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Doublespeak - The Power of Language

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Imagine the power of language being the most deceptive device on our planet. The American public is manipulated and deceived by people who use doublespeak and are aware of its consequences. "Doublespeak" is defined as language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. It is a blanket term for language which pretends to communicate but doesn't, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attraction. Although in early days it was considered wrong to construct words to disguise meaning, in our society it is now an acceptable and established practice. This practice is highly promoted in government politics, as well as advertising. William D. Lutz, Author and former editor of Quarterly Review of Doublespeak, stated it is important to highlight doublespeak to the public because language isn't the invention of human beings to lie, deceive, mislead, and manipulate but the purpose of language is to communicate the truth and to facilitate social groups getting together (A New Look At Doublespeak, Nov. 1989). The most common place we can find Doublespeak today is through our daily conversations, television, newspaper and radio as well as non-fiction books. Some examples in our society are euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook and inflated language. Doublespeak is intended to modify societies ideas and thoughts by the the power of language, in addition, it is also meant to achieve conformity in the way act as well. A more pleasant doublespeak is euphemism. People use euphemism to soften a statement so their message doesn't have a harsh reality. For example, in the case of a death instead of saying Im sorry your husband died. We would say I'm sorry for your loss or Im sorry he passed away. However, euphemism can also become doublespeak when used to mislead or hide the meaning for example, the term unlawful arbitrary deprivation of life meaning the government was killing its own citizens witho

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