Politics and Propaganda: Misused Words

A loyal reader asked me to post about the misuse or overuse of the words politics or political and propaganda. I already had some notes on those words, so I am posting my observation about them here. He also asked me to comment on the misuse of the words partisan and bipartisan, which I shall do in an upcoming post.

Politics/political

These words are being used instead of intrigue or Byzantine when used in a non-governmental setting (e.g. “it’s political” or “office politics”). Politics/political come from the Greek word polis for city. Politics literally means “the goings on in the city,” or more specifically, “citizenship,” as politics comes directly from the Greek politikos, which translates to “citizen.” Political means “of or relating to government” (especially in the making of, as distinguished from the administration of, governmental policy), or “of or relating to politics,” whereas intrigue refers to “plotting or scheming” and Byzantine means “of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation.” Other better alternatives to misusing the words politics or political might be (excessively) competitive or cutthroat.

Propaganda

This word is being misused as if it necessarily means falsehoods. Propaganda comes from the Latin Congregatio de propaganda fide, “the Congregation for Propagating the Faith,”an evangelistic organization established by Pope Gregory the XV in the early Sixteenth Century which had jurisdiction over missionary territories, and means “the spreading of ideas or information to advance a cause.” Although propaganda may include rumor or allegations, or even falsehoods, it does not necessarily include them. Therefore, to attempt to dismiss speech that spreads ideas or information to advance a cause as “propaganda” is merely to describe it correctly as speech intended to advance a cause without discrediting or refuting it whatsoever.

Rhetoric

This word is being misused similarly to propaganda to imply false arguments, but rhetoric means “effective speech” and thus does not necessarily mean false speech; this word is being used as if it is unpersuasive (e.g. “That’s just rhetoric”), but it means the opposite, for if the speech is unpersuasive, it is not rhetoric, but ineffective rhetoric.