Tuesday, May 15, 2012

How words can manipulate us

WikipediaManual of Style/Words to watch:
(Though I have not used quotation marks, all text in this post has been cut and pasted from the Wikipedia article linked.) 
Words that may introduce bias

Puffery

... legendary, great, eminent, visionary, outstanding, leading, celebrated, cutting-edge, extraordinary, brilliant, famous, renowned, remarkable, prestigious, world-class, respected, notable, virtuoso ...
  • Peacock example:
  • Bob Dylan is the defining figure of the 1960s counterculture and a brilliant songwriter.
  • Just the facts:
  • Dylan was included in Time's 100: The Most Important People of the Century, where he was called "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation".[2] By the mid-1970s, his songs had been covered by hundreds of other artists.[3]

Contentious labels

... cult, racist, perverted, sect, fundamentalist, heretic, extremist, denialist, terrorist, freedom fighter, myth, pseudo-, -gate, controversial ...

Unsupported attributions 

... some people say, many scholars state, it is believed, many are of the opinion, most feel, experts declare, it is often reported, it is widely thought, research has shown, science says ...
Phrases such as these present the appearance of support for statements but can deny the reader the opportunity to assess the source of the viewpoint. They are referred to as "weasel words" by Wikipedia contributors. They can pad out sentences without adding any useful information and may disguise a biased view. Claims about what people say, think, feel, or believe, and what has been shown, demonstrated, or proved should be clearly attributed.[5]
The examples given above are not automatically weasel words, as they may also be used in the lead section of an article or in a topic sentenceof a paragraph, where the article body or the rest of the paragraph supplies attribution.

Expressions of doubt  

... supposed, purported, alleged, accused, so-called ...

Editorializing  

... notably, interestingly, it should be noted, clearly, certainly, without a doubt, of course, fortunately, happily, unfortunately, tragically, untimely ...

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