September 16, 2007Poison Phrase - Petraeus Betrayus
Last week the political association Moveon.org purchased an ad headlined:
- “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?”
While I respect the group’s right to provide alternative views to the General’s Congressional testimony, (even preemptively,) I never endorse name-calling - with anyone in any position or at any level. And if any of you have names that can be distorted, you know what a violation it can be when they are. (I’m lucky - Meryl Streep is classy. However, I think of my poor friend Debbie Dallas. My younger or less worldly readers may not get the reference)
Moveon.org did not SpeakStrong in the ad.
While the Moveon.org ad fails from a SpeakStrong perspective, from a propaganda perspective it may have be effective. The ad created outrage, and while the conversation that followed was about whether Moveon.org was out of line, the association of Petraeus and Betray us has been repeated in the media again and again. The unconscious associations have been reinforced, which might be a contributing factor in the lack of public confidence in the Petraeus report evidenced in the polls.
Unconscious associations often trump conscious understanding. Ask anyone who has been accused of rape and cleared. Even if he (or she…) were proven to be on a televised space mission at the time of the crime and therefore not possibly guilty, the cloud of the charges would shadow him. It would not be conscious - it would be a shadow of an unconscious association.
One of Nixon’s worst moments was when he said, “I am not a crook.” Suddenly, millions of Americans who hadn’t thought about it started to wonder if he was.
How does this apply to you? If you MUST respond to an accusation, do not use their words or any other words that you do not want associated with you. If they accuse you of being a slacker, do not use the word slacker in your response. If someone calls you scatterbrained, do not use the word scatterbrained in your response. If you do, you will reinforce unconscious associations between slacker or scatterbrained and you. If you can, reframe the discussion in terms that reflect better on you, consciously and unconsciously.
Please limit your comments to the communication aspect of the topic. There are plenty of places to post political opinions elsewhere.
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