The 'Flawsification' of History. Much has been made of "war words" from the Vietnam era of yesteryear reappearing in connection with the Iraq invasion and occupation.
Tom Engelhardt of tomdispatch.com has been keeping track: "hearts and minds," "quagmire, "credibility gap."
But new words peculiar to this Iraq adventure have come along this war a lyric of its own: "embedded, "neocon" and, foremost, "flawed."
"Flawed" is a weasely euphemism that news writers have used to stand for "false," "bogus" and "lie." It has spread relentlessly. Soon it will rival "awesome" for irritating overuse.
Sadly, the speed with which the word 'flawed" has been incorporated into the press releases and news dispatches illustrates how the language of flackery and the vocabulary of reporting have been conflated into one "official version."
So far, "flawed" has been associated most with the planning of the war, claims made to panic the nation into the war and various related investigations.
As a result, we have seen a river or references to the "flawed post-war plan," the "flawed State of the Union Message," "flawed intelligence" and "flawed evidence."
Oddly, as a term of art, "flawed" is singularly inadequate to the task assigned to it. Describing the poorly forged yellow cake documents as "flawed evidence" somehow fails to capture he spirit of deceit that surrounds that affair.
Look at the definition of "flaw," as given by Merriam-Webster:
1 a : a defect in physical structure or form b : an imperfection or weakness and especially one that detracts from the whole or hinders effectiveness (vanity was the flaw in his character) (a flaw in the book's plot)
In this sense, a flaw is merely a minor mar, which alone prevents a thing from being accurately described as "perfect."
Used thusly, calling Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech as "flawed" implies that, but for including the false and deceptive Niger-uranium claim, the presidential address to Congress would otherwise have been perfectly clear and true.
This usage bears comparison to the poetic notion of the "Persian flaw." It is held that only Allah is perfect and it would be hubris for a human being to challenge Allah's serene supremacy by creating a perfect piece of art.
That is why devout Persian rug weavers intentionally worked a single errant thread into their finest carpets to avoid insulting Allah. This purposeful error was called "the Persian Flaw,"
So, with this logic, somebody nobody will now name apparently inserted the Niger-uranium claim the State of the Union speech to protect the reverent president from attaining perfection and provoking he wrath of God.
"Flawed" wasn't a word you saw much of during the Carter, Reagan and Bush I administrations. It started showing up during the Clinton years, but didn't hit the big time until Bush II came into office and began floating doublespeak fabrications in earnest.
It's not hard to imagine how "flawed" may have come into use and caught on so well. Picture a reporter listening to some anonymous senior administration official. Hear his mind churn as the glib fibs rolled off the official tongue.
"This man is lying through his teeth, but there's no way I can write that. The editors wouldn't let it into print, even if they knew it was right. But how can I salvage my journalistic self-respect? How can I signal the reader to beware?" his churning mind goes on.
"I know. I'll invent a code-word euphemism! Something that will tip off a careful reader. Hmmm. What sounds like very much like 'false', but won't get me fired? 'Faulty'? No, too mechanical. I've got it: 'flawed'!"
Well, this imaginary reporter's conceit caught certainly caught on. A Google search showed 980,000 web mentions of "flawed" and 3,810 mentions of it in the news.
Having shown up so often in the bad company of Pentagon denials and White House evasions one would think the public would have marked it by now as a red-flag word.
But apparently not. Each day it reappears in the print and sound. Pundits keep using this dodge word, and getting away with it.
Perhaps a new code-word euphemism would be in order, one with a meaning and connotation much closer to "liar," "lie" and "lying" -- a word that would be so transparent that even the thickest reader would get the point.
To that end I offer "flawsity," and its related derivatives, "flawsify" and "flawsification."
Ideas, words and situations requiring deceit and obscurity can be deemed "flawsible." Statements of dubious truth can be said to have the quality of "flawsity." Honesty-impaired politicians could be called, "flawsifiers." Caught in the act of "flawsifying," he or she could claim "inadvertent flawsification" and skate clean away.
There are other possible extrapolations of the basic word. Considering the speed and nastiness with which the neocons around Bush generate flaws, we could rename their kind "flawseraptors."
In no time at all, sober op-ed columnists will be pontificating about senior administration officials relying on "flawsible deniability."
We should jump on this right away, too. Judicious use of this new euphemism and its linguistic cohorts could help us put off the embarrassing duty of calling a spade a spade for months, or years. Or at least until after November, 2004.
Tom Engelhardt of tomdispatch.com has been keeping track: "hearts and minds," "quagmire, "credibility gap."
But new words peculiar to this Iraq adventure have come along this war a lyric of its own: "embedded, "neocon" and, foremost, "flawed."
"Flawed" is a weasely euphemism that news writers have used to stand for "false," "bogus" and "lie." It has spread relentlessly. Soon it will rival "awesome" for irritating overuse.
Sadly, the speed with which the word 'flawed" has been incorporated into the press releases and news dispatches illustrates how the language of flackery and the vocabulary of reporting have been conflated into one "official version."
So far, "flawed" has been associated most with the planning of the war, claims made to panic the nation into the war and various related investigations.
As a result, we have seen a river or references to the "flawed post-war plan," the "flawed State of the Union Message," "flawed intelligence" and "flawed evidence."
Oddly, as a term of art, "flawed" is singularly inadequate to the task assigned to it. Describing the poorly forged yellow cake documents as "flawed evidence" somehow fails to capture he spirit of deceit that surrounds that affair.
Look at the definition of "flaw," as given by Merriam-Webster:
1 a : a defect in physical structure or form b : an imperfection or weakness and especially one that detracts from the whole or hinders effectiveness (vanity was the flaw in his character) (a flaw in the book's plot)
In this sense, a flaw is merely a minor mar, which alone prevents a thing from being accurately described as "perfect."
Used thusly, calling Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech as "flawed" implies that, but for including the false and deceptive Niger-uranium claim, the presidential address to Congress would otherwise have been perfectly clear and true.
This usage bears comparison to the poetic notion of the "Persian flaw." It is held that only Allah is perfect and it would be hubris for a human being to challenge Allah's serene supremacy by creating a perfect piece of art.
That is why devout Persian rug weavers intentionally worked a single errant thread into their finest carpets to avoid insulting Allah. This purposeful error was called "the Persian Flaw,"
So, with this logic, somebody nobody will now name apparently inserted the Niger-uranium claim the State of the Union speech to protect the reverent president from attaining perfection and provoking he wrath of God.
"Flawed" wasn't a word you saw much of during the Carter, Reagan and Bush I administrations. It started showing up during the Clinton years, but didn't hit the big time until Bush II came into office and began floating doublespeak fabrications in earnest.
It's not hard to imagine how "flawed" may have come into use and caught on so well. Picture a reporter listening to some anonymous senior administration official. Hear his mind churn as the glib fibs rolled off the official tongue.
"This man is lying through his teeth, but there's no way I can write that. The editors wouldn't let it into print, even if they knew it was right. But how can I salvage my journalistic self-respect? How can I signal the reader to beware?" his churning mind goes on.
"I know. I'll invent a code-word euphemism! Something that will tip off a careful reader. Hmmm. What sounds like very much like 'false', but won't get me fired? 'Faulty'? No, too mechanical. I've got it: 'flawed'!"
Well, this imaginary reporter's conceit caught certainly caught on. A Google search showed 980,000 web mentions of "flawed" and 3,810 mentions of it in the news.
Having shown up so often in the bad company of Pentagon denials and White House evasions one would think the public would have marked it by now as a red-flag word.
But apparently not. Each day it reappears in the print and sound. Pundits keep using this dodge word, and getting away with it.
Perhaps a new code-word euphemism would be in order, one with a meaning and connotation much closer to "liar," "lie" and "lying" -- a word that would be so transparent that even the thickest reader would get the point.
To that end I offer "flawsity," and its related derivatives, "flawsify" and "flawsification."
Ideas, words and situations requiring deceit and obscurity can be deemed "flawsible." Statements of dubious truth can be said to have the quality of "flawsity." Honesty-impaired politicians could be called, "flawsifiers." Caught in the act of "flawsifying," he or she could claim "inadvertent flawsification" and skate clean away.
There are other possible extrapolations of the basic word. Considering the speed and nastiness with which the neocons around Bush generate flaws, we could rename their kind "flawseraptors."
In no time at all, sober op-ed columnists will be pontificating about senior administration officials relying on "flawsible deniability."
We should jump on this right away, too. Judicious use of this new euphemism and its linguistic cohorts could help us put off the embarrassing duty of calling a spade a spade for months, or years. Or at least until after November, 2004.
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