Teaching a writing workout workshop yesterday for the Motor Industry Public Affairs Association (MIPAA), much of the focus was on words - emphasising their symbolic value.
Today’s news shows that all the carefully crafted words in Chancellor Gordon Brown’s conference speech praising the PM (and himself) mean nothing against the under-the-breath remarks of Cherie Blair muttering “that’s a lie” in the nearby exhibition area. Symbolic of a strained relationship undoubtedly.
The number 10 PR machine has cranked into action - not claiming comments out of context (this time) so much as a journo mishearing the words spoken. In the US, Bush is busy redefining the meaning of the word torture - in the context of counter-terrorism. Much as his predecessor redefined the term “sexual relations” in the context of denying wrong-doing.
English is a living language - where the meaning of words is open to adaptation, but their deliberate manipulation to political ends is undoubtedly propaganda. Something that does remain a dirty word, alongside spin. Both unfortunately linked too closely with Public Relations - which desperately needs better ethical symbolism.
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