Let My People Go

Hank Williams's comparison of the President to Hitler has led Slate to ask, "Before World War II, who was the rhetorical worst person in history?"

If You Don't Like It, Turn the Dial to the Left

As my friend Emma Burnette points out, the GOP's selection of "class warfare" as a topos was undoubtedly focus-grouped up the ying-yang, but may very well backfire on them.

Especially if the 99% can turn it on them (see the Aristotelean topos of "turning the tables" (#6): "Another line is to apply to the other speaker what he has said against yourself."). Warren Buffett has already begun to do some of this work on our behalf.

Dale Carnegie Goes Orwell

While looking at Dwight Garner's evisceration of “How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age,” it became clear to me (since I'm always someone slow to pick up on the obvious) that Orwellian doublespeak has become the language of prestige in contemporary discourse, that it sings for the people who work on Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.

This new adaptation seems to have been composed using refrigerator magnets stamped with corporate lingo: “transactional proficiency,” “tangible interface,” “relational longevity,” “continuum of opportunities,” “interpersonal futility,” and “our faith persuasion.” The devastation, in terms of Carnegie’s original charm, is nearly complete. Were Carnegie alive to read this grievous book, he would clutch his chest like Redd Foxx in “Sanford and Son,” smile wanly for a few minutes (he didn’t like to make others feel bad), then keel over into his cornflakes.

The following sentence, which appears on Page 80, is so inept that it may actually be an ancient curse and to read it more than three times aloud is to summon the cannibal undead: “Today’s biggest enemy of lasting influence is the sector of both personal and corporate musing that concerns itself with the art of creating impressions without consulting the science of need ascertainment.”

Emoticons & Speed

Why email is a bad way of conveying emotional information. (It's essentially the same reason that online discussions tend to devolve into typed-out shrieking.

Your Relationship with the Media

If TV news was a person you were dating, things might go like this.

Sometimes the best way to take a look at something is to pick it up and move it.

Gandhi's Lobotomy

A lot of those inspirational sayings you've seen on the web? They aren't quite as pithy and cheerful as you think they are.

For one thing, anybody who pays attention to rhetoric at all would realize that it's a real stretch (in both cultural and gender terms) to imagine Nelson Mandela saying, during his 1994 Presidential inauguration, "We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"

Doesn't that sound a whole hell of a lot more like a self-help guru in L.A., who shows up on Oprah a lot? Which is what it actually turns out to be.

WWII Propaganda Poster

Media Scare Words

Security consultant Gavin de Becker unpacks some of the words the news media use to keep us all anxious, and therefore tuned in.

More Online Scams

The Better Business Bureau presents The Top Online Scams of 2010. Any of them look familiar?

Fake Online Reviewers Busted

One of the following two online hotel reviews is a fake, bought (at ridiculously low wages) by the hotel involved, and one is legit.

1. I have stayed at many hotels traveling for both business and pleasure and I can honestly stay that The James is tops. The service at the hotel is first class. The rooms are modern and very comfortable. The location is perfect within walking distance to all of the great sights and
restaurants. Highly recommend to both business travellers and couples.

2. My husband and I stayed at the James Chicago Hotel for our anniversary. This place is fantastic! We knew as soon as we arrived we made the right choice! The rooms are BEAUTIFUL and the staff very attentive and wonderful!! The area of the hotel is great, since I love to shop I couldn’t ask for more!! We will definatly be back to Chicago and we will for sure be back to the James Chicago.

Can you tell which one? A team of researchers at Cornell University can, with a computer algorithm they've worked out. Details here, and the full paper here.