Quartz quotes Socolow in article on Orwellian euphemisms
Michael Socolow, a professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine, was quoted in a Quartz article about popular Orwellian euphemisms such as “post-truth” and “alt-right.” “The idea of post-truth is that it implies that truth is over,” Socolow said. “120 million Americans voted in this past election, and I’m not ready to say that a significant number of them believe, on either side, that we’ve moved past truth in that way.” Politicians and pundits seek new innocuous phrases in an effort to dampen the revulsion of recognition, according to the article. “I think propaganda needs to return to common parlance,” Socolow said. “We have so many euphemisms today for propaganda. We have ‘native advertising,’ ‘sponsored content,’ ‘public diplomacy,’ ‘fake news,’ and ‘post-truth’ content: They’re all variations on propaganda, what they identified in the 1920s and 1930s.”