'Beware the creeping danger of language that leads to blame'

摘要

What's in a name? Quite a bit it seems. Researchers, writing in the subtly titled journal Evidence Based Medicine, have found that choosing the right name is the key to success in online dating. Am I right in thinking you are reading this article because you expect to find advice on online dating? Yes. Of course. Anyway, it appears that choosing a playful name beginning with a letter near the start of the alphabet is as important as an attractive photograph. I'm thinking Aardvark Fluffmuffin or Barnaby Lovebucket is the way to go - neither are copyrighted so feel free to use them to seek love and please invite me to the wedding. The power of seemingly neutral language never fails to fascinate me. By quietly relabelling public services as the public sector, politicians have managed to shift the lens of a critical public to the cost of health or education rather than the purpose or effects of it. Similarly, the subtle difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion frames the former activity as something defendahle or even common sense; using language to institutionalise the terms at all allows the idea that paying tax is actually negotiable. The framing of fundamental moral principles as flexible may be the last skill required of a modern politician. Where once we might have hoped politicians existed to help make things better, now they appear to do little more than make economic decisions more palatable. Take obesity, for example. We know the biggest crisis the NHS faces over the next 30 years is in public health.