In a good speech he gave at a South African university this year, John Pilger succinctly described how the language of the world's elites has been perverted to the point of claiming meanings that are in fact the opposite of the thing being described. The media is hugely compliant in this game of deceit -willingly repeating the terminology of the press releases and statements of governments without bringing much, if any, of its critical faculties to bear on what is being said. At any rate, few appear to notice the disconnect between what is being done and how it is being described.

Pilger's speech is here:

http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=481

Here's a snippet:

"...Who are "we"? Unlike you and me, most human beings have never used a computer and never owned a telephone. And those of us who are technologically blessed often confuse information with media, and corporate training with knowledge. These are probably the most powerful illusions of our times. We even have a new vocabulary, in which noble concepts have been corporatised and given deceptive, perverse, even opposite meanings.

"Democracy" is now the free market – a concept itself berefet of freedom. "Reform" is now the denial of reform. "Economics" is the relegation of most human endeavour to material value, a bottom line. Alternative models that relate to the needs of the majority of humanity end up in the memory hole. And "governance" – so fashionable these days - means an economic system approved in Washington, Brussels and Davos. "Foreign policy" is service to the dominant power. Conquest is "humanitarian intervention". Invasion is "nation-building"."

Closer to home, Irish politics is saturated with this sort of truth-inverting reporting. IBEC press releases amount almost to a form of comedy when viewed from this perspective. I'm wondering if I could start a blog here on this subject -a sort of ongoing media-bullshit watch as an attempt to highlight this insidious phenomenon. The business and property sections of the nationals provide rich pickings. Words like 'efficiency' and 'competitive' have now become code for unpleasant things that it is too impolite to give proper names to. Whenever the media does manage to tell it like it is, there are howls of outrage from government and business leaders alike, accusing the media of creating the circumstances and phenomena that they have merely described. Truth telling of this sort is often said to be 'irresponsible' - another inversion of meaning that people have become inured to.

This phenomenon is possibly more true of the property and financial services sectors of the economy than any others. For example, it's almost taboo to mention that the outrageous conduct of the US Federal reserve and most of the financial services sector are themselves to blame for the global catastrophe they have brought about. And God forbid that anyone should mention that it is taxpayers money that will be used to bail the business buccaneers out of the mess they have got us all into. 'Free' market, indeed.

Anyway, thats the gist of an idea I have for a blog. What do others think?

Aragon wrote:

In a good speech he gave at a South African university this year, John Pilger succinctly described how the language of the world's elites has been perverted to the point of claiming meanings that are in fact the opposite of the thing being described. The media is hugely compliant in this game of deceit -willingly repeating the terminology of the press releases and statements of governments without bringing much, if any, of its critical faculties to bear on what is being said. At any rate, few appear to notice the disconnect between what is being done and how it is being described.

Pilger's speech is here:

http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=481

Here's a snippet:

"...Who are "we"? Unlike you and me, most human beings have never used a computer and never owned a telephone. And those of us who are technologically blessed often confuse information with media, and corporate training with knowledge. These are probably the most powerful illusions of our times. We even have a new vocabulary, in which noble concepts have been corporatised and given deceptive, perverse, even opposite meanings.

"Democracy" is now the free market – a concept itself berefet of freedom. "Reform" is now the denial of reform. "Economics" is the relegation of most human endeavour to material value, a bottom line. Alternative models that relate to the needs of the majority of humanity end up in the memory hole. And "governance" – so fashionable these days - means an economic system approved in Washington, Brussels and Davos. "Foreign policy" is service to the dominant power. Conquest is "humanitarian intervention". Invasion is "nation-building"."

Closer to home, Irish politics is saturated with this sort of truth-inverting reporting. IBEC press releases amount almost to a form of comedy when viewed from this perspective. I'm wondering if I could start a blog here on this subject -a sort of ongoing media-bullshit watch as an attempt to highlight this insidious phenomenon. The business and property sections of the nationals provide rich pickings. Words like 'efficiency' and 'competitive' have now become code for unpleasant things that it has too impolite to give proper names to. Whenever the media accidentally manages to tell it like it is, there are howls of outrage from government and business leaders alike, accusing the media of creating the circumstances and phenomena that has merely described. Truth telling of this sort is often said to be 'irresponsible' - another inversion of meaning that people have become inured to.

This phenomenon is possibly more true of the property and financial services sectors of the economy than any others. For example, it's almost taboo to mention that the outrageous conduct of the US Federal reserve and most of the financial services sector are themselves to blame for the global catastrophe they have brought about. And God forbid that anyone should mention that it is taxpayers money that will be used to bail the business buccaneers out of the mess they have got us all into. 'Free' market, indeed.

Anyway, thats the gist of an idea I have for a blog. What do others think?

Are you proposing to translate press releases into plain English (or Irish - tips hat to Irish forum)

well i think the unions did it pretty well when the bust the media push at the moment of us being a high wage economy when they put out a brief showing we had low wages compared to alot of other countries.

well do an example, i particularily don't like consumer =citizen stuff.

lostexpectation wrote:

well i think the unions did it pretty well when the bust the media push at the moment of us being a high wage economy when they put out a brief showing we had low wages compared to alot of other countries.

well do an example, i particularily don't like consumer =citizen stuff.

Also, that we spend less on public services.

lostexpectation wrote:

well i think the unions did it pretty well when the bust the media push at the moment of us being a high wage economy when they put out a brief showing we had low wages compared to alot of other countries.

well do an example, i particularily don't like consumer =citizen stuff.

Im not sure what you mean. That you dont like it when the word consumer is substituted for citizen? Or that you don't like it being pointed out that the word consumer has been substituted for citizen?

cactus flower wrote:

Are you proposing to translate press releases into plain English (or Irish - tips hat to Irish forum)

That too but the focus would be on double-speak and/or outrageous inversions of meaning.

I'll try to post an example later today.

yeah i don't like it when people say consumer and or customer when they should say citizen or even person and recognise that we're not just economic units.

lostexpectation wrote:

yeah i don't like it when people say consumer and or customer when they should say citizen or even person and recognise that we're not just economic units.

Oh god I hate the term "what he/she is worth" meaning how much money do they have.

I will post one. Patriot Act. uniting and strenghtening america by Providing Appropiate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. It should be called the Electronic Eavesdropping Act. Also here a socialist is called a liberal

cactus flower wrote:

lostexpectation wrote:

yeah i don't like it when people say consumer and or customer when they should say citizen or even person and recognise that we're not just economic units.

Oh god I hate the term "what he/she is worth" meaning how much money do they have.

Yeah, it's pretty grim as such phrases go.