Renana Brooks, PhD, is' a clinical psychologist
practicing in
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16220 A Nation of Victims
By Renana Brooks, The Nation <http://www.thenation.com>
George W Bush is generally regarded as a mangler of the English language.
What is overlooked is his mastery of emotional language - especially
negatively charged emotional language - as a political tool. Take a closer
look at his speeches and public utterances, and his political success turns
out to be no surprise. It is the predictable result of the intentional use
of language to dominate others.
President Bush, like many dominant personality types, uses
dependency-creating language. He employs language of contempt and
intimidation to shame others into submission and desperate admiration. While
we tend to think of the dominator as using physical force, in fact most
dominators use verbal abuse to control others. Abusive language has been a
major theme of psychological researchers on marital problems, such as John
Gottman, and of philosophers and theologians, such as
Josef Pieper. But
little has been said about the key role it has come to play in political
discourse, and in such "hot media" as talk radio and television.
Bush uses several dominating linguistic techniques to induce surrender to
his will. The first is empty language. This term refers to broad statements
that are so abstract and mean so little that they are virtually impossible
to oppose. Empty language is the emotional equivalent of empty calories.
Just as we seldom question the content of potato chips while enjoying their
pleasurable taste, recipients of empty language are usually distracted from
examining the content of what they are hearing. Domina-tors
use empty
language to conceal faulty generalizations; to ridicule viable alternatives;
to attribute negative motivations to others, thus making them appear
contemptible; and to rename and "reframe" opposing viewpoints. Bush's
2003
State of the Union speech contained thirty-nine examples of empty language.
He used it to reduce complex problems to images that left the listener
relieved that George W Bush was in charge. Rather than explaining the
relationship between malpractice insurance and skyrocketing healthcare
costs, Bush summed up: "No one has ever been healed by a frivolous
lawsuit." The multiple fiscal and
monetary policy tools that can be used to stimulate an economy were downsized
to: "The best and fairest way to make sure Americans have that money is
not to tax it away in the first place." The
controversial plan to wage another war on
answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people."
In an earlier study, I found that in the 2000 presidential debates Bush used at
least four times as many phrases containing empty language as Carter,
Reagan, Clinton, Bush Senior or Gore had used in their debates.
Another of Bush's dominant-language techniques is personalization. By
personalization I mean localizing the attention of the listener on the
speaker's personality. Bush projects himself as the only person capable of
producing results. In his post- 9/11 speech to Congress he said, "I will
not
forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not
yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for
freedom and security for the American people." He substitutes his
determination for that of the nation's. In the 2003
State of the Union
speech he vowed, "I will defend the freedom and security of the American
people." Contrast Bush's "I will not yield" etc. with John F:
Kennedy's "Ask
not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your
country."
The word "you" rarely appears in Bush's speeches. Instead, there are
numerous statements referring to himself or his personal characteristics -
folksiness, confidence, righteous anger or determination - as the answer to
the problems of the country. Even when Bush uses "we," as he did many
times
in the State of the Union speech, he does it in a way that focuses attention
on himself. For example, he stated: "Once again,
we are called to defend the
safety of our people, and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this
responsibility."
In an article in the Jan. 16 New York Review of Books, Joan Didion
highlighted Bush's high degree of personalization and contempt for
argumentation in presenting his case for going to war in
writes: "'I made up my mind,' he had said in April, 'that Saddam needs to
go.' This was one of many curious, almost petulant statements offered in
lieu of actually presenting a case. I've made up my mind,
I've said in
speech after speech, I've made myself clear. The repeated statements became
their own reason."
Poll after poll demonstrates that Bush's political agenda is out of step
with most Americans' core beliefs. Yet the public, their electoral
resistance broken down by empty language and persuaded by personalization,
is susceptible to Bush's most frequently used linguistic technique: negative
framework. A negative framework is a pessimistic image of the world. Bush
creates and maintains negative frameworks in his listeners' minds with a
number of linguistic techniques borrowed from advertising and hypnosis to
instill the image of a dark and evil world around us.
Catastrophic words and
phrases are repeatedly drilled into the listener's head until the opposition
feels such a high level of anxiety that it appears pointless to do anything
other than cower.
Psychologist Martin Seligman, in his extensive studies of "learned
helplessness," showed that people's motivation to respond to outside
threats
and problems is undermined by a belief that they have no control over their
environment. Learned helplessness is exacerbated by beliefs that problems
caused by negative events are permanent; and when the underlying causes are
perceived to apply to many other events, the condition becomes pervasive and paralyzing.
Bush is a master at inducing learned helplessness in the electorate. He uses
pessimistic language that creates fear and disables people from feeling they
can solve their problems. In his
the 9/11 attacks, he chose to increase people's sense of vulnerability:
"Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike
any
other we have ever seen.... I ask you to live your lives, and hug your
children. I know many citizens have fears tonight.... Be calm and resolute,
even in the face of a continuing threat." (Subsequent terror alerts by the
FBI, CIA and Department of Homeland Security have maintained and expanded this
fear of unknown, sinister enemies.) Contrast this rhetoric with Franklin
Roosevelt's speech delivered the day after the Japanese attack on
premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win
through to absolute victory.... There is no blinking at the fact that our
people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence
in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we
will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."
optimistic future rather than an ongoing threat to Americans' personal
survival.
All political leaders must define the present threats and problems faced by
the country before describing their approach to a solution, but the ratio of
negative to optimistic statements in Bush's speeches and policy declarations
is much higher, more pervasive and more long-lasting than that of any other
President. Let's compare "crisis" speeches by Bush and Ronald Reagan,
the
President with whom he most identifies himself. In Reagan's
1983
barracks in
of optimism, evenly balancing optimistic and negative depictions. He limited
his evaluation of the problems to the past and present tense, saying only
that "with patience and firmness we can bring peace to that strife-torn
region and make our own lives more secure." George W Bush's
major policy speech on
consecutive statements referring to the crisis and citing a multitude of
possible catastrophic repercussions. The vast majority of these statements
(for example: "Some ask how urgent this danger is to
The danger is already significant, and it only grows worse with time";
"
could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to
a terrorist group or individual terrorists") imply that the crisis will
last
into the indeterminate future. There is also no specific plan of action. The
absence of plans is typical of a negative framework, and leaves the listener
without hope that the crisis will ever end. Contrast this with Reagan, who,
a third of the way into his explanation of the crisis in
following: "Where do we go from here? What can we do now to help
gain greater stability so that our Marines can come home? Well, I believe we
can take three steps now that will make a difference."
To create a dependency dynamic between him and the electorate, Bush
describes the nation as being in a perpetual state of crisis and then
attempts to convince the electorate that it is powerless and that he is the
only one with the strength to deal with it. He attempts to persuade people
they must transfer power to him, thus crushing the power of the citizen, the
Congress, the Democratic Party, even constitutional liberties, to
concentrate all power in the imperial presidency and the Republican Party.
Bush's political opponents are caught in a fantasy that they can win against
him simply by proving the superiority of their ideas. However, people do not
support Bush for the power of his ideas, but out of the despair and
desperation in their hearts. Whenever people are in the grip of a desperate
dependency, they won't respond to rational criticisms of the people they are
dependent on. They will respond to plausible and forceful statements and
alternatives that put the American electorate back in touch with their core
optimism. Bush's opponents must combat his dark imagery with hope and
restore American vigor and optimism in the coming
years. They should heed
the example of Reagan, who used optimism against Carter and the "national
malaise"; Franklin Roosevelt, who used it against Hoover and the pessimism
induced by the Depression ("the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself");
and Clinton (the "Man from Hope"), who used positive language against
the
senior Bush's lack of vision. This is the linguistic prescription for those
who wish to retire Bush in 2004.
Renana Brooks, PhD, is' a clinical psychologist
practicing in
(www.sommetinstitute.org <http://www.sommetinstitute.org>) and is completing
a book on the virtue myth and the conservative culture of domination.