Everything has been amped up in the media: at least the vocabulary has. A presidential tweet is “breaking news!” A press conference is a “blockbuster.” Here’s a guide to help you navigate the weird hyper-exagerrated world of 21st century clickbait media.
A New Media Glossary
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
A theory developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf that states that the structure of a language determines or greatly influences the modes of thought and behavior characteristic of the culture in which it is spoken.
Change the language, change your weltanschauung, and all unfairness and injustice disappears without the attendant pain of cognitive dissonance.
Welcome to the brave new world, brought to you by the language of the masters of the psychic universe.
1984: Newspeak
2018: News Speak
There is just a whole bunch of research confirming that our thoughts are bound by our language. (In other words, most of us can only conceptualize concepts we already know. (Which may go a long ways towards explaining Conservatives…))
Don’t look at me, I’m still pissed off about “literally.”
The question is, Ted, whether the symbiotic relationship between Mr Trump and the US corporate media would best be described as mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic. Difficult, perhaps, to determine, but one thing seems crystal clear : the relationship between that media and the body politic is certainly the latter….
Henri