On Wednesday, we looked at some of the empty language and flawed argumentation of Republican Ted Cruz. Today, in this commercial from Democrat Bernie Sanders, you will see much of the same, demonstrating that obfuscation and fallacious reasoning do not belong to one political party. Everyone does it.
In this particular example, notice how often Sanders uses words that go undefined. One trick of political speak is to seem like you are saying something important without actually saying anything at all. And Sanders excels at this more than any candidate since Barack Obama in 2008.
In his famous essay from 1946, "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell wrote, "In certain kinds of writing...it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning...in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader."
In other words, politicians know they are doing this. And, even worse, they know you won't care they are doing it. So they do it even more. And, sadly, we let them get away with it. As this endless political season rolls on, make sure to hold candidates from all parties to account regarding the language they use.
In this particular example, notice how often Sanders uses words that go undefined. One trick of political speak is to seem like you are saying something important without actually saying anything at all. And Sanders excels at this more than any candidate since Barack Obama in 2008.
In his famous essay from 1946, "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell wrote, "In certain kinds of writing...it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning...in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader."
In other words, politicians know they are doing this. And, even worse, they know you won't care they are doing it. So they do it even more. And, sadly, we let them get away with it. As this endless political season rolls on, make sure to hold candidates from all parties to account regarding the language they use.