Have you noticed that in the past few years, twisting language to fit one’s own agenda has become very popular? “Experts” are hired to say things in just the right way. It is a form of deception that often happens without people even realizing that they are being manipulated. It will be extremely difficult to drive the new language from their minds because of the power of the words used. Here are some examples:
In the past decade, elected leaders have determined that the wealthiest Americans need protection. For generations, states and the Federal Government have collected “estate taxes” to help limit family dynasties and to help the haves contribute to the general good. When tax cuts were being considered for the well off, during the early 2000s, estate taxes were targeted as unfair. Most Americans approve of such taxes, so they had to be renamed. Estate taxes became “death taxes.”
What is the image you get of a death tax? To start with, it is not a pleasant thought. Our natural fear of death includes our aversion of the word. Tie the word to taxes, and presto, a tax that must be ended because it is abhorrent. How can we tax a person’s death? If anyone questions this move, actors are hired to portray people of moderate means who complain that they worked so hard and should be able to pass everything they made on to their children, (even if those children earn more than the parents).
Staying with the word “death,” we come to “death panels.” What image does that conjure? It is certainly not a positive one. This term was the Republican response to the concept that a patient might want to discuss end-of-life issues with their doctor. Because these discussions will take a significant amount of time if done properly and with compassion, it was recommended that doctors be fairly compensated for their time.
If a legislator or candidate has the goal of stopping a plan that makes sense to a lot of people, the language must change to induce the proper amount of fear and/or loathing. The term “death panel” does that beautifully. Even though there is no panel involved and the whole process only involves discussion and consultation, it doesn’t matter because death panel sounds so horrific few people will want to analyze it.
Within the past few months a new term has come forward. It seems that it is no longer acceptable to refer to the wealthy or rich in those terms. The new Tea Party term is “job creators.” One can logically put a case forward that the wealthiest people should pay their fair share. But call them "Job Creators"-- imply that they are the only folks who will pull us out of this economic mess --and of course it would be wrong not to give them more money.
The tax cuts in the Bush administration predominantly benefited the top 2% of Americans and we are in the deepest recession since the 1930’s. The wealthy have been getting tax cuts for nearly a decade now. Where are the jobs they were supposed to be creating?
There will always be people out there ready to misdirect us with the words they use. Our task as thinking human beings is to look behind what they are actually saying and see who benefits from the misdirection. Maybe instead of worrying so much about how well our students do on standardized tests, we should change our focus to developing effective critical thinking skills.
Do you think the Tea Party and their friends would like to help fund that?
Peace,
Ruth
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