Question: In the example of foreign policy, how does word choice have an impact on the message conveyed?
Answer: To begin with, many politicians do not write their own speeches and that is because the importance of word choice. Each word symbolizes a different thing and could be interpreted in a variety of ways. Each word we speak or hear illustrates an image in our mind and our brain associates
this word with other words and images. For example, when we hear the word 'peace' or 'love', we immediately imagine calmness or think about the people we care about. However, the best example I could give is what I just wrote, that is because when my intention was only to write 'peace' the word love came up to my mind, proving how our diction has an affect to the feelings we experience and thethoughts we think about. In the case of foreign policy, each politician has chosen their words carefully in way to create a greater impact on our thoughts and making us think what they want us to think, just like in the case of Adolf Hitler where his excellent speaking has affected a whole nation. When Obama has used the term 'Slam-dunk' referring to the chaos in Syria, was in order to create an image of violence, or in the case of 'red-line' where we associate 'red' with 'danger' or even 'blood' or at least in my case. Therefore when the message conveyed is needed to be powerful or catchy enough to be stuck in our minds the play of word choice has a great impact on how we sympathize or not sypathize with specific occasions and how we link this words with our emotions and imagination.
Nice post Aviv, well done. Semantics do play an important role in politics.
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