Citizen Control
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In the future, there may be an IQ test which will have a question with two lists of words: A) MIRV, terrorism, nuclear bomb, deterrence, retaliation, freedom of the press, Western Culture, communist, moderate, radical, rights, pacification, democracy, peace and B) house, dog, sidewalk, door. Like an IQ test of the past, it will ask the test-taker to determine the fundamental difference between the two lists and to mark the appropriate oval without making any stray marks on the answer sheet. The appropriate answer will be that the first list is a list of political words designed and employed by Western democracies of the 20th century in order to control the thought of their citizens. List B is a list of "concrete words" that are ideologically neutral and used in everyday life (Stansky 94). The answer is limited in scope and does not cover the many different rhetorical techniques used in 20th century democracies to "screen political acts, obscuring them behind a cloud of rhetoric so dense that most of us are left to play fools' parts, trying to guess what is really going on" (Rodgers 4), Western governments often employ arcane and difficult words designed to interfere with the critical thinking process of their citizens (Chilton 37). The citizens are not forced to speak or write these words since these words are the vocabulary of the bureaucrats, intellectuals, and the press. But the public has no choice but to listen to them on the radio and the television and to rea
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that are consistent with their views are, as a result, always true by definition (Chomsky, Pirates 23-24).
The dictionary definition, or the "real-world definition," is the definition that most people outside this elite group conform to. It is less specific than the technical definition. "The vocabulary consumed by the general public" simplifies complex realities and their implications (Chilton 50). Since a different definition is used by the public to analyze the news appearing in the press, the public is lead to erroneous conclusions. People are indoctrinated with false impressions when they are bombarded with the technical definition while still holding onto the dictionary definition (Chomsky, Pirates 23-24).
Chomsky uses the example of peace process to illustrate this indoctrination. In its technical sense, peace process refers to American proposals for peace in the Middle East: "It is thus true by definition that the United States is committed to peace." When these proposals are rejected by the Palestinians because of the ridiculous demands imposed on them, the media prints articles stating that the Palestinians do not want peace. In the "realworld sense," this is a lie, since the Palestinians seek peace on their o
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3232
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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