Wordsmithing Genocide, A Guest Post By Dorothy Reik

When you want to stop scaring people with "global warming," Frank Luntz offers an alternative— "climate change!" After all, change is good— right? When you want to end the inheritance tax for billionaires, Frank substitutes "death tax" so people will think everyone who dies has to pay! When you want to pass a bill to make sure air pollution is not punished, Luntz helpfully names it the "Clean Air Act." He called tax cuts "tax relief!" So, who you gonna call when you want to wordsmith a genocide? The answer is obvious, and our friend Max Blumenthal has the slide show to prove it! It's all about proper "framing." According to Frank Luntz here are two categories of phrases to describe any event— "Use It" and "Lose It" and there's a slide to illustrate the Gaza— oops, Hamas— version which Max helpfully provides. The title is "The Language of War with Hamas.”

Of course, a basic tool of propagandists is the focus group, and the Luntz focus groups show that rape is the best talking point to demonize Hamas, so that's where Israel is going— even if there is scant proof, if any, of Hamas raping anyone.  On the other hand it seems that sexual abuse of Palestinians by the IDF is well documented, but that is a story for another day.

Luntz is not new to this issue. He worked with Israel after the 2014 Gaza slaughter when he created an Israeli Project handbook advising Israelis to be “empathetic” when they speak about the Palestinians they have slaughtered. He also advises the portrayal of Palestinian children as “ignorant tools of Hamas!” When Israeli officials say that all children over four years old should not be spared, they are echoing the beliefs of many of their Israeli supporters.

Here's another Use It/Lose It slide:

And remember— it's not about territory! It's about Israelis.

And the best way to win is to convince people not to believe what they see— “Who you gonna believe— me or your lyin' eyes??”