Thursday, November 16, 2006

Semantics, Schemantics

Today, according to the U.S. government, there are no longer any hungry people in America. Great news, huh?

Great except the only thing we did to eradicate hunger was to change the terminology.

Now instead of being "hungry", people are considered to have "very low food security."

As if that helped the 35 million people affected feel any better. They still don't know where their next meal is coming from. They still forgo dinner so their children can eat.

I'm sorry, but does the department of Agriculture think we're stupid? No one, least of all the people with "low food security", is fooled by the optimism of this new phrasology. Give it to us straight and let us face challenges head on. For when you solve a problem merely by changing the words, you insult us and the people you're trying to help.

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