One day I noticed a picture of a politician. What was strange about it was that his eyes were squinted closed and his mouth was open as if they'd caught him mid-yawn. Asking the worker about it elicited the response that they'd chosen that pic on purpose to make him look foolish and mentally turn voters off who viewed the picture. He said it was part of "Framing" and thus began my education in how the media molds the American mind.
Mind control, the American way
Several employees were only too eager to share their knowledge of how it all worked. Carefully chosen words (and images) can have a powerful overt and even subliminal effect on anyone consuming your content. They took me through article after article, showing me how it was all laid out. If they supported a candidate, flattering photos were always used, and the opposite was done to those on the other side. In the case of the yawning photo, this man was threatening the lead of the establishment candidate and had to be taken down. When the outsider held rallies, the camera was usually trained only on him and the text would describe his "thinly-attended event" instead of the packed crowd he actually had.
Remember 2016, when Trump admonished the media for not panning to the capacity crowds at his rallies? He knew exactly what they were doing and wasn't about to let them get away with it. If a speech was covered, the most memorable quote would be left for the end in the hope that readers wouldn't get that far. Bad news was pushed to a Saturday, always the slowest news day, so that it'd be forgotten over the busy weekend. This free education in media control equipped me to look at articles in a whole new way. I could now see what they were doing. It was just like that scene in The Wizard of Oz where now that I'd had a peek behind the curtain, nothing would ever be the same again.
Framing the news
As I got older, I began to notice a change in the way news was reported. Titles and phrases that had always been offered up one way, were now being shared in a whole different way. I'll start with some examples:
Here's what they started out as – Here's what they became
Police Shooting – Officer-Involved Shooting
Peace Activists – Anti-War Protesters
Arrested – Detained
Prisoner – Detainee
Prison/Jail – Holding Facility
Terrorist – Jihadist
Downsizing – Fired/Layoffs
Homemade Bomb – Improvised Explosive Device
Tear Gas – Chemical Irritant
Flash Bang Grenades – Less Lethal Weapons
Rubber Bullets – Kinetic Impact Projectiles (KIPs)
Welcome to the FN-303 (which fires "Kinetic impact projectiles")
In 2004, one of these "less lethal weapons" killed 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove, a student at Emerson College, who was out innocently celebrating the Boston Red Sox World Series Victory. She was shot in the eye by the police with a gun known as the FN-303. The FN-303 Riot Gun is classified as a lethal weapon in a number of European countries, as it has the effect of a sledgehammer and should not be aimed at the face or head the way it was used on Victoria Snelgrove.
This article uses the phrase "kinetic impact projectiles" instead of rubber bullets. The ACLU has an informative guide on the different types of kinetic impact projectiles and how they affect the human body. Over time, we see the intended effect where even members of the public bombarded with this doublespeak, start using the dodgy terms themselves. This is evidence that the framers have done a good job trickling these phrases down into the minds of the people.
WE need to define our community
Donald Trump was very effective at framing his opponents in the race for the Presidency. Who can forget: "Crooked Hillary," "Crazy Bernie, or "Sleepy Joe." What always surprised me was their inability to fight back with their own framing of him. He knew how to reach (and program) the common man, so that Joe Six-pack felt that this billionaire understood what he was going through.
And that's why we need to incorporate positive framing when we set out to promote Hive and Leofinance. We will not let others negatively frame the crypto community. We know all about the FUD out there and the attempts to associate cryptocurrency with illegal activities, so we need to replace their negative framing with a positive message that helps bring in the masses.
We can build phrases that remind people that there are families in the developing world right now making a living and feeding their families by blogging on Hive. Instead of spouting insider jargon, we can develop user-friendly phrases that unlock the power inherent in crypto in general and Hive and Leofinance in particular. Let's take the very weapon they are using against us and turn it into a productive and positive frame.
I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is; are we robotic slaves or free men? We have the ability to use our intellect and separate truth from propaganda. An article in the Columbia Journal Review gives us the background and makes the case for why we should stop using the term "Officer Involved Shooting." I think that's a great place to start to begin the process of deprogramming our minds from the doublespeak we encounter every single day. George Orwell would be proud.