Rhetoric

Trusted Computing Meets George Orwell

by Sheldon Rampton — November 8, 2002 - 1:24pm

Computer experts say Microsoft's "Palladium" software project, which builds on technology being developed by the "Trusted Computing Platform Alliance" (TCPA), could be misused
to gain unprecedented access to personal computers and endanger freedom of speech. TCPA could potentially allow courts, governments and corporations to remotely delete and censor files they deem offensive.

Main Source: 
http://www.sjc.uq.edu.au/insite/edition_7/Lifestyle/Computer%20Privacy.html

Bush Lies, Media Swallows

by Sheldon Rampton — November 6, 2002 - 11:00pm

"President Bush is a liar. There, I said it, but most of the mainstream media won't," writes Eric Alterman.

Main Source: 
The Nation, November 7, 2002

War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

by Sheldon Rampton — November 5, 2002 - 10:16am

Veteran war reporter Chris Hedges has written a book examining the continuing appeal of war to the human psyche. "The communal march against an enemy generates a warm, unfamiliar bond with our neighbors, our community, our nation, wiping out unsettling undercurrents of alienation and dislocation," he writes. He discusses the myths that accompany war in an interview with TomPaine.com: "Once you enter a conflict, or at the inception of a conflict, you are given a language by which you speak.

Main Source: 
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6657

Branding New and Improved Wars

by Laura Miller — October 29, 2002 - 5:16pm

"Marketing a war is serious business. And no product requires better brand names than one that squanders vast quantities of resources while intentionally killing large numbers of people," Media Beat columnist Norman Solomon writes. From 1989's Operation Just Cause to 1991's Operation Desert Storm to today's Enduring Freedom, Solomon suggests that naming military operations is nothing more than a form of "media cross-promotion" meant to sanitize war.

Main Source: 
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/021029.html

The Sniper's Puny Little Gun

by Sheldon Rampton — October 25, 2002 - 10:59am

The National Rifle Association and its supporters are struggling to cope with the bad publicity generated by America's latest gun-toting mass murderer. In an essay that has circulated widely on right-wing and pro-gun web sites, Michael S.

Main Source: 
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/10/18/brown.htm

For Bush, Facts Are Malleable

by Laura Miller — October 20, 2002 - 10:00pm

"As Bush leads the nation toward a confrontation with Iraq and his party into battle in midterm elections, his rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy in recent weeks," Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank wrote. "Statements on subjects ranging from the economy to Iraq suggest that a president who won election underscoring Al Gore's knack for distortions and exaggerations has been guilty of a few himself." Milbank quotes Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess suggesting that some of Bush's "overstatements" may be intentional.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, October 21, 2002

For or Against War, How to Talk Like a Democrat

by John Stauber — October 9, 2002 - 10:00pm

A memorandum from top spinmeisters provides advice, based on opinion polls, as to how Democratic Party members of Congress can explain their votes on the resolution giving President Bush the green light to attack Iraq -- whether the Democrat voted for or against war.

Main Source: 
New York Times, October 10, 2002

Prefer Your Feces-Contaminated Meat 'Cold-Pasteurized'?

by John Stauber — October 9, 2002 - 10:00pm

"U.S. food companies can seek federal approval to avoid using the word "irradiation" on labels of foods treated with the disease-killing process, and instead use language such as "cold pasteurization," the Food and Drug Administration said. ... The FDA issued guidelines explaining how companies can petition the agency to use more neutral language on the label of food treated with irradiation.

Main Source: 
Reuters, October 10, 2002

Ours Not to Reason Why

by Sheldon Rampton — September 25, 2002 - 10:00pm

"The Bush administration campaign for war against Iraq has been an extravaganza of disingenuousness," writes Michael Kinsley. "The arguments come and go. Allegations are taken up, held until discredited, and then replaced. ... Two overarching concepts -- 'terrorism' and 'weapons of mass destruction' -- are drained of whatever intellectual validity they may have had and put to work bridging huge gaps in evidence and logic."

Main Source: 
Washington Post, September 26, 2002

Privatization, Before and After

by Sheldon Rampton — September 25, 2002 - 8:22am

Thanks to the internet archives, we can see what the Cato Institute's "Project on Social Security Privatization" looked like last year and compare that with its new look, now that the stock market crash has reminded the public about the reality of privatization. In the Orwellian new version, all references to "privatization" have been airbrushed out of history and replaced with the word "choice."

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