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Subtle Use of Language Effects Mass Perceptions
Posted January 22nd, 2008 by TragicHipster
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Do you ever get the sense when watching the mainstream media that there is a coordinated effort afoot to control the use of language for the purpose of subtly influencing the public's perception of what is being reported?
For example, every time I get ready to watch a report about Ron Paul on tv or listen to a story on the radio, I know automatically that certain words will be used and assumptions made that are never applied to other candidates. OK, fine, I understand that Ron Paul's numbers in national polls aren't exactly stellar, but there are other legitimate candidates that have polled even lower, or have dropped out of the face entirely, that are not treated the same way as Ron Paul. And let's not forget, Paul has beaten McCain, Guiluiani, Thompson, and Hunter all at least once. So its not like he's some LaRouchie on the sidelines. He has had some relative success and has more delegates than Captain 9/11!
So, I decided to do some testing and searched google using candidate's names and the terms "long-shot candidate"
I searched for each of the following using the phrase "long-shot candidate first_name last_name" and found the following results:
Giuliani (beaten how many times by RP now?) - 1 entry
Fred Thompson (out of the race?) - 1 entry
Bill Richardson (out of the race) - 1 entry
Duncan Hunter (out of the race) - 363 entries
Mike Gravel - 300 entries
Dennis Kucinich - 1,800 entries
Ron Paul - 84,100 entries
Do I detect a pattern here?
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Dark horse candidate Ron
Dark horse candidate Ron Paul yields 76,400 results. I like that term better.
get this over to the campaign
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent" Thomas Jefferson
My search
on the exact phrase: "long shot candidate ron paul" returned 850,000 results.
That's over 3/4 of a million times this has been said. Yep, I'd have to say that's a pattern.
Mockingbird
Almost all the parroting that proceeds any article or comment about RP usually begins with "long shot candidate". That did change for a small duration when some began to use "maverick" for a few articles. Their absolute favorite is definitely LSC vs say "dark horse".
But yes, words to matter and it shapes public perception about who's viable. Also to note its the same tactic that surrounds some polling questions. eg.
Who's electable?
It's propaganda and not serious news most of the time. But we can win no matter.
The money factor is destroying the usual tactics.
The language being used is
The language being used is the language of commerce. They are not refering to you the person but rather the corporate entity that is in all capital letters on most of your documents. When you know who you really are and study the Uniform Commercial Code you will understand the language.