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- Words don't lie, part III: Campaign rhetoric gives way to campaign linguisticsOctober 8
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Language has taken on a special prominence in the 2008 presidential election. It's customary for each side to malign the opposition for using words that are vague or deceptive, and even for lying outright – nothing new there. But this time around it's Language with a big "L" that's also coming under scrutiny, the use of language as a whole, not just individual words unfairly spun or improperly deployed.
Republicans in this campaign adamantly disapprove of Democrats using any words at all. As James Woods points out in the New Yorker, Phyllis Schlafly dismissed Barack Obama as "just an élitist who worked with words" (and I thought only élitists spelled the word with an acute accent), while praising Sarah Palin for working not with words but with her hands (shooting moose from a helicopter when you're seven months pregnant sure trumps writing books).
Palin herself trivialized Obama for, as she put it, "authoring" two books – apparently everybody but bloggers knows that writing is a waste of time. Using words is something that elitists do, when they're not windsurfing and sipping chablis. Instead they should emulate Republicans and do stuff that's really important, like popping open beer cans or trying to remember where they put the keys to their many houses and cars.
But Republican language is being dismissed just as cavalierly by the
- Debating the Perception DeviceOctober 6
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Joe: It's literally a shame--let me say that again--it is a real and total shame--seriously--that we must use a light dimmer to express our political opinoins. It is a solid fact--a dark truth--that American political discourse is completely lacking of any substance. Literally. Check the record.
Sarah: Say it aint so, Joe. There ya go again, talking about stuff instead of turn'n the dial. You sure aren't one of the Joe six-packs out there, do'n their best, use'n their fingers to twist that knob. I'd like to give a shout out to all those 3rd graders out there, make'n their voices heard by spinning that circle!
- Regarding BosniaksOctober 5
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You may wish to read this : http://mediamatters.org/items/200810030001
While Bosniak sounds odd, it is quite specific and appropriate.
- More about the Perception AnalyzerOctober 4
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I enjoyed your post and the good humor toward our Perception Analyzer technology. It has indeed been used for 25 years during every presidential campaign as well as political campaigns around the world and is in use at more than 30 colleges and universities worldwide.
Please feel free to contact me directly if you'd like to discuss or learn more about it.
- Words don't lie, part II: Perception Analyzer reveals no Jack Kennedys at vice presidential debateOctober 2
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Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin debating in St. Louis
During the first presidential debate last week, CNN used a device called the Perception Analyzer to track audience responses to the candidates. Members of a focus group in Columbus turned the analyzer's dial to the left when they didn't like what they heard, and to the right when they did, which presumes they prefer being right of center. Analysis of the results showed that most of the audience stayed awake for most of the 90-minute-long debate.
Using the Perception Analyzer, focus-group members instantly registered moment-by-moment responses to the candidates' words by rotating the dial from 1 (most