America in Cheney's Mind

Goofus and Gallant

Vast Right Wing Idiocy

Maybe someone should ask people like my Senator (Mitch McConnell) why they completely ignore these suggestions. Perhaps it is because their political ascendency would be altered by behaving ethically and prudently.

My favorites are:

Avoid Ill-Defined and Offensive Terminology: We are communicating with, not confronting, our audiences. Don't insult or confuse them with pejorative terms such as 'Islamo-fascism,' which are considered offensive by many Muslims.

Never use the terms 'jihadist' or 'mujahideen' in conversation to describe the terrorists. A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterization in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means "striving in the path of God" and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies jihadis and their movement a global jihad unintentionally legitimizes their actions.

Avoid negation, such as "We are not at war with Islam." Sadly, studies show that people tend to forget the negative part of a statement, so that when you say, for instance, "I do not hate them," the words that get remembered are hate and them.

Often it seems to me that the right wing hawks have seen this document and decided to use that language against their opponents regardless of its effect on national (or worldwide for that matter) security.