Language, Media, Doublespeak and Wordplay: how they affect us daily
I realize that I have chosen a controversial issue to use my newfound skills of acknowledging different kinds of word tricks that are bestowed upon us as citizens. I felt that this particular issue is perfect because it exposes the propaganda of each side efficiently. All of the participants in this debate use some words that will, they hope, win the hearts and minds of all those listening. By using the media, the propaganda of each ones statements begin to spread and catch like a wildfire. Due to the sensitivity of Section 8 in Lancaster you will see a clear example of how words can be used to put forward one’s own ideas and beliefs.
In an article found in Our Weekly Fran Paolinelli, wrote “Half the people receiving Section 8 housing vouchers are neither elderly nor disabled, nor is there any incentive for them to get off the program, according to a report from the Los Angeles County housing authority.” Notice, how she is pointing out that section 8 is for those who would be qualified as elderly or disabled. This is identifiably propaganda because there is no rule that states that these are the only two qualifiers, this is her way of influencing the reader into believing subconsciously that is the only reason one should receive this housing benefit.
After you believe that all those other people are on it un-neccessarily, she give you the information to really make you upset, not only should normal people not be able to benefit from Section 8 but there is no incentive for them to get off! So now you have all these well equipped people sitting there receiving discounted housing assistance and they never have to try to get off. There are some that have been accepting this assistance for 16 years
When asked in another article, Maria Badrakhan, acting assistant executive director for the Housing Authority, stated that “Lancaster is an attractive location because of "the affordability, the quality of housing and the willingness of landlords to participate in the [Section 8] program," she said. In his essay, Doubts about Doublespeak William Lutz coined this type of political wordplay as a euphemism, a word or phrase designed to avoid a harsh or distasteful reality. The reality here is that investors ( willingness of Landlords) bought these new, large homes (quality of housing) with the intent that they are guaranteed a paycheck from the state while only a small portion actually comes from the tenant(affordability). ! Lets’ put the icing on the cake, in the article is a picture of a beautiful, two-story house, built in 2006, 6 bedroom, 3 full bathrooms, and normal lease for this house would be $1995.00 a month but it is Section 8.
When you take a look at the way the two sides approached the situation the manipulation on both sides is apparent. I cannot help but wonder why they did not just simply state their case.
Side 1: Look, it’s not fair for able bodied people to receive this much help for this long. I am all for helping out but these people are living with this assistance for 16 years?!
Side 2: Yes, but it is only fair to give under privileged families an equal opportunity to live in a decent home while getting on their feet.
Compromise: You can only be on Section 8 for X years, (plenty of time to get a degree and a job) and then you pay in full your own rent. If you are cited for inappropriate conduct or receive complaints totaling X amount, you forfeit any and all Section 8 privileges for the rest of your life. Why is this so hard?!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Little Intrigues
Little Intrigues
If you have a busy schedule, then it is likely that you don’t get a lot of time to sit and watch the news, or to read through a favorite news website in order to find the most recent happenings. If you are like me, you will depend on the “one liners” in the headlines that intrigues you into feeling the need to read it.
I open my yahoo mail up every day and when I do, there are lists of things that show up that are considered top news. Unfortunately, I do not get time to open them up and read about them, but at least I have a vague idea of what is happening. I then take this information with me once I have gotten my children ready for school, downstairs for breakfast. This is where a good chunk of my daily intrigue comes from. I get to turn on the news for about 15 minutes before running out the door. Next, to the car we go, we live about 22 minutes away from the kids school which give a lot of time for tidbits of information between songs in the car (that is only if I am not giving spelling test, or some other type of review while driving). This is enough bits and pieces of information to keep me curious all day.
By the time I get to work I have so many questions! I usually ask “hey did anybody hear about __________? This is where I get the rest of the information to try to fill in the blanks. It at least relieves my intense curiosity for a while. I have to admit, by the time I get home, depending on the news that day, all I want to do is turn on the news. Between baseball practice, games, a busy dancing daughter, and my school schedule, this is not always possible. In the desperate times of deep curiosity when the daily news was quite interesting, I pull out the big guns! I call my friend. He knows everything! This way I do not have to try to fish around channels, or the internet in order find the conclusion or running story of what is happening. It works quite well.
There are a few snags to my system. One of them being, when you rely on bits and pieces of information coming from different sources you can never be sure of the slant you are getting. The way the informant perceives the information and then retells it is impactful. Simple connotations can lead you to believe a positive is a negative or the other way around.
It is important to consider you sources. A liberal person or news cast may find something to be good news. I’m sure everyone is familiar with prop 8 so we will use that. Depending on the side you are on, a gay rights parade is either good news or bad news. They way you see it will affect the way you report, if you are for it you will report the success of the parade, or the abuse that was displayed by the opposing side, however; if you are against it the reports will show the more as much opposite information as possible.
If you have a busy schedule, then it is likely that you don’t get a lot of time to sit and watch the news, or to read through a favorite news website in order to find the most recent happenings. If you are like me, you will depend on the “one liners” in the headlines that intrigues you into feeling the need to read it.
I open my yahoo mail up every day and when I do, there are lists of things that show up that are considered top news. Unfortunately, I do not get time to open them up and read about them, but at least I have a vague idea of what is happening. I then take this information with me once I have gotten my children ready for school, downstairs for breakfast. This is where a good chunk of my daily intrigue comes from. I get to turn on the news for about 15 minutes before running out the door. Next, to the car we go, we live about 22 minutes away from the kids school which give a lot of time for tidbits of information between songs in the car (that is only if I am not giving spelling test, or some other type of review while driving). This is enough bits and pieces of information to keep me curious all day.
By the time I get to work I have so many questions! I usually ask “hey did anybody hear about __________? This is where I get the rest of the information to try to fill in the blanks. It at least relieves my intense curiosity for a while. I have to admit, by the time I get home, depending on the news that day, all I want to do is turn on the news. Between baseball practice, games, a busy dancing daughter, and my school schedule, this is not always possible. In the desperate times of deep curiosity when the daily news was quite interesting, I pull out the big guns! I call my friend. He knows everything! This way I do not have to try to fish around channels, or the internet in order find the conclusion or running story of what is happening. It works quite well.
There are a few snags to my system. One of them being, when you rely on bits and pieces of information coming from different sources you can never be sure of the slant you are getting. The way the informant perceives the information and then retells it is impactful. Simple connotations can lead you to believe a positive is a negative or the other way around.
It is important to consider you sources. A liberal person or news cast may find something to be good news. I’m sure everyone is familiar with prop 8 so we will use that. Depending on the side you are on, a gay rights parade is either good news or bad news. They way you see it will affect the way you report, if you are for it you will report the success of the parade, or the abuse that was displayed by the opposing side, however; if you are against it the reports will show the more as much opposite information as possible.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Hateful Words
Sticks and Stones
Remember when you were little and your parent told you that words can’t hurt you? I think that was the first time I ever doubted my parents. I remember when I was teased for the first time. It not only scarred me emotionally it created an insecurity that lasted a long time. When somebody says something to you that makes a connection to something that carries a negative connotation in your own mind it can be hurtful.
The truth is, without previous knowledge, some things don’t pack the same punch as they do when combined with a sack full of previous insults and negativity. When you describe someone using their physical attributes only, you generally leave out adjectives like fat; wrinkly, old, ugly, black, brown, scrawny, etc. (I could go on). Every one of my children when they were between the age of 2 ½ and 4, each one of them used at least one of these words to describe someone. Unfortunately, we were usually in a public place and they were not using their “inside voice”. I was devastated and in some cases I pretended not to know who that loud child belonged to. Other times I picked up my child and ran around the isle before the intended target could process what had just happened.
It was only after I had a talk with the offending child and explained how it made people feel when fat or black is used as a defining term for who they are. You see my children were correct. The person was black, ugly, wrinkly (in one case, extremely wrinkly) or whatever. The problem was not that it was a dishonest or mean attack against the person. The problem was that along with the particular word came a negative connotation. Not until they learned that these terms can be deemed as hateful did they fully understand the concept.
Until the stereotype is understood, one may go a lifetime without being aware of the unkindness’s that surround them on a daily basis. There are people that are so sheltered from different scenarios that they cannot fully appreciate the impact they can have. The word itself is not what is painful. It is the implication that is placed onto the person involved.
Being black is not hurtful. It is the pain and degradation that they have endured through the years. When a white person labels someone as black, due to the year’s whites fought to keep them inferior, it can come across as hateful words.
It is important that we are all sensitive to those around us. We all have stereotypes that we wish to avoid. When these stereotypes are so carelessly placed on our shoulders to wear proudly by those around us, whether it is intentional or not, human nature would throw us into the natural “fight or flight” reaction.
The truth is that stick and stones do hurt. But so do words. At this moment I want you to think of a time that someone said something awful to you. Were you able to dodge it like you could a stick? Names and unkind words can stick with you for years, leaving an imprint on you that are extremely difficult to escape.
Remember when you were little and your parent told you that words can’t hurt you? I think that was the first time I ever doubted my parents. I remember when I was teased for the first time. It not only scarred me emotionally it created an insecurity that lasted a long time. When somebody says something to you that makes a connection to something that carries a negative connotation in your own mind it can be hurtful.
The truth is, without previous knowledge, some things don’t pack the same punch as they do when combined with a sack full of previous insults and negativity. When you describe someone using their physical attributes only, you generally leave out adjectives like fat; wrinkly, old, ugly, black, brown, scrawny, etc. (I could go on). Every one of my children when they were between the age of 2 ½ and 4, each one of them used at least one of these words to describe someone. Unfortunately, we were usually in a public place and they were not using their “inside voice”. I was devastated and in some cases I pretended not to know who that loud child belonged to. Other times I picked up my child and ran around the isle before the intended target could process what had just happened.
It was only after I had a talk with the offending child and explained how it made people feel when fat or black is used as a defining term for who they are. You see my children were correct. The person was black, ugly, wrinkly (in one case, extremely wrinkly) or whatever. The problem was not that it was a dishonest or mean attack against the person. The problem was that along with the particular word came a negative connotation. Not until they learned that these terms can be deemed as hateful did they fully understand the concept.
Until the stereotype is understood, one may go a lifetime without being aware of the unkindness’s that surround them on a daily basis. There are people that are so sheltered from different scenarios that they cannot fully appreciate the impact they can have. The word itself is not what is painful. It is the implication that is placed onto the person involved.
Being black is not hurtful. It is the pain and degradation that they have endured through the years. When a white person labels someone as black, due to the year’s whites fought to keep them inferior, it can come across as hateful words.
It is important that we are all sensitive to those around us. We all have stereotypes that we wish to avoid. When these stereotypes are so carelessly placed on our shoulders to wear proudly by those around us, whether it is intentional or not, human nature would throw us into the natural “fight or flight” reaction.
The truth is that stick and stones do hurt. But so do words. At this moment I want you to think of a time that someone said something awful to you. Were you able to dodge it like you could a stick? Names and unkind words can stick with you for years, leaving an imprint on you that are extremely difficult to escape.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Can You Really Separate Self-Respect from Happiness?
If you had to chose
What would you say is more important, happiness or self-respect? The best way to really tell is to imagine yourself with only one. Would you give up happiness for self-respect, or would you be more willing to give up your self-respect to achieve happiness. What if one of them leads to the other and that is why you chose it.
As an individual attribute self-respect is the more noble choice of the two. Self-respect has been defined as possessing a proper respect for oneself as a human being, or regard for one’s own standing or position. Happiness, on the other hand, would come across as a goal to be reached, the result of some long term task. It is defined as a state of well being and contentment, a pleasurable or satisfying experience.
There isn’t any one of us that would deny the fact that we all wish to achieve real happiness. It is why we go to school, work hard, and build relationships. Happiness may not have been the initial reaction to the question of which is more important, but it would be a likely candidate for a number one goal.
Self-respect is an idea that we all hold dear and is yet so hard to hold onto. The possibility of it being snatched from our light grip plays with us daily. Every day, if self-respect is the most important, it is challenged by temptations in so many different aspects. We have to make decisions each day to stay true to this ideal that is oh so very slippery. Slippery not because it is not available, but slippery because self-respect can be compromised by a choice to be silent when you should speak up, sometimes it calls for silence when you want to yell. Can you be proud of the positions that you took today? Did you stand true to yourself no matter the cost? What would you give up for this idea of respecting yourself? Your job, your friends, your family relationships? These are all high costs for this noble choice.
My son is in the 4th grade. He has been homeschooled for most until this last year. He started public school and within the first week he experienced bullying for the first time. There was a little boy in his class and the other kids said unkind things to him and about him. They would trip him on the way to class, etc. This bothered my son deeply. When he disclosed the scenario he had witnessed, I informed him of his options and the consequences to those choices. He chose to go to the principle, instead of pretending not to notice it was going on. I was very clear that if he told, he would most likely be the next target. He went, fully informed of the potential, and pointed out the children that were doing the bullying.
He is only in 4th grade, and yet he knew, without the ability to verbalize it, that he would not be able to rest with himself knowing that he did not stand for what he knew was right. Could it be that his choice to respect himself also came from the same desire to possess happiness, or can you really know happiness without self-respect?
What would you say is more important, happiness or self-respect? The best way to really tell is to imagine yourself with only one. Would you give up happiness for self-respect, or would you be more willing to give up your self-respect to achieve happiness. What if one of them leads to the other and that is why you chose it.
As an individual attribute self-respect is the more noble choice of the two. Self-respect has been defined as possessing a proper respect for oneself as a human being, or regard for one’s own standing or position. Happiness, on the other hand, would come across as a goal to be reached, the result of some long term task. It is defined as a state of well being and contentment, a pleasurable or satisfying experience.
There isn’t any one of us that would deny the fact that we all wish to achieve real happiness. It is why we go to school, work hard, and build relationships. Happiness may not have been the initial reaction to the question of which is more important, but it would be a likely candidate for a number one goal.
Self-respect is an idea that we all hold dear and is yet so hard to hold onto. The possibility of it being snatched from our light grip plays with us daily. Every day, if self-respect is the most important, it is challenged by temptations in so many different aspects. We have to make decisions each day to stay true to this ideal that is oh so very slippery. Slippery not because it is not available, but slippery because self-respect can be compromised by a choice to be silent when you should speak up, sometimes it calls for silence when you want to yell. Can you be proud of the positions that you took today? Did you stand true to yourself no matter the cost? What would you give up for this idea of respecting yourself? Your job, your friends, your family relationships? These are all high costs for this noble choice.
My son is in the 4th grade. He has been homeschooled for most until this last year. He started public school and within the first week he experienced bullying for the first time. There was a little boy in his class and the other kids said unkind things to him and about him. They would trip him on the way to class, etc. This bothered my son deeply. When he disclosed the scenario he had witnessed, I informed him of his options and the consequences to those choices. He chose to go to the principle, instead of pretending not to notice it was going on. I was very clear that if he told, he would most likely be the next target. He went, fully informed of the potential, and pointed out the children that were doing the bullying.
He is only in 4th grade, and yet he knew, without the ability to verbalize it, that he would not be able to rest with himself knowing that he did not stand for what he knew was right. Could it be that his choice to respect himself also came from the same desire to possess happiness, or can you really know happiness without self-respect?
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