Sunday, July 15, 2007

Doublespeak

Is it just me or has the art of doublespeak gotten out of control. I started thinking about this last month when the sheriff of LA county defended his early release of Paris Hilton unapologetically as a "reassignment to home"!! When people try to disguise their actions or beliefs they seem to find words that are less offensive or less controversial. This is true in all fields of endever especially politics. Anti abortionists call themselves pro-life. I guess the word anti has a negative connotation to some people. Pro abortionists are not any better. They call themselves pro-choice. Probably because the word abortion has a negative connotation. I don't think people that call themselves pro choice are any more pro choice than the people who call themselves pro life are really pro life. Here are some recent examples of doublespeak: redeploy rather than retreat revenue enhancement rather than tax increase investment rather than spending fairness doctrine rather than free speech suppression rightsizing rather than layoffs undocumented worker rather than illegal alien recycle collection area rather than junk yard negative patient care outcome rather than died ethnic cleansing rather than genocide Doublespeak is not new by any means. Here are some historical examples: pre-owned rather than used passed away rather than died sales associate rather than clerk friendly fire rather than fratricide mentally challenged rather than retarded sanatation engineer rather than garbage collector maintenance engineer rather than janitor Do you think doublespeak is getting worse? What are some of your favorite doublespeaks?