Saturday Night Live has been really funny on the debates – they are at their best with political humor, and I was happy to see the Clinton character on the first episode of the season.

I had to laugh when I saw Tina Fey deliver a long Kerry quote, and then say, “you lost us at ‘Orwellian.'” Unfortunately, I think Kerry did lose many of us. You don’t have to have read Orwell to get the point, but sometime when you’re at a used bookstore, pick up 1984 and Animal Farm. An essay called “Politics and the English Language” is also very important.

Orwellian “doublespeak” just means associating a word with the meaning of its opposite, to make bad things seem good or unpopular things get popular. Examples: War is Peace. A war department called the Ministry of Peace. The government who takes away individual freedoms in the name of security and protection.

Clear Skies Act of 2003 – weakens caps on mercury, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide pollution
Healthy Forest Initiative – opens up our national forests to increased logging
Save the Institution of Marriage – an effort to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage
Leave No Child Behind – undermines the quality of the free public education system

These ideas are wrapped up in associational matrices of goodness, tradition, family, god, and other “Good Things.” What the Bush administration does is sometimes more subtle than complete doublespeak, but it’s a great starting point for critical thinking, which used to be one of the major purposes of education in this country.

Over the last few decades at least, the radical Christian right, the extreme right of the Republican Party, and a number of corporate/financial interests have invested many hundreds of millions of dollars in think tanks, talent, and ideological communication skills that have essentially transformed the language of American politics. They are very good at it, but if you have a critical and questioning spirit – and you know how to see through it – you can spot it in an instant. It’s really very transparent most of the time.

Read up on propaganda – yes, we have it in this country. Don’t believe me? GOOD! Read! Question! Think!

Read some George Lakoff and then read some Frank Lunz, the right-wing propaganda guru who distributes a training manual annually to members.

The thing about propaganda is that it often works. Advertisers use it to promote their projects. We are all familiar with the way sex is used to sell. But there are some basic principles needed for a governmental ideology that keeps secrets and intentionally deceives.

The father of that kind of communications theory is Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda for the German Third Reich under Adolf Hitler, who is generally accounted responsible (or given the credit, depending on your view) for presenting a favourable image of the Nazi regime to the German people. He said: “Never admit a lie – simply keep repeating it.” Governments intent on misleading citizens know this strategy works. Example: 70% of Americans believe that Iraq was behind 9-11 despite all evidence to the contrary. The Bush machine just keeps repeating it over and over. Goebbels also said that “propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses
b. They must be capable of being easily learned
c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations
d. They must be boomerang-proof”

So let me just say that when you find someone using a particular phrase, especially if it seems to stick out to you and get your attention, take the occasion to stop and ask what the phrase really means. What is it associated with? What desires or comforts does it appeal to? Then….. read the small print. The sound-bite doesn’t always match up with the motivational roots, the actual content, or the intended effects.