Crazy Talk

Crazy Talk, or perhaps the title of this article should be, “Has Orwellian Newspeak Arrived?”
While viewing some television last night one of countless commercials selling drugs came on. For anyone who doesn’t watch TV, note that drug manufacturers have come up with a clever way to convince persons reluctant to buy and take their products. There have been so many lawsuits due to deaths and injuries that they now simply tell the prospective consumer right in the advertisement that the drugs are dangerous, have unpredictable effects and may cause death. But they do it so matter-of-factly, in a calm reassuring voice that the consumer is lulled into complacency. One might even be led to believe that, “It couldn’t really be that bad for me or they wouldn’t be describing all these dreadful results right there on TV.”

George Orwell's 1984

It’s one of the most amazing things to watch a TV ad sell a drug to treat a symptom that can be made far worse by its own side effects, not to mention giving the consumer all new diseases or even kill them. Just imagine an airline trying to sell you tickets to fly and then mentioning in the same advertisement that many people using their service actually get from one city to another very quickly – and that they only crash a few jet planes each week! Why that would be crazy talk, wouldn’t it? Then we ought to ask ourselves why this approach works so well for drug manufacturers? To see a very interesting short video clip that uses the same logic click here.

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