Hate the buzz

Last night a political figure (name protected so we can focus on the subject of buzz not party affiliation) one of the phrases used in reference to Iraq was “the centrifugal forces of chaos.” Now, I may have an incomplete education but that makes absolutely no sense. A force that brings things into a center would seem to be the opposite of chaos. Did the speaker or the speech writer really think that was going to help the American people understand what was happening in Iraq?

I recently saw a news segment on whether jargon was bad for business, and the answer was a resounding yes. I would say we are actually a step beyond that. We are bombarded with communication, but so much of it is bad communication. From advertising to political rhetoric often if feels like people are just taking several long words and stringing them together. I’m not sure if there is a centrifugal force at work, but modern communication surely reflects chaos.

As professional communicators we owe our audiences better.