Language Nuances

In the article, "Words don't Mean what they Mean", by Steven Pinker, it analyzes the subtle nuances that are used in our daily lives to try to influence or manipulate our peers.  It analyzes the differences between certain words or phrases in different situations.  For example, when sitting at a dinner table people don't just say, "gimme the salt", rather they say, "Do you think you could pass the salt", as per the article.  This is especially prevalent in the political arena when speaking about a conflict in a serious situation.  Being clear but not giving much information provides the general public and audience enough information not to question it, and not enough information to raise any alarms.  When speaking about opposition, people and news media sources tend to pinpoint specific examples to make certain people or things look bad.  This is very popular in totalitarian regimes attempting to paint an enemy as evil.  They will only show certain stories and block others as well as use specific language to allow the audience to make their own judgments with only biased material to base it off of.  This is a very useful strategy to promote a viewpoint without many finding the rooting cause of the violence and bias.  This use of propaganda was very prevalent in the Nazi and Japanese empires during World War 2 targeting the Jews and other minority groups.  It is also happening in North Korea and other government controlled media sources such as Iran.  These language nuances provide people with easy ways to communicate effectively on a position with their peers.