Do Not Be Deceived

The Bible cautions us about the possibility of being deceived in spiritual matters, but the same warning can be applied to other areas. For instance, I heard a report on NPR the other day about the way the Obama administration (but every administration has done this) has recast various aspects of policy to make them sound better to the public. In other words, wordsmithers (in all areas of life, especially government and advertising) labor long and hard to pick just the right words (e.g., less clear = less offensive) by which to elicit the response they are seeking.

Here are some examples I jotted down while listening to the report . . .

• "special interest groups" are now called "stakeholders"
• the "war on terror" is now an "overseas contingency operation"
• a "mandate" is now "shared responsibility"
• a "toxic financial asset" is now a "legacy asset"

Ah, I feel better already.

Be not deceived. When nothing changes but the words, nothing changes.