Wednesday, June 30, 2004
 

The Luntz Memo

Sisyphus Shrugged has the Frank Luntz memo, outlining the rhetorical strategies that are in use by the administration in promoting and justifying the war in Iraq. As you can read, it does not suggest putting forth reasoned argumentation, even in bulleted "talking points" style appropriate for our mini-media. Instead, it's primer on how to use suggestion, association, implication and inference, and especially the emotional punch of the memory of the 9/11 attacks, to undermine reason and rationality and plant ideas into people's minds without the necessity of logical justification or reference to the facts.

As Eliot Gelwan points out, in his entry about the memo on Follow Me Here (where I got the link), it's full of contempt for the ordinary citizen, and also clearly the strategy of an administration back on its heels, on the defense and in dire need of every rhetorical and propaganda device it can get ahold of. The unfortunate thing is that Lunzt is right, and his strategy is a very powerful one. (Propganda is a practical rhetorical art, based primarily on what works, not on theory, which certainly differentiates it from Bush's foreign policy and the running of the war in Iraq.)

COMMUNICATING THE PRINCIPLES OF PREVENTION & PROTECTION IN THE WAR ON TERROR

The overwhelming amount of language in this document is intended to create a lexicon for explaining the policy of "preemption" and the "War in Iraq." However, you will not find any instance in which we suggest that you use the actual word "preemption," or the phrase "The War in Iraq" to communicate your policies to the American public. To do so is to undermine your message from the start. Preemption may be the right policy, and Iraq the right place to start. But those are not the right words to use.

Your efforts are about "the principles of prevention and protection" in the greater "War on Terror." Please do not underestimate the importance of these rhetorical nuances. Let us understand the stark reality of public opinion which provides the context for this language research. Like it or not, the situation in Iraq is the poster-child for the War on Terror. It is today’s ground zero. You must develop a better way to talk about Iraq in the greater context of the War on Terror. Here are the five essential message points:

WHAT MATTERS MOST

1) "9/11 changed everything" is the context by which everything follows.

No speech about homeland security or Iraq should begin without a reference to 9/11.

2) The principles of "prevention and protection" still have universal support and should be addressed prior to talking about Iraq.

3) "Prevention at home can require aggressive action abroad" is the best way to link a principle the public supports with the policies of the Administration. "It is better to fight the War on Terror on the streets of Baghdad than on the streets of New York or Washington."

4) "Terrorism has no boundaries, and neither should efforts to prevent it." Talk about how terrorism has taken the lives of the British, the Spanish, Italians, Germans, Israelis, innocents from all across the globe. Remind listeners that this is truly an international challenge. "Americans are not the only target."

5) "The world is a better place without Saddam Hussein." Enough said.

Know thy enemy, read the rest.

Ed Fitzgerald | 6/30/2004 04:15:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE







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