Wordcracker: Ground Zero Mosque

What do you call a phrase like “Ground Zero Mosque?” Loaded language, for sure. Actually, there is a word for it: dysphemism. Dysphemism is roughly the opposite of euphemism. While euphemism is the softening of language or ideas to make them less offensive, dysphemism is all about making the language or idea more offensive. That, of course, has been the motive of “journalists” who have used the phrase “Ground Zero Mosque” in their headlines. You can read (and listen to) more about that here at OnTheMedia.org.

What makes it dysphemism? For starters, when you put those three words together, it sounds as if the mosque is going to be right at Ground Zero. There is nothing separating the word “Mosque” from the words “Ground Zero.” In reality, however, there are two New York City blocks separating Ground Zero from the mosque building site. A word like “near” would certainly have helped preserve the truth: “Mosque Near Ground Zero.” But the news writers chose to be less precise and more sensational.

This is no basic form of dysphemism, however.  An example of regular, run-of-the-mill dysphemism would be calling a printed paper edition of a periodical the “dead tree edition.” There’s nothing untrue about it. It merely seeks to create a negative reaction in the reader by focusing on what might be seen as a drawback of printed publications when compared to their online counterparts. But “Ground Zero Mosque” is more diabolical because it also makes use of hyperbole.  It exaggerates the truth.  It dispenses with those two blocks and puts Ground Zero and the Mosque within one typed space of each other.

This is much the same sort of dysphemism as “snail mail.” Compared to email, the postal service is slower. But is it really as slow as a snail? Of course not. Exaggeration. The difference here, however, is that nobody really believes mail is delivered by snail or that it is really that slow. “Snail mail” is dysphemism in search of humor. “Ground Zero Mosque” is dysphemism in search of division and fear.

Whether you are for or against a mosque being built two blocks from Ground Zero, I hope we can all agree that it is irresponsible for news agencies such as the Associated Press and Fox News to use “Ground Zero Mosque” in a headline. Both did. And it is equally irresponsible for the public to allow itself to be manipulated by such headlines.  You may say that sticks and stones will break your bones, and that words will never harm you. But it is most often words that start the sticks and stones to flying.

I am afraid that “Ground Zero Mosque” just may be ground zero for something that threatens this free country even more than terrorism. The slow death of objective journalism and, even scarier, our ability to recognize it when we see it.

For another great example of dysphemism check this out, which chronicles the  transformation of  the “estate tax” to the “death tax.”