- The Guardian
- Issue #2154
Inflammatory (remarks)
Just as ‘controversial’ is often used as part of a beat-up, to try to make something controversial, ‘inflammatory’ is often a plea by a rage-based media outlet for readers to become inflamed about a topic, something that’s often just between the ears of whoever’s using it as a slur. For Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Australian,’ “inflammatory remark” means that after poring through a public figure’s social media like a demented stalker, a journalist has found something they reckon they can make NewsCorp readers angry about.
Sustained (injuries)
This one of a legion of weasel words that helps out when a journalist doesn’t want to say who attacked who. What happened to former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas at a protest in Sydney was that someone ‘allegedly’ belted her. It’s common to put ‘allegedly’ before the verb, in case you get in legal trouble. Certainly the widely-circulated picture of Thomas with a wounded eye doesn’t leave much doubt. One paper said that she “sustained” an injury – true as far as it goes, but over-formal and making it seem like it might have been Thomas’ fault.
Viewed as
Why anyone would want to spare Donald Trump’s feelings is beyond us. We’re not even sure that he has feelings to spare, but that’s what one cautious headline-writer did when Trump used an antisemitic slur at a rally. Trump described unscrupulous bankers as “shylocks.” He may not know, and almost certainly doesn’t care that ‘Shylock’ is the name of a character in a Shakespeare play, but the US President would certainly know that ‘Shylock’ is an anti-semitic term. It’s “viewed as” antisemitic in the same way that the Pope is viewed as Catholic.
Tight
Bankers love using very physical terms to describe their not-so-physical job. Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock has kept interest rates as they are instead of reducing them as widely expected. One of the reasons Bullock gave for the decision was that employment is still “tight.” What this really means is that not enough people are unemployed for the Bullock’s liking. If you’ve got work and you’re liking it, don’t worry. The Reserve Bank of Australia is trying to fix that.
Ambitious
This word is used weasellishly when someone wants a lot of horrible stuff and the writer would like to approve of it without being accountable for that approval. The ABC has reported that Jillian Segal, Albanese’s “special envoy to tackle hatred against Jewish people” has released a report the ABC described as “ambitious.” It’s kind of accurate, and certainly there’s a lot of ambit in the report – probably Segal will happily settle for only half the one-eyed pro-genocide totalitarianism she’s asking for.
Shrill
It’s always bad to do things in a ‘shrill’ way. This paper has a lot to say about Jillian Segal’s proposals to put herself in charge of policing the media and universities to make sure that they’re pro-Israel enough (see ‘Antisemitism’ this issue). Terms like ‘totalitarian’ and ‘one-eyed’ come to mind. For Nine hack Chip le Grand, Segal’s plans are a test – if you’re against the idea of Segal defunding your uni if she doesn’t like the protest there, you’re guilty of “shrill opposition,” instead of more thoughtfully agreeing with Segal’s worldview the way le Grand does. He doesn’t say what non-shrill opposition to Segal’s Israel-right-or-wrong worldview would sound like.
Rancorous
The Group of Eight vice-chancellors representing our most high-profile universities say they’re responding to a Senate inquiry into “rancorous protests about the Gaza war”. This word is weaselly because of implied context – as though protests about an ongoing genocidal attack which has killed thousands of civilians had the option of being quiet and decorous, but went the noisy route instead.
