Certain words are just too loaded.
They’re so effective at conveying meaning that they become overused. And like in a game of telephone, persistent minor misuse eventually skews whatever real meaning there once was.
Kafkaesque…Nazi…Orwellian…
“War is peace.
Orwell, 1984
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
What do we give up when we create a world of fake language?
We sacrifice meaning for comfort and learn that almost nothing is what it is presented to be (and it’s likely closer to the opposite).
The problem has metastasized so far now that it’s hard to see a return to candor.
Still, it’s worth exploring what it is and why it works.
Four Types of “Doublespeak”
1. Euphemisms
George Carlin did some good bits on euphemisms and “marketing speak.” Toilet paper became bathroom tissue and people never died, they only ever “passed away.”
Yes, euphemisms are a way to make uncomfortable truths more palatable.
Sometimes they’re harmless, but the concept has caught on like a disease.
Of course there are reasonable situations that call for discretion. Overly blunt, unfiltered people can be undesirable killjoys socially.
Euphemisms become dangerous when the popular meaning is either designed or contrived at odds with the objective reality of the thing.
“Overweight” or “obese” is a good example of this phenomenon. Sure, “fat” isn’t always appropriate.
But there are no perfect synonyms. The framing inherent in “overweight” makes it a poor selection for default usage.
“Homeless” is another good example. It’s especially relevant to the designed deception aspect of dangerous euphemisms. It’s common knowledge that it’s not a problem of shelter. The homeless are typically drug addicts or mentally retarded. But we’d rather not think about that problem.
The degradation of language and the consequences accumulate slowly. The payoff for not offending anyone in the present is immediate.
2. Jargon
Every profession has specialized terminology. But jargon outside a professional setting can be a smokescreen.
Example: After a routine medical exam, President Reagan’s doctor stated that his “previously documented decrement in auditory acuity and visual refractive error were evaluated and found to be stable.”
His hearing and eyesight hadn’t changed.
Politicians and scientists are among the worst with both jargon and the next topic “word salad.”
With jargon, the goal is to misrepresent the thoroughness of ones’ knowledge or understanding of a subject by using terms a layman would be unlikely or unwilling to question.
3. Gobbledygook (Bureaucratic Word Salad)
This type of doublespeak overwhelms with unnecessary complexity.
The aim is to convey the absolute minimal amount of information in as many words as possible.
Most effective in speaking, this method challenges the listener’s ability to decipher and contextualize information.
Did they answer the question?
Example: After the 1986 Challenger disaster, a NASA official was asked if shuttle performance had improved. His response:
“I think our performance in terms of the liftoff performance and in terms of the orbital performance, we knew more about the envelope we were operating under, and we have been pretty accurately staying in that.”
So, the answer is “no” then?
4. Inflated Language
Would you rather the title janitor or custodial engineer?
Do you want a used car or a pre-owned vehicle?
Used makes it sound sort of run-through, like you’re just getting the leftovers. Car feels so much plainer and object-like than vehicle.
To the untrained eye, it may appear the phrases are mostly the same.
What’s important, though, is intuiting what emotions and connotations the word combinations have been designed to convey.
Example: The fishing industry successfully rebranded “Patagonian toothfish” as “Chilean sea bass.” Now it’s a menu favorite instead of a fish no one wanted to eat.
Another: Frank Luntz is well known for rebranding the “estate tax” as the “death tax.” Public opposition skyrocketed. As one strategist put it: “People don’t know what an estate is, but they sure as hell don’t want to be taxed just for dying.”
It would certainly be a lot harder to charge $40 a plate for toothfish.
The Reality Manipulation Crisis
I’m not sure the term “doublespeak” gets to the heart of our present reality manipulation crisis.
But it’s certainly some part of it.
The four categories outlined from the highlighted video do a good job of explaining how a lot of the sausage is made.
But it goes far deeper.
Lipitor famously claimed it reduces heart disease risk by 36%. Sounds amazing, but it turns out the data shows the risk only dropped 1.1%. The 36% figure was a statistical trick.
The combination of lying with language, statistics, and visual aids is the most effective of all.
The Destruction of Reality
Anthropologist Edward Sapir argued that language essentially shapes our reality.
The words we hear influence our perception of the world.
“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
Orwell, 1984
Companies and politicians invest millions in crafting the perfect messaging—because “it’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”
So, next time you hear about “collateralized debt obligations,” or a “low-calorie beverage,” or an NGO called “endowment for enhanced democracy”, take a second to translate – even if incompletely.
Someone’s hiding something here…
The more we sanitize language and distance words from meaning, the further humanity becomes removed from a shared objective reality.