Conversation
American Politics and the English Language
The following eight texts comment directly or indirectly on the role of language in American politics.
- Institute for Propaganda Analysis, How to Detect Propaganda
- Michiko Kakutani, The Word Police
- North York Women Teachers’ Association, Nonviolent Language (table)
- Mike Lester, NCAA Native American Mascots (cartoon)
- Geoffrey Nunberg, The -Ism Schism: How Much Wallop Can a Simple Word Pack?
- Daniel Okrent, The War of the Words: A Dispatch from the Front Lines
- Letters to the Editor in Response to The War of the Words
- Frank Luntz, from Words That Work
After you have read, studied and synthesized these pieces, enter the Conversation by responding to one of the prompts on page 778.