Doublespeak
January 10th, 2012Definition from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/doublespeak.html”
“Intentionally deceiving language. Not an outright lie or a tactful euphemism, but systematic use of ambiguous, evasive words and sentence structures to say one thing but mean something else. Commonly associated with bureaucracy, military, and politics, it is often practiced in commerce also as a calculated attempt to (1) avoid or shift responsibility, (2) distort reality by making the bad, negative, or unpleasant look good, positive, or pleasant, and vice versa, and (3) confuse by using unfamiliar or concocted jargon. See collateral damage as an example. Also called doubletalk or doublethink.”
A perfect example of doublespeak would be the recent comments made by 2012 Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. Huntsman says if he were President of the United States, he would have signed the National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, which was passed in both houses of the United States Congress (and signed into law by President Obama on New Years Eve), has a provision that allows American citizens to be detained in prison indefinitely without a trial. You can read my short blog entry about it here http://areazeroworld.com/red/2011/12/21/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-an-assualt-on-every-americans-freedoms/
In this video below, Jon says he would work to protect “habeas corpus” and “due process” in practice, even though the bill he would sign eliminates those very things. If he truly cared about protecting the rights of Americans he would have stood up and said no. Instead it’s just another example of a slick talking politician who even in a fictional scenario, can’t find the courage to stand up for human rights.
