Coercion With a Smile

[RoyGBiv]

This is an interesting website to which a friend pointed me, and I found this brief examination of how language is used in the corporate world to be very illustrative of how the vast majority of us, some of whom are entirely aware of what is taking place, are controlled by our corporate master. Choice, as packaged, is an illusion.

Within corporate culture and government agency PR, Orwellian “doublespeak” has become a common way of disguising coercion. Can a “benefit” be beneficial if it’s compulsory? Does an “incentive” do any good if it’s actually a threat?

Employees may not be able to refuse the “offer” of overtime, or the “aid” of close monitoring of every small action. The unemployed have mandatory “assistance” and “incentives”, including termination of their payments if they don’t conduct their “jobseeking” in exactly the prescribed way.

Many long-standing compulsory benefits (eg free compulsory education and the TV licence) have a benign appearance, and are largely accepted and unquestioned. This must indicate, to those who use doublespeak, that it’s a highly effective public relations strategy.

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http://www.anxietyculture.com/coercion.htm

[Mythsaje]

1. For a British site

it's amazingly relevant here as well.