Doblespeak: Using language to conceal the message in a political, military and medical context

摘要

Half a century has passed since Marshall McLuhan's 'The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man' came into being, introducing the now famous term 'global village', but the passing years have only added to the actuality of the phrase. In 2012 the world seems to have shrunk to the dimensions of one's own living room, where one can witness Alexander the Great's army defeating the Persians in the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, and contemporary Baghdad being bombed at night, all while having dinner. In a world, where economic interests dictate the unleashing of global wars, controlling the proliferation of message content in the global village has become exponentially important. Confucius' rectification of names seems to have fallen from grace with the rulers of today: those in power have found a way to use language as a smoke screen – or a concave mirror – and words have been utilized to conceal meaning rather than convey it. Doublespeak has become the norm of political and military language, as well as certain aspects of communication within a medical context: the general public has been willfully deceived into misinterpreting the message.