• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Word Play and Spin

A

Anonymous

Guest
Public opinion is like a big, stupid yet dangerous animal. Normally docile and controllable, it won't attack as long as you throw it the occasional bone and keep it happy.
One of the proverbial bones is something quite insidious and used through the mass media, that of changing terminologies in order to make things sound better than they really are. It's a marketing ploy.
The article in FT176's Konspiracy Korner looks at the use of "conspiracy theorist" which is seen by many to be a disparaging label, though I recently learned to my cost that some folk on this MB wear it as a badge of honour. The other term used was "revisionist historian" used to describe people of an anti-war stance in Iraq, implying they are on a par with those who deny the Jewish holocaust.
My favourite current example is Global Warming. Global Warming is not something you hear about much these days. That's because it's evolved. It's not Global Warming any more, it's "Climate Change". "Climate Change" is a lot fluffier and more benign than "Global Warming" which implies a worldwide unstoppable phenomenon. "Climate Change" is, on the other hand, sounding a bit more natural, as if it's something that's neither positive or negative, like it's supposed to happen.

Can you think of any other examples of surreptitious spin used to water-down mass media events or concepts?
 
not watered down but still designed to make us emote; terrorism has become simply "terror" :eek:
 
Dark Detective said:
Public opinion is like a big, stupid yet dangerous animal. Normally docile and controllable, it won't attack as long as you throw it the occasional bone and keep it happy.
One of the proverbial bones is something quite insidious and used through the mass media, that of changing terminologies in order to make things sound better than they really are. It's a marketing ploy.
The article in FT176's Konspiracy Korner looks at the use of "conspiracy theorist" which is seen by many to be a disparaging label, though I recently learned to my cost that some folk on this MB wear it as a badge of honour. The other term used was "revisionist historian" used to describe people of an anti-war stance in Iraq, implying they are on a par with those who deny the Jewish holocaust.
My favourite current example is Global Warming. Global Warming is not something you hear about much these days. That's because it's evolved. It's not Global Warming any more, it's "Climate Change". "Climate Change" is a lot fluffier and more benign than "Global Warming" which implies a worldwide unstoppable phenomenon. "Climate Change" is, on the other hand, sounding a bit more natural, as if it's something that's neither positive or negative, like it's supposed to happen.

Can you think of any other examples of surreptitious spin used to water-down mass media events or concepts?
Click to expand...

No offense, but that's becasue they're quite sure now that Global Warming IS a natural event, not being affected all to much by human action.
 
True, though I deliberately wanted to avoid getting into that debate ;)

(One can do that here. )
 
Re: Re: Word Play and Spin

rigmarole said:
No offense, but that's becasue they're quite sure now that Global Warming IS a natural event, not being affected all to much by human action.
Click to expand...
:rofl:
 
In polution lectures at university we were told that the reason it is now more often refered to as climate change is because it's not just warming up the planet, it's making weather more extreame, the floods in europe in 2000 are often cited as a good example of this.

(edited to correct 'couldn't get to sleap so thought I'd come downstairs and go on the net' spelling)
 
I refer the honourable gentlemen to my link above.... ;)

Meanwhile, Word Play and Spin....

I just remembered a good one. "The Patriot Act."
 
Lord_Flashheart said:
In polution lectures at university we were told that the reason it is now more ofter nefered to as climate change is because it's not just warming up the plane, it's makeing weather more extreame, the floods in europe in 2000 are often cited as a good examle of this.
Click to expand...
Finger on the nose, that man!

Of course, the real fun begins when the polar ice cap warms and melts sufficiently to stop the flow of the 'North Atlantic Conveyor,' then we'll be watching for the first signs of a New Ice Age, as Global Warming continues, elsewhere! :p
 
Immigrants are now asslyum seekers :rolleyes:

(I'll keep my thoughts on global warning/climate change for t'other thread)

Jane.
 
It's been in use for a while, but the term 'third world countries' has changed to 'developing countries'. Anyone with a passing knowledge of world economic development of the last 20 years will know that not much actual 'developing' is going on.
 
the dole = job seekers allowance. What a daft term - 'allowance' :rolleyes:
 
I've just been on the irony thread, "Job Seekers Allowance" I thought it was called the "Dole" because they couldn't spell!
 
Slytherin said:
not watered down but still designed to make us emote; terrorism has become simply "terror" :eek:
Click to expand...

No, they are actually trying to wipe out an entire emotion...
 
sidecar_jon said:
Soldiers = Peace Keepers
Click to expand...

Not all peace keepers are soldiers, or soldiers peace keepers.

It's just a title, like 'guard' or 'sentry'.
 
loved ones = anyone vaguely related or acquaintances who've been involved in a nasty event

What happened to friends relatives and colleagues?

Just because you're related or know someone doesn't mean you love them - you might just be enquiring about Uncle X's survival so that you can go through his belongings before the rest of the family get a look in.
 
sidecar_jon said:
Criminals = Offenders
Click to expand...

I only hear that in the context of 'repeat offender' or 'crimnal offender'. Once you commit a criminal offense, you're a criminal. So doing it again is not becoming a 'repeat criminal', but a 'repeat offender'.
 
Inverurie Jones said:
No, they are actually trying to wipe out an entire emotion...
Click to expand...

There is lvoe fo spouse, lvoe of family, love of country. All are quite different feelings, but allare a type of love. Attempting to eliminate the fear that an extremist could blow up the restaurant you're in or the bus you're on is quite an admirable goal...
 
Inverurie Jones said:
Eh?
Click to expand...

Wll, jsut saying theya re trying to eliminate 'terror', the emotion, is a little vague. Let's say we wanted to elimiate love. Do we want to eliminate a child's love for his parents, or a husband's love for his wife? Or a priest's love of god?

The war on terror, however screwed up it is becoming, does have the specific goal of elimianting terrorism-induced fear. Namely, the fear that a nut could blow you up at any time (Israel has terrorism much worse than most other countries currently involved in the WoT).

Sorry, I just find the government too inept to pull off most of the conspiracies they are associated with :p
 
I was joking. A war on 'terror' is a ludicrous idea. Almost as much as fighting a conventional war against terrorism.
 
Inverurie Jones said:
I was joking. A war on 'terror' is a ludicrous idea.
Click to expand...

Well more or less. A war on badgers would be ludicous, a war on terror is ludicrous and a category mistake much like declaring a war on blueness...

As for third world countries, IIRC they first progressed to the status of 'less developed nations' and then 'developing nations'. Kind of an pat on the back that implies they may be crap but at least they're trying. Quite how some states that are busy fighting bloody civil wars, rigging elections, embezzeling foreign aid, and blowing the entire budget on soviet weaponary manage to qualify for the epithet 'developing' is quite beyond me.

:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top