When did 'Global Warming' become 'Climate Change'? The use of language by politicians to fog and delude people to a false sense of security is calculated by office blocks full of 'creatives' who wile away the hours coming up with more palatable terms for situations that are alarming. Sounds like a William Gibson plot or conspiracy theory but unfortunately this phenomena is true.
Some other examples of unspeak include
- pro-life - as if anti-abortionists are the only people who care about life
- tax relief - smuggles in a kind of baseline opinion that tax is bad and should always be reduced
- war on terror
I heard Stephen Poole talk at the Sydney Writers' Festival earlier this year. He is sharp, intelligent and gorgeous. His book and blog are called
'Unspeak'.
Here is a transcript of an interview on radio national with the author.
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