Deliberately imprecise language is itself a bias
I don’t have much of a position on illegal immigration; in general, I’m for throwing the borders open and putting the Border Patrol on welfare. What I found interesting in this Chicago Tribune follow-up by Frank James is that it describes one more reason that bias--or at least very imprecise language--sneaks into news articles: a fear of repetition within the same article.
A reader wrote in complaining that the Tribune seemed to be using the phrase “undocumented immigrant” as a synonym for “illegal immigrant”. The Tribune’s response is a fascinating look at one reason for the redefinition of the English language in news articles:
Obviously, this reader doesn’t like the word “undocumented.” At the Tribune we use it as a synonym for “illegal.” Journalists use synonyms in order not to be repetitive.
“Undocumented” is no synonym for “illegal”. If “undocumented immigrant” is a synonym for “illegal immigrant” in normal English or even in official documents, it is so only as a euphemism•: a word used precisely because it lacks clarity. “Although there is no substitute for merit in writing, clarity comes closest to being one•.”
Fear of repetition, when it leads to making up synonyms, is a source of misdirection in the same way that forced balance and extreme interpretations can be in others.
But, at least this practice is now documented.
- April 18, 2006: A packet of aspirins for the Chicago Tribune
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Jeremiah writes in response to Undocumented Bias:
You’re spreading illiteracy and bias, but blaming others for doing so:
According to Apple Dictionary: undocumented |??n?däky??mentid| adjective
1 not recorded in or proved by documents.
2 not having the appropriate legal document or license : undocumented immigrants.
Consequently, the term “undocumented immigrants” is equal to “illegal immigrants” by it meaning.
It’s a good idea for the conservatives to spend, at least, as much time in an English language class, as at Church, especially, when knowledge of words is very helpful for the purpose of reading and understanding the Holy Scripture.
I don’t quite get your implication that wanting to throw the borders open makes people conservative, so I’m going to ignore it. Except to point out how bizarre the left/right divide is in the United States that you could even make such a claim.
And I can’t really respond to your claim about what “Apple Dictionary” says because I don’t know which dictionary that is. Apple doesn’t make a dictionary. The Apple dictionary tool searches multiple dictionaries; my Macintosh returns a different result than the one you quote above (which is why I couldn’t fix the weird characters in your text next to “adjective”).
“Undocumented” doesn’t even have an entry in my Webster’s Ninth Collegiate, or in my Random House Dictionary from 1978. Nor is it clear from your “Apple Dictionary” quote that undocumented is equivalent to illegal. Their example proves this only if you already accept “undocumented immigrant” as equivalent to “illegal immigrant”. The phrase “undocumented vehicle” satisfies their second definition too, and without implying illegality.
But this is beside the point. If this euphemism has entered “Apple Dictionary” and other dictionaries since then, that doesn’t make it any less a euphemism. Nor does it justify using the euphemism in order to avoid repetition.
“The slovenliness of our language,” says George Orwell in Politics and the English Language•, “makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
Political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.... but if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even among people who should and do know better. The debased language that I have been discussing is in some ways very convenient. Phrases like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired, would serve no good purpose, a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind, are a continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at one’s elbow.... every such phrase anaesthetizes a portion of one’s brain.
- Am I biased towards illegal immigrants?
- “The story Matthew Chayes and I wrote in today’s Chicago Tribune about yesterday’s marches resulted in a few emails, mostly critical of the story or the liberal media generally for being politically correct and coddling illegal immigrants.”
- Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk•
- “Being a compilation of linguistic fig leaves and verbal flourishes for artful users of the English language.” From heck to massage parlor, he covers not just modern euphemisms, but historical ones that have become regular words or phrases. A fascinating book.
- The Elements of Style•
- “Since writing is communication, clarity can only be a virtue. When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.”
More deception
- There will be deception
- As their world falls apart, media liars will get better at lying.
- The coming crisis
- We know it. We just don’t know what it is yet.
- Media misdirection
- What does it matter when major news organizations try to rewrite history through omission and misdirection?
- Obama campaign skirts campaign finance law
- I expected the New York Times to be silent on the illegal donations that the Obama 2008 campaign encourages. I should have known better: they’re trying to cover for the campaign. But the bigger issue is that laws that don’t get enforced are counterproductive; they encourage dishonesty and lawlessness.
- The Helter Skelter Media
- Joe the Plumber and the vengeance of the media.
- 19 more pages with the topic deception, and other related pages