What the Right Words are Worth

The right turn of phrase can literally change the public's mind about something and make it more acceptable. Consider Public Relations. Coined by Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew and the father of PR, Public Relations was a friendlier term for good old-fashioned propaganda. When 18th century grave robbers (a.k.a. body-snatchers) started calling themselves Resurrectionists, their business of supplying medical schools with corpses to dissect became more legitimate. That's why more people are Pro Life than Anti-abortion. The right words are worth their weight in public approval.

-BK

Comments

[Alexi]

The green movement should start calling people "depletionists". Or something negative sounding.. The trick to saving the environment is in name calling.

[Hitsamty]

hehe-and call paywalls on sites such as The Economist 'knowledge-barriers'