12.
2.
New
3.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 27 July 1994, p.
4.
494 U.S. 259
5.
94
6.
Geduldig
7.
113
8.
Burdick
9.
Ibid.
York Times,
S.
S.
v.
(1974);
A18.
429 U.S. 125
A9.
(1976).
Aiello.
Ct. 716 (1993). v.
Takushi,
112
S.
Ct.
2059
10.
481 U.S. 739 (1987).
11.
Chapman
12.
Ill
13.
111S. Ct. 2545 (1991).
14.
212 Cal. App. 3d 289 (1989).
15.
111S. Ct. 2382(1991).
16.
New
S.
p.
(1990).
2485
Ct.
15July 1993,
v.
(1992).
Calfomia, U.S. 18 (1967).
Ct. 1246 (1991).
York Times,
12June 1989,
p.
227
A18.
City
.
Notes
17.
1.
513 U.S.
Business
_
(1995); 115 S.Ct.
The Doublespeak of Busness and Economics
Week
May
9
,
p.
February 1996, All the
1994, p. 61; Philadelphia Inquirer
Gl; 4 February 1996,
examples of doublespeak for
Doublespeak 1;
April 1992, p.
1;
p.
3.
Business Week 7
November
4
Philadelphia Inquirer 7 J anuary 1 9 9 6
1994, p.
,
5.
Ibid., p.
6.
A
USA
Today
workers
,
7
listed in
the Quarterly Review of
April 1993, p. l;July 1993, p.
p. 1.
.
El;
April 1991, p. 1; October
1;
October 1993, ,
firing
come from
October 1990,
,
p.
28
,
p. 11 A.
the following paragraphs
1991, p.
(1995).
Chapter 5
March 1995, 2.
_
1;
6.
p
,
.
D1
D5.
self-fulfilling
prophecy
is
the tendency for the definition of a
situation to cause behavior that
makes
come true. In other words, a prediction comes true because we have made the prediction. For example, research has shown that students
who who
are
randomly labeled “smarter”
Philadelphia Inquirer
,
p.
9
,
May
16
9.
Ibid., p.
10.
Ibid.
11.
New
they are beautiful.
7
Al; 9 January 1996, p. D3; Wall Al; 5July 1995, p. Al.
8.
if
Street Journal,
1990, pp. Al, A8, A9.
A8.
York Times
,
and women who
December 1992, p. 100; March 1992, p. Dl; 29 March 1992,
See, for example, Business Week
p.
act smarter; sane people
are labeled “insane” start to act insane;
are labeled “beautiful” start to act as 7.
the definition
October
11, 1995, p.
228
Dl.
4
May
1995,
Notes
12.
New
13.
Charley
York Times
Chronicle 14.
,
October
17,
1995, p. A24.
“Understanding Free Trade.”
Reese,
Conservative
10 July 1992, p. 28.
May
Philadelphia Inquirer 9 ,
1995, p. Cl. Executive pay will con-
tinue to increase to even greater heights, according to Business
The
Week “Executive Pay: ,
p. 56;
15.
“.
“CEO Pay: Ready for Take Off.”
the real weekly
.
Party Ain’t Over
bebw the
level
income of a worker
Yet.”
26 April 1993,
24 April 1995,
p. 88.
1990 was 19.1 percent
in
reached in 1973!’ Wallace C. Peterson, “The Silent
Depression.” Challenge July/August 1991, p. 30; See also ,
Wage
Squeeze.” Business Week
“The
17 July 1995, p. 54; Jane Bryant
,
Quinn, “A Paycheck Revolt in ’96?” Newsweek 19 February 1996, ,
p.
52; “Recovery?
Not
January 1995, section
Taken a Beating.” 16.
Your Paycheck.” New
in
4,
p.
6;
Times
,
8
“Y)ur Standard of Living Has
October 1992,
Philadelphia Inquirer, 10
Robert Eisner, “Our
York
NAIRU
p.
The American
Limit.”
Dl. Prospect
Spring 1995: 58. 1995: 11.
1 7.
The American
18.
Daniel J. Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation, quoted in The American
Prospect Fall ,
Prospect, Fall
1995: 11.
19.
New
20.
Basic Books, 1995, p. 25.
21.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 5
22.
Fortune, 15 January 1996, p. 27.
23.
Philadelphia Inquirer,
24.
The Economist, 30 September 1995,
York Times,
25 October 1995,
27.
Dl.
September 1993,
22 October 1995,
24 July 1995, p. 52. 26. Los Angeles Times, 8 January 1993, 25.
p.
p.
p.
Dl.
El.
p. 96.
Time,
“Sugarscape Model Shows Wall Street Journal, 21
p.
Hows
November
229
A21. in
Textbook Economics.”
1994, p. Bl.
,
,
,
,
Notes
28.
Leonard
March
Silk,
“The Denial of
the Obvious.”
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper
30.
Newsweek
p. 19.
,
,
Advertising Age, 13
November
25 June 1990, Ibid.
33.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6
March
January 1990,
Advertising Age, 18
November
Newsweek, 30
10
1989,
York Times
Liberal Opinion Week
1993,
pp.
February 1991, pp.
March
8
1,
48.
New
1993, pp. 88-89;
Al, A20;
August 1993,
p. 1-E; 17
York Times,
1993,
p.
September 1993, pp. Al, B8; 4 October 1993, section
4
D7; 30 4, p. 1.
September/October, 1993, pp. 17-18.
35.
Extra!,
36.
Ibid., p. 5.
37.
Extra!,
January/ February 1991,
November 38.
,
p. 14.
32.
34.
May
New
3, 92;
Dl;
Times
York
Inquirer 19
1989, pp.
17 February 1990; 8 January 1991, p.
Cl;
New
18 September 1989, p. 53;
September 1989, pp. 1, 26; Philadelphia p. 4-A; 26 May 1989, pp. 1-A, 12-A.
p.
York Times 9
1990, p. D2.
29.
31.
New
1990,
Cinefantastique,
p.
3-A;
February
p. 12; Philadelphia Inquirer,
Village Voice,
1991,
December 1990, section December 1990, section E,
12;
p. p.
4,
4 December 1991,
5;
New
York
Philadelphia
10
p. 8.
Times,
2
Inquirer,
2
p. 1-E.
39.
Ibid.
40.
Ibid.
41.
Investment Vision, January/ February 1990, p. 6 [a publication of
Fidelity Investments].
Chapter 6
1.
U.S.
News
The Doublespeak
World Report, 9
of
Government and
Politics
December 1991,
Republic 10 February 1992, p.
7.
230
pp. 32-34;
New
Notes
2.
Michael Specter, “After Debate, the Masters of Floor.”
3.
Ibid.
4.
John
New
York Times, 18
Walcott, “Land of
Parade.” U.S. News 5.
1990,
Hype and
February 1990,
section
p.
Wall
Street
29
3;
p. 3.
8.
New
9.
Los Angeles Times, 6 April 1990, p.
14.
6-C; Chicago Tribune,
A16.
International Herald Tribune,
13.
p.
6.
Business Week, 9 July 1990, p. 25; International Herald Tribune,
p.
1,
7.
12.
Glory: Spin Doctors on
1
June 1990,
11.
A16.
Journal,
December 1990,
10.
p.
Take the
World Report, 10 February 1992, p.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 12
4 January
6.
&
February 1992,
‘Spin’
York Times
,
28 June 1990,
20 July 1990,
p.
p. 4.
A10.
A3 4.
New York Times, 20 March 1990, p. Al; Philadelphia Inquirer, 20 March 1990, p. 5-A; 22 July 1990, p. 1-G. New York Times, 22 January 1990, p. B7 New York Times, 25 December 1989, p. 30. New York Times, 22 May 1992, p. A7; Time, 8 June 1992, p. 37 New York Times Magazine, 3 January 1993, pp. 12-17, 28, 31-35.
15.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Times, 1
30 November 1989,
December 1989,
p.
p.
19 -A;
New
A9.
16.
Opinion Week, 2 July 1990, p. 7; Time, 16 July 1990, p. 88.
17.
Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), 11 February 1990, p. A10; York
Times,
19
December 1990,
1989, p. All; Philadelphia
and Washington 18.
19.
1,
pp.
Inquirer,
New Al, A9; 20 December
16 February 1990, p. 8-A;
20 December 1989, pp. Al, A18. 20 December 1989, p. All; Washington
Post,
New York Times, December 1989, p. A18. New York Times, 8 February pp.
York
Post,
20
1990, pp. Al, B8; 3 August 1991,
25; 9 August 1991, p. A27; 10 August 1991, p. 7; 25
231
Notes
August 1993, ,
New
21.
Elizabeth
York Times 16 ,
February 1993, Morning
Arnold,
and Budget,
Progressive,
March
New
24.
Newsweek,
York Times, 1
A14.
National
Public
Radio,
7
director of the Office of Management
of Presidential Documents, vol. 29, no.
February 1993): 217; and
vol. 29, no. 8 (22
22 February 1993;
January 1990,
1989, pp. A16, A18, A19; 25.
Philadelphia
MacNeil-Lekrer NewsHour, 18 February 1993.
Compilation
23.
p.
Edition,
January 1993; Leon Panetta,
Weekly
18;
p. 12.
20.
22.
p.
25 August 1993, pp. Al, A10; The
Inquirer
1992,
Al; 28 August 1993,
p.
p. 14; 1
Time,
New
7
(17
February 1993): 285.
24
May
York Times,
January 1990,
1993, p. 30.
22 December
p. 1.
Common Cause Magazine, April/May/June 1992, pp. 8-27; Fall 1992, pp. 27-29; New York Times, 24 April 1992, p. A20; 27 July 1992,
p.
A10; 9 August 1992,
24 April 1992, p.
A4;
p.
Village Voice,
p. 30; Philadelphia Inquirer,
A13; 19 July 1992, 21 July 1992,
p.
p. 9; 1
C3; 5 August 1992,
September 1992,
26.
New
27.
“The Best Congress Money Can Buy.”
p. 9.
York Times, 9 July 1995, section 4, p. 15.
September 1995,
p.
Wall Street Journal, 1
A15.
28.
New
29.
Business Week, 2 9 June 1992, pp. 58, 62; Philadelphia Inquirer, 11
York Times, 16
March
1992, p. A13.
April 1992, p. C14; 18 April 1992, p. A9.
May
30.
New
31.
Philadelphia Inquirer,
York Times,
20
17
1992, p. Dl.
September 1990, pp. 1-D, 10-D; St
Louis Journalism Review, June 1990.
32.
12 -A;
New
York
National Wildlife, October/ November, 1992, p. 30;
New
York
Philadelphia Inquirer, Times,
33.
19 February 1989, p.
19 October 1988, p. A20.
Times, 7
July 1993, pp. Al, A12;
p. 8; Philadelphia Inquirer,
Village
21 April 1989,
232
p.
Voice,
23-A.
27 July 1993,
Notes
New New
34. 35.
p.
25 April 1989, p. A20. York Times 12 February 1991, p. A17; 20 February 1991, B9; 21 February 1991, p. A20; 16 March 1991, p. 22; York Times
,
March 1991, p. 23-A; Village 22-3; 26 March 1991, pp. 22-3;
Philadelphia Inquirer
March
1991, pp.
,
19
Voice
,
19
2 April
1991, pp. 22-3. 36.
August 1993, p. Al; Philadelphia Inquirer 16 April 1993, pp. Al, A20; 13 May 1993, pp. Al, A12-A13; 29 July 1993, p. Bl; 15 September 1993, p. B9; The Progressive August 1993, pp. 12-13; Village Voice 4 May 1993, pp. 18-19; Boston Globe
,
1
,
,
Wall Street Journal, 37.
Orwell, “Politics
38.
Ibid.
26 July 1993, p. A10. and the English Language,”
p. 136.
Newsweek 30 September 1991, p. 17. 40. Newsweek 9 December 1991, p. 6. 39.
,
,
41.
New
York Times 12 June 1989, pp. ,
Al, A9; 20June 1989,
p.
A14;
Philadelphia Inquirer, 10 June 1989, pp. 1-A, 10-A; 16 June 1989,
pp. 1-A, 4-A;
30June 1989,
Chapter 1
1.
Aldous
Huxley,
p. 10-A; Time,
26June 1989,
p. 32.
How to Fiqlit Doublespeak
on
“Education
the
Nonverbal
Level.”
Da£dalus Spring 1962.
3.
New New
4.
I
2.
C-l.
York Times,
20 April 1992,
York Times,
27 August 1994, pp.
p.
1, 9.
have cleaned up Hemingway’s comment
readers. Actually, this essential gift ...
is
is
what Hemingway
said:
my
“The most
a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector.” Paris
Review, Spring 1958.
November
5.
New
6.
Philadelphia Inquirer, 12
York Times, 2
for benefit of
May
1995.
1982, p. 1-A.
233
Notes
7.
For a history of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, see J.
Michael Sproule, “Propaganda Studies in American Social
The
Science:
Rise and Fall of the Critical Paradigm.” Quarterly
Journal of Speech 73 (1987): 60-78.
produced by the
While most of the materials
institute are unavailable,
Art of Propaganda
book The
Fine
from the International
available
still
is
its
Society for General Semantics. 8.
The Neiu Yorker 6 February 1995,
9.
New
,
York Times
,
p. 5.
21 March 1993, pp.
1,
10;
31 March 1993; 12
April 1993; p. A16; 16 July 1993, p. A3; Spokesman-Review
(Spokane, Washington), 16 July 1993, p. A7. 10. New York Times 6 April 1995, p. A31. ,
11.
For a brief account, with documentation, of these and other actions
by the CIA, see Mark Zepezaur, The
(Tucson, Ariz.: 12.
Odonian Neier
(New
,
Raymond (New
(New
Joanne
York: Vintage, 1985).
The Economist 18 June 1994, Massacre at El Mozote
14.
Press, 1994).
Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare, with Essays by
Omang and Aryeh 13.
CIA’s Greatest Hits
p. 99.
See also
Mark Danner.
The
York: Vintage, 1993).
Bonner, Weakness and Deceit: U.S.
Policy
and El Salvador
York: Times Books, 1984).
15.
Orwell, “Politics and the English Language,”
16.
Stephen Smith, “Dante on Writing, Truth, and the Power
December 1995, p. Stephen Smith, “Dante on Writing,” p. 10.
That Counsels.”
Boston Book Review,
17.
Quoted
18.
Ibid.
19.
Neil Postman analyzes
what
in
this
p. 137.
change
is
doing
cratic process in his
Discourse in the
how political
language has changed and
to us as a nation
book, Amusing
Age of Show
Business
234
10.
and
to the
demo-
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Viking, 1985).
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Language Used as Shield and Weapon. Oxford, 1991. Anderson, Walter Truett. Reality Isn’t What It Used to Be: Politics,
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Wonders of the Postmodern World. Harper
Row, 1990. America: What Went Wrong
Donald L., and James B. Steele. Andrews and McMeel, 1992. Barlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele. America: Who Taxes? Simon and Schuster, 1994. in
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Lance. The Governing
American
Bennett,
W.
Elections. St.
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8c
Barlett,
Bennett,
Chic,
Theatrical
Really Pays the
Media, Money, and Marketing
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Martin’s, 1992.
Politics
2nd
of Elusion,
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Boorstin, Daniel J. The Image: Vintage, 1961.
A
Guide
Bosmajian, Haig. The Language of America, 1983.
to
Longman, 1988. Longman, 1980.
Pseudo-Events in America.
Oppression.
University Press of
Bourland, D. David, and Paul Dennithorne Johnston, eds. To Be Not:
An
or
E-Prime Anthology. International Society for General
Semantics, 1991.
Cohen, Jeff, and Norman Solomon. the
News, Beyond
the Pundits.
Adventures
Common
235
in
Medialand: Behind
Courage, 1993.
Selected Bibliography
Cohen,
and Norman Solomon. Through
Jeff,
Common Courage,
Glass.
Combs, James
Media Looking
the
1995.
and Dan Nimmo. The New Propaganda: The
E.,
Dictatorship ofPalaver in Contemporary
Crespi, Irving. Public Opinion,
Polls,
Longman, 1993.
Politics.
and Democracy. Westview, 1989.
Crossen, Cynthia. Tainted Tuth: The Manipulation of Fact
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Croteau, David, and William Hoynes. By
Media Limit Political Debate. Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda:
Engel,
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The Formation
Invitation Only:
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to
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Defend YoursefAgainst
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Roy
ed.
F.,
Images
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Language, Media, and Mind. National
Council of Teachers of English, 1994. Gazzinaga, Michael
S. Nature’s
Mind. Basic Books, 1992.
Goldberg, Steven. When Wish Replaces Thought: Why So Much of What You Believe
Prometheus, 1992.
Is False.
and Alan R. Hayakawa. Language in Thought and Action 5th ed. Harcourt Brace, 1991. Herman, Edward S. Beyond Hypocrisy: Decoding the News in an Age of
Hayakawa,
S.
I.,
,
Propaganda. South End, 1992.
Herman, Edward Politics,
and
Huff, Darrell.
the
Triumph of
S.
Market: Essays on Economics,
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How
Jacobson, Michael
to
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F.,
Kathleen
Interplay of Influence:
Statistics.
Penguin, 1954.
and Laurie Ann Mazur. Marketing Madness:
Survival Guidefor a Consumer
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the
Hall,
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A
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and Karlyn Kohrs
News, Advertising,
Politics,
and
Campbell. the
The
Mass Media
,
3rd ed. Wadsworth, 1992.
Johannesen, Richard L.
Ethics
in
Waveland, 1996.
236
Human
Communication
,
4th ed.
Selected Bibliography
Johnson, Wendell. People in Quandaries. Harper 8c Row, 1946. Kahane, Howard. Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric: The Uses of Reason Everyday Life 6th ed. Wadsworth, 1992. Lakoff, Robin Tolmach. Talking Power : Phe Politics in
,
of Language. Basic
Books, 1990. Lee, Alfred
McClung, and Elizabeth McClung
Lee. Phe Fine Art of Propaganda. International Society for General Semantics, 1972. Lee, Martin A., and Norman Solomon. Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in
Manheim,
Jarol
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All
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Communication and American
Deliberate
People
All
the
Panes:
Strategic
Sharpe, 1991.
Politics.
McCloskey, Donald N. Phe Wisconsin Press, 1985. Mitroff, Ian
the
Rhetoric of Economics.
University of
and Warren Bennis. Phe Unreality Industry: Phe Manufacturing of Falsehood and What It Is Doing to Our I.,
Birch Lane, 1989.
Lives.
Moore, David W.
Phe Super
Manipulate Public Opinion
in
How
Pollsters:
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Phey Measure and
Four Walls Eight Windows,
1992.
Naureckas, Jim, and Janine Jackson, eds. Phe FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the 90s. Westview, 1996. Nelson, Joyce.
Sultans
Common Courage,
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1989.
Nimmo, Dan, and James Coombs. Longman, 1990. Nimmo, Dan, and James
Mediated
Political Realities
,
2nd
ed.
E.
Combs. Phe
Political Pundits.
Praeger,
1992. Parenti, Michael. Inventing Reality: Phe St.
Politics
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Parry, Robert. Fooling America:
and Manufacture Paulos,
John
How
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Allen.
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Washington Insiders Twist the Pruth
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Morrow, 1992.
Mathematician Reads the Newspaper.
Books, 1995.
237
Basic
Selected Bibliography
Poerksen, Uwe.
Plastic Words.
Pennsylvania State University Press,
1995.
Postman, Neil. Amusing
Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the
Age of
Show Business. Viking, 1985. Postman, Neil. Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk. Dell, 1976. Postman, Neil, and Steve Powers. How to Watch TV News. Penguin, 1992. P.
Moran.
Deteriorating
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Postman, Neil, Charles Weingartner, and Terence Language
in
A
America:
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on
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Rank, Hugh. The Pep Talk: How to Analyze Political Language. Counter-Propaganda Press, 1984. Rothwell, J. Dan. Telling It Like It Isn’t: Language Misuse and
What We Can Do About It. Prentice-Hall, 1982. Savage, Robert L., and Dan Nimmo, eds. Politics in Familiar Contexts: Malpractice/
Projecting Politics
Through Popular Media. Ablex, 1990.
Sawin, Gregory, ed. Thinking and Living Critical
Skills:
General Semantics for
International Society for General Semantics,
Thinking.
1995. Soley,
Lawrence. The News Shapers: The
Sources
Who
Explain the News.
Praeger, 1992.
Stauber, John, Lies,
Damn
and Sheldon Rampton. Lies,
and
Public
the
Toxic Sludge Ls
Relations
Good for
Industry.
You:
Common
Courage, 1995. Watzlawick,
Paul.
How
Real
Is
Real f
Confusion,
Disirformation,
Communication. Vintage, 1977.
Wheeler, Michael.
Lies,
Damn
Lies,
and
Public Opinion in America. Dell, 1976.
238
Statistics:
The Manipulation of
Index
abortion, 109-113
Bush, George, 2-3, 21-24, 76-78,
acid rain, 56, 175 advertising, 52,
82-83, 111-112, 151-152,
143-144
154-155, 158-164, 166,
Agassi, Andre, 153 Arizona
arms
v.
168-169, 183, 216
Fulminante, 102
business, 79, 81, 115-123, 132-149,
control, 2, 21-24, 158, 160,
171-173
201-203, 216-217
doublespeak
in,
115-123
Arnold, Howard, 181
AT&T,
119, 167
Calgacus, 182
Babi Yar massacre, 21
campaign financing, 167-170 Candid Camera, 51-52
Baker, James, 22, 23-24, 158, 160-161
Castro, Fidel, 211, 213
Ballistic Missile
Defense
Organization
(BMDO),
censorship, 176-182, 186-187, 217
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
3
“Below Regulatory Concern” (BRC), Blackmun, Harry, 2
158,211-215,216 Cheney, Richard, 22-24 chickens, frozen, 14-16
Blobel, Paul, 21
children’s television programs,
173
Bohm, David, 8-9 bombing campaigns, 47-48,
21, 144-146,
140-142 China, People’s Republic
73,
185-186
72, 75-79,
of,
159-161, 216
Bosnia, 200-202, 203
“clarification,”
bribes, 4, 11, 81, 83, 92
“clean,” 134-135, 137, 142
Brown
University, 177-179
Clinton,
budget
deficit,
Burdick
v.
129, 130, 154, 156, 164
Takushi, 99
Bill,
69-70,
162-164
164-165, 167-168, 169
cognitive dissonance, 19-21, 152
Coleman
239
v.
Thompson, 104
Index
Communism,
20, 99,
211-215
Eighth Amendment, 100
confessions, 102
“elimination of positions,” 116, 117
consensual encounters, 105-107
El Salvador, 157-158, 210-211, 214,
216
Constitution, U.S., 93-95, 97, 98, 100, 102, 103, 106, 107, 177, 180, 183
corporations, 97-98, 120-123, 149
“enhanced underwriter acknowledgements,” 143-144 environment,
44-45, 56, 134-138,
161-164, 173-176
“correctsized,” 117
Cuba, 75-78
Environmental Protection Agency,
Cummings, Bruce,
145, 146
56, 163
Exxon Valdez Daily Pennsylvanian, 180-182
Dante
4,
Alighieri,
oil spill,
134-135, 137,
142
215-216
defense attorneys, 92-93, 104-105 definitions, 87, 88-98,
104-105,
Fagin, Claire, 181 Faludi, Susan,
121-122
109-113, 142, 156-158,
Fang
162-164, 173
Federal Communications
Fields, Michael,
doublespeak:
Fifth
fighting against,
191-217
interpretation and, 16-18, 27-56,
141-142
power
of,
166
First
quiz on, 219-222
144
Amendment, Amendment,
98, 102
177, 180
Fitzwater, Marlin, 154, 169 Florida
192-197, 209-217
Commission
(FCC), 141, 171-172
Democratic National Committee, 168, 169
Lizhi,
v. Bostick,
106
Fourth Amendment, 93-95, 98
freedom of speech, 176-182, 217
redefinition in, 157-158, 173
204-205 tolerance for, 4-5
rewritten,
“downsizing,” 118, 120-121, 127,
138-140
Gaffney, Frank, 3
Gazzaniga, Michael, 16, 17, 18-19 Geduldig
v. Aiello,
General Electric Company
Drolet, Robert, 2-3
v. Gilbert,
95-96 General Motors, 97, 116, 117, 127 Gingrich, Newt, 54, 55, 154-155,
duckspeak, 55, 56 Eagleburger, Lawrence, 160
economics, x-xi, 62, 81, 123-149,
194-195
157, 179
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 45
“good
faith,”
abstractions
in,
123-128, 133
GOPAC,
maps
in,
128-132
Gore, Al, 169
verbal
95-96
240
103-104, 105
54-55
Index
government, 152-174, 182-190 democratic, 24-25 doublespeak
in,
Japan, 32, 124-125, 146-149 Jefferson,
152-174,
Johnson, Hiram, 182 judgments, 66-67, 69, 89, 195
182-190, 197-198 totalitarian,
verbal
101
maps
of,
74-79
Kinsley, Michael, 209
92
“gratuities,”
Thomas, 182
Greenspan, Alan,
Koppel, Ted, 208 x,
194-195
Korea: The Unknown War, 144-146
Gregorian, Vartan, 178, 179
Korean War,
Grenada
Korzybski, Alfred, 8
invasion, 165-166
Guatemala, 211, 212-213 Gulf War, 158, 183-187, 217
labels,
47, 144-146, 182, 183
8-14, 17, 28, 43,44-50,
54-55, 59-60, 74
Hackney, Sheldon, 180
Lane, Dick “Night Train,” 101, 105 language:
Haig, Alexander, 201-203, 210-211,
214,216
abstract, 57-83,
Halilovic, Sefir, 200-202,
203
123-128, 133,
137
38-39
Halliday,Jon, 145
ambiguity
Harris Bank, 119
classification in,
Harrison, Otto, 134
corruption
in,
29-32, 95-96
Hartman, Barry, 44-45, 46 health benefits, 95-96
either-or terms in,
Heisenberg, Werner,
fuzziness in, 8-14, 88
Hemingway,
7,
193
32, 42
Ernest, 199, 233 n
156-157, 193-194
118-119
relativity
responsible use
impulses, 16-18
of, xi,
12-13, 27-30,
107-109 interpreter, 16-18
see also
intent,
Language:
doublespeak; words
A Key Mechanism
54-55
“investment,” 164-165
Last Emperor, The, 146-147
82-83
176-177
206-209
worldview in, 28-30, 34-35, 45-49, 70-75
129-130
Ivy, Canetta,
impact
109, 113, 193-194,
inferences, 63-66, 67, 68, 69, 74, 89
affair,
of, xi-xii,
215-217 social
Iran-Contra
27-56 and, 30, 32-34
reality and, 6-9,
humor, 194-195, 204-205 Humphrey, Hubert H., Ill, 136 Huxley, Aldous, 206
inflation,
30-31
public, ix-xii, 3, 6, 24-25,
Heraclitus of Ephesus, 57 hospitals,
156-157,
of, ix, xi, 25,
law, x,
241
10-11,85-113
of Control,
Index
law
mistakes, 101-105
{cont)
definitions in, 87, 88-98, 104-105,
109-113 doublespeak as
in,
85-113
Mobil Oil, 136-138, 142 money, 36-37, 42 My Lai massacre, 20
semantic environment, 81, 82-83, 88, 91, 92, 96-97,
Naish,J. Carrol, 148
109-113
National Semiconductor, 117
layoffs,
National Simple Speak Day, 207
88-90
lawsuits,
National Wetlands Coalition, 163,
115-123
175
Lazerson, Marvin, 181
Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell), ix, x,
Levy, Mike, 137 Liebeck, lies, 4,
Stella,
88-90
16, 79, 146,
172-173, 177, 179,
181, 182, 183, 184, 188, 190
11
Lippmann, Walter, 30, 215 Li Zhiyun, 188-189
Nitze, Paul, 146
Lucas, Robert E., Jr., 123-124, 127
Nussbaum,
MacArthur, Douglas, 146
O’Hearn, Roz, 119
McDonald’s hot coffee case, 88-90 McNulty, Jim, 119 MacRae, James B.,Jr., 170, 171
Orwell, George, ix-x, 16, 55, 79, 146,
North, Oliver, 81, 111 Paul, 134
149, 172-173, 177, 179, 181, 182, 183, 184, 188, 190, 215
Magritte, Rene, 9
Mao Tse-tung,
Panama
16
invasion, 166, 217
maps, verbal, 63, 69-79, 125-132, 158, 186-187
Papadakos, Nicholas, 92
marketing, 137-138, 151-152, 153
passwords, 50-51
Marshall, John, 97-98
patriotism, 81,
Mathematician Reads the Newspaper,
facility
Matsushita Electric Industrial
82-83
Paulos, John, 130
147, 148
Peat, David,
8-9
Pennsylvania, University
Mattel, 7-8
“people,” 93-95
Mazzoli, Ron, 170
People
MCA,
Perdue, Frank, 14
147, 148
Mennen Speed
Stick,
charge,” 155-157
Pavlov, Ivan, 49
(Paulos), 130
Company,
A
“passenger
139
v.
Lopez,
of,
180-182
106
“person,” 96-98, 112
Mexico, 93, 94-95 Middle East, 21-24
photodegradable, 136-138, 142
Milken, Michael, 83
politics, 109,
police,
9.49.
101-107
151-190
Index
167-170
access in,
cynicism about, 196-197
Rehnquist, William, 93, 94, 95, 100, 108
doublespeak
reification,
in, ix, xi,
1-3, 13-14,
54-55, 151-190, 196-198
maps
verbal ‘’Politics
and
in,
religion, 81, 110,
74-79, 129, 158
the English
Language”
“restructuring,” 118, 121
“revenue enhancement,” 13-14, 61,
pornography, 107-108
197-198
pregnancy, 65-66, 95-96
campaign
112
reports, 63, 66, 67, 71, 74
(Orwell), ix-x
presidential
41-45, 48, 50-52, 193
Rockefeller, David, 149
151-152
preventive detention, 100-101
Rockwell International Corporation, 44-45
Priority Mail,
Rosen, Sumner, 123-124, 131
prisons, 97,
Procter
8c
(1992),
1
100-101
Rowland
Gamble, 116, 139
v.
Calfomia Men’s Colony, 97
Rusk, Dean, 146
“production cessation,” 116
product packaging, 138-140
Safire,
prosecutors, 92-93, 105
“sales credits,” 4, 11,
Psychological Operations in Guerrilla
Sale
Warfare,
v.
William, 211-215, 216
83
Haitian Centers, 2
Sapir-Whorf theory, 27-30
213
Public Broadcasting System (PBS),
Scalia,
143-146
Antonin, 108
Schwarzkopf, Norman, 186 Scowcroft, Brent, 160
Quarterly
Scud
Review ofDoublespeak, 202
missiles,
2-3
search warrants, 93-95, 103-104, 106 radioactive waste, 44-45, 173-174
Sears, 118
radio stations, 171-172, 196
self-fulfilling
rationalizations,
16-20
self-incrimination, 98, 102
Reagan, Ronald, 165-166, 197-198,
semantic environments, 80-83, 88,
201,210
91, 92, 96-97, 109-113,
199-203
reality:
sewage,
abstractions vs., 57-58, 75, 123,
interpretation of, 16-18,
4, 42,
62
Shapiro, Esther, 139
128, 133
27-56
language and, 6-9, 27-56 social,
prophecies, 121, 228 n
27-30
signal reactions, 49-56, signs,
35-36, 37, 38
Skinner, Samuel, 155
“reengineering,” 120-123
52-53 smoking, 19-20
“regulatory” procedures, 100-101
Social Security, 165
“receipts proposals,” 154
slogans,
243
203
:
Index
Sony, 147-148
United States
v.
Verdugo-Urquidez,
spin doctors, 153, 216
United States
v.
X-Citement Video,
Stanford University, 117, 176-177 Star
Wars program,
statistics,
Stilwell,
93-95
107-108
3
“user fees,” 154, 155
130-132
Richard, 145
vehicles, 10, 60, 61
stock market, 120-122, 126 “sufficient connection,”
Vidal, Gore, 50-51
94
Vietnam War,
Sununu,John, 163
Supreme Court,
18, 20, 47, 182,
183
viewpoint, 46-47, 72, 78, 129, 138
U.S., x, 2,
93-109
Volkswagen, 139
symbols, 35, 36-42, 45-46, 50, 125, 133, 135
voting rights, 98-99, 197
Walker, William, 157-158 Tanii, Akio, 147
tanning, tariffs,
war, 47-48, 73, 165-166, 182-187,
39-40
200-202
import, 7-8
Warner, John, 16
tax increases, 13-14, 61-62,
welfare, 11,
154-155, 165, 197-198 Teeter, Bob, 151
“wet deposition,” 56
television, 58,
wetlands, 161-164, 175
WGBH, 145-146 WGNO, 141
70-71, 126, 140-146,
208-209
196, 198,
terms, 34-35 terrorists, 38,
White House Council on 43-44, 46-48, 73
Tiananmen Square massacre,
78,
Competitiveness, 163
Whorf, Benjamin Lee,
159-161, 187, 188-190,216 “to be,”
42-43
actions vs., 17-18, 152, 153,
158-161, 178-179
warrants, 103-104
meanings
“transportation,” 60, 61, 62
92-93, 100-101, 102
Truman, Harry
S.,
of,
new, 40-41
146
things vs., 41-45, 48, 50-52,
Tutweiler, Margaret D., 158
WQEX,
unemployment
129-130 “uninstalled,” 116-117
Xiao Bin, 189
United States
Yuan Mu, 189
rate,
Salerno,
100
12-13, 87, 88-98,
104-105, 109-113, 133, 142, 156-158, 162-164, 173
trash bags, 136-138, 142
v.
28-30
words
trade deficit, 124-125, 133
trials,
27,
Wizard of Ox, The, 41, 49
Tourte, Francois, 10
traffic
34
244
144
59-62
1
newdoublespeakwhOOlutz kwhOOlutz
(continued from front flap)
our children to detect doublespeak, as well as equip
them with the means
He
reveals
language,
how we how we
movement
we
to
to counter
can become can
demand
start
clear
effects in their lives.
its
critical
consumers of
a language-consumers’
communication, and
can hold responsible those
who
how
use irresponsible
language.
William Lutz
was
the
head of the Committee on Public Doublespeak
for fifteen years,
and
editor
the
of
Review
Quarterly
of
Doublespeak for fourteen years.
He
is
pro-
Camden, and a member of the Pennsylvania Bar. His previous books include Doublespeak: From Revenue Enhancement to
fessor of English at Rutgers University,
Terminal Living and
American numerous
The Cambridge Thesaurus of
Professor Lutz has appeared
English.
television
and radio programs
on
to publicize
the dangers of doublespeak, including Today
,
Larry
King Live the CBS Evening News the MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour and National Public Radio’s Morning ,
,
;
Edition.
He
lives in
Haddonfield,
New Jersey,
with his
wife, the novelist Denise Gess.
Jacket design
©
1996 by
Author photograph
©
One
Plus
One
Studio
1994 by Jerry Bauer
HarperCollins Publishers http://www.harpercollms.com
“An
irrefutable indictment of those
language to care to
distort the truth.
...
who
subvert
should be read by
It
know when, how, why, and by whom
all
who
they
are being bamboozled.”
— New York Times Book Review “Bill
Lutz
is
the 1990 George Orwell.”
—Larry King “Lutz
may become
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warns about what may be unsafe
at
any
read.”
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—Parade
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