I love words.
Most especially the ones that make your mouth work to pronounce them, have quirky meanings, or grab your attention. I know I am a dork, whatever.
But you don't have to be a genius to note that the words in the title don't exactly mean the same thing...yet in the span of 30 minutes I heard each when referring to the news Castro gave his country today.
The power of words is amazing...and given the fact that most Americans will only get their news from one source -- usually the one that shows the most death, destruction, entertainment, or cleavage? Well, I think by the end of the day, like a nightmare game of telephone gone wrong, most of my country will go to bed with the certain knowledge that Cuba is going to be a democratic power thanks to Bush sacking Castro.
No really!
It's all about marketing and Hollywood here people! You can't make an exciting news cast about how one man has decided he will not seek the presidency of his parliament...(in your best Homer Simpson voice:) BOOOOORRRING!!!
Forget about the fact that Raul or the VP might get the spot and things will go on the way they have for the last 49 years...somehow we've got to work in the whole "democracy" dream. Hi people? Have you noticed that we don't even know what that word means anymore?
No, for the Lifetime movie we'll instead focus on Castro's woes and health issues and how he was ousted out of his office cuz, um, oh I dunno, an illicit affair? CIA poisoning and brainwashing? A little bit of torture from his younger underlings?
See how easy all this is? And it really just starts with a few simple words. Small steps get you there far more securely than the one big jump. Find/Replace all references to "not looking for re-election" with "retire." Then just subtly put in a word that starts the same but means something completely different--RESIGN.
Hmmm, when I think of my mom retiring from her job of 27 years, a very different picture pops into my head than that of her resigning...
But maybe it's just me and my pedantic use of words that mean what I intend them to mean. Silly me. I mean it could just as easily have been a type-o, like the one about the cop having time off without pay in the written article about him beating up small children/young skaters, but the video feed informs us that he has been given time off WITH pay. One silly little word can mean the world of difference...
1 comment:
Oye, don't get me started on Bush and his talk of Cubans now being able to live the dream of democracy.
Good post. I suppose the CNN writers have to feed their families too and gotta come up with something to keep the AIA in tune.
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