From AMERICAN NEWSPEAK at http://www.scn.org/news/newspeak/ Celebrating cutting edge advances beyond Orwell's 1984 Written by Wayne Grytting

The Proper Spin on the UPS Strike

What was the lesson of the UPS Strike? Many of you may think you know, but without the benefit of the Wall Street Journal's expert analysis, I mean, where are you? First, congratulations to the Big Union Bosses on being promoted by the Journal to "Teamster Lords." These Lords won because, "Modern media politics isn't about substance or subtle distinctions. It's about spin and sound bites..." Pretty shocking. Makes it pretty tough for the corporate message to get out. In this shallow media spin controlled world, the public bought "the alleged injustice of part-time work." But before you start worrying about the public buying into even more heinous "alleged injustices," the Journal has a message of hope. "The economic forces that have weakened unions and strengthened the U.S. economy since 1980 continue to move ahead..." Can't you just hear the voice of a patriotic 1940's announcer proclaiming "America is on the move again now that we've weakened those unions." (WSJ 8/20)

A Win-Win Situation

A rare case of collective amnesia swept through Congress. When it was announced that the newly passed 15 cent a pack tax on cigarrettes could be deducted from the $387 billion the tobacco industry settlement, no one in Congress could remember who had written it. All they knew was that a single sentence granting the crediting of $50 billion was tucked away in the miscellaneous section of the budget. This on top of the fact that the $387 billion fine is tax deductible has helped produce a "fairer" result for tobacco companies. But how about the tobacco company executives? Will they be treated fairly for their roles in selling a drug that Phillip Morris CEO Geoffrey Bible says "might have" caused 100,000 deaths? The answer is: yes. The Institute for Policy Studies released a report showing the industries top 15 executives stand to make an extra $206 million, according to Wall Street analysts, from their stock options if the tobacco settlement goes through. So everybody gets to win in this script, just like in a Hollywood movie. (AP 8/22, Boston Globe 7/31)

America - Love It or Leave It

The Allied Insurance Company struck a blow for the use of the English language when they fired two workers for speaking Spanish without authorization. Unfortunately a little confusion was created because of the fact the two workers were hired for their ability to speak Spanish. Or more precisely, the two Spanish speaking women were hired, said co-owner Linda Polk "to speak Spanish to non-American-speaking people," but not to each other. Despite their outreach efforts to "non-American-speaking people," the company held firm to the principal that theirs was an English- speaking office. They even sent out an official memo about their policy, but to no avail. The two offenders refused to sign the memo because they didn't want their heritage taken away, or some such trivial reason, and had to be fired on the spot. The bottom line? Basic etiquette. Mrs. Polk said the two were "being very rude for speaking in a language we don't understand." And Miss Manners says always fire rude employees. (AP 8/14)

Education Looks to the Stars

With schools increasingly relying on standardized tests to measure their performance, critics have been vocal in criticizing what they call "teaching to the test." But certainly there must be a more objective, less value-laden way to describe teaching students how to excel in the important life skill of filling in bubbles on muliple choice exams. Trust our educational establishments. It is now called "curriculum alignment." Although it sounds a little bit like aligning the planets in astrology, this is a nationwide movement to create a "tighter link between instruction and assessment." For example, in Texas, cash rewards are now going to teachers who raise test scores. And in Michigan, the state can take over schools with low test scores. To forestall that, educational consultants stand ready to assist schools with their own curriculum alignment strategies. The Achievement Group helped one school by showing how they could raise scores in the "reading for information" section of standardized exams. They just replaced the reading of fiction with science and social studies texts. Who needs all that literature stuff, anyway? (The American Schoolboard, 9/97)

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