keliayr

MANIPULATION OF LANGUAGE

In his article “Discourse and Manipulation,” published in the 2006 issue of Discourse & Society, Teun A. van Dijk describes language as an important tool for manipulation because the manipulator can make people think the way he wants them to: “Manipulation implies the exercise of a form of illegitimate influence by means of discourse: manipulators make others believe or do things that are in the interest of the manipulator, and against the best interests of the manipulated” (van Dijk 360). In other words, language is power. No one knows this better than O’Brien in George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel 1984. During his torture scenes with Winston, he explains how language is the very means by which the Party manipulates the public: “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing” (Orwell 220). This is the ultimate example of the ruling Party’s all-encompassing power, built largely on their ability to control the minds of the populace by manipulating language. They achieve this manipulation through the use of propaganda, Newspeak and media. In our own society language is used to manipulate citizens as well, in more subtle, yet no less alarming ways, through the use of advertising, media and politics. Could we be headed toward a totalitarian society such as that presented in 1984?

'1984'

"Doublethink" - (holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind at the same time):

WAR IS PEACE

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

"Unperson" -- someone who does not exist

"Goodthinkful" - (orthodox)

"Joycamp" -- (forced labor camp)

"Sexcrime" -- (any sexual act done for a reason other than creating a future devotee of the Party)

"Thoughtcrime" -- (thinking in an unorthodox manner)

"Facecrime" -- (wearing a facial expression suggesting unorthodoxy)

ADDITIONAL NOVELS/MOVIES WHICH ADDRESS LANGUAGE MANIPULATION:

The Giver

In The Giver, society manipulates language by insisting on precise use of words. The word "Love" for example is not allowed because it is said to be too vague.

The Truman Show

In The Truman Show, Truman's entire system of language is taught to him by the show's producers who want to sell ads and who don't want Truman to find out the truth about his situation, So, it is fraught with advertising slogans and lacking in words for individual thought.

POLITICIANS

Taken from Juan Stam's December 4, 2003 article "Bush's Religious Language" in The Nation online:

Ways that President George W. Bush convinced America that going to war was a good idea:

MANICHEISM: Absolute Good and Absolute Evil.

-- "This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil, but good will prevail." -- George W. Bush about the Iraq war

MESSIANISM: Describing things in evangelical terms.

"our calling, as a blessed country, is to make the world better." -- from George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.

Tony Blair

Manipulation Strategies

Euphemism Hall of Fame

Newt Gingrich's 1996 GOPAC memo

ADVERTISING
The following advertisements which use double meanings in their language to manipulate buyers into associating secondary things with their products:

-- Brooks shoes' ad "Roads Scholar"

-- Levi-Strauss ad "Strokes of Levi's Jeanius"

-- Nissan ad "Feel Your Pulse Quicken"

--Martini & Rossi's "In a Glass By Itself"

-- Ford Motor Company's "Body Builders"

-- "Sell! Buy! Semiolinguistic Manipulation in Print Advertising" published on the California State University -- Northridge website (1989) by Alan C. Harris

"Works like" or "Looks like" i.e. "Looks like leather" (makes buyer think of something better)

"Exclusive" (needlessly expensive) and "New" (not fully tested or reliable)

-- "I Can Sell You Anything" by Carl P. Wrighter

"It has long been known that" (I haven't bothered to look up the original reference)

"Three of the samples were chosen..." (the results on the others didn't make sense and were ignored)

-- "A Random Walk in Science" by R. L. Weber

"You've never driven a Buick like this before" (Like what?)

"Sunshine units" (for the radiation released by nuclear bomb testing)

-- "Advertising, The Uneasy Persuader" by Michael Hudson

Special thanks to:

www.brooksrunning.com www.wikipedia.com

www.blockbuster.com www.levistore.com