"Weasel Words" by ubiety - 12.11.17

by **RamblerNash** Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:10 am

"Weasel Words" by ubiety - 12.11.17

I suppose it could be completely unintentional. Perhaps those who offer updates and "intel alerts" don't realize the meaning of what they are saying - not really, at least I hope not. I've been reading "weasel worded" letters and contracts for almost 40 years (schooling included). I know when I see words inserted to convert an otherwise firm statement into one that sounds firm and clear - actually transformed into a mere expression of a hope or idea or guess or any general notion which isn't any kind of commitment or promise or even statement of fact. "Weasel wording" makes words mean nothing like their apparent meaning. Without some practice, noticing the magic words of qualification, exception, and evasion can easily be missed. Maybe also, one has to have a touch of cynicism that allows the belief that such a phenomenon exists and is possible in this context ("this context" meaning in a dinarland "intel" report or alert of whatever kind).

In reality, weasel wording is a human phenomenon, not at all limited to intel reports and alerts. We may have even gently let down an acquaintance we didn't really want to see by saying something like, "oh sure, let's get together one of these days soon". The idea was to get off the phone, not to commit to a meeting, opposite the actual words. In the context of pseudo "facts" and delivery of supposed "info", keep an eye out for "it is believed...", "we are informed...", "it appears that...", "we are hearing...", "the situation is complicated...", "circumstances confirm...", "sources indicate...", and the granddaddy of them all, "time will tell". All these weasel phrases are great for the purposes of saying whatever you want, hope, guess, surmise, rationalize, intend, argue for, seek, or generally try to get across the the listener or reader that you want, but leaving a life-sized escape route when none of it proves true - later or even then.

For years, we've heard the phrase popularized by one intel purveyor, "believe it or not, you're right". Mercy, in the attempt to be clever, that one gave us a 100% iron-clad assurance that nothing which accompanied these weasel words had any objective truth at all! How true! This is just the crowning iteration in the arsenal of one who doesn't want to be pinned down to real facts, and it doesn't matter why. I don't give my real name and telephone to dinarland at large because I have been directly threatened for my views by some of the less scrupulous among us. I consider that a good, or at least acceptable, reason for not being 100% forthcoming. Providing useful and legitimate "intel" and "alerts" is not, in my humble but accurate opinion, a reasonable place to offer hopeful words dismissed by any kind of "safety valve", making rational reliance on the information and trust of the one providing it impossible. That is way beyond merely inconvenient to a serious reader.

I'm not here to steer "intel". I have no interest in selling an agenda or timeline or political perspective. Everyone will have their own way of saying it, but I am interested in honesty, not sincerity or good feelings, but honesty. This means, if you're an intel provider don't repeat things you know are garbage without indicating you know that, and don't twist what you may have been told; if you have no new information, say so; if you have only limited information, convey that, not what you think it means, especially if you inclined to offer the shred you do have as "fact" in a declarative sentence. This isn't complicated. It been complicated by a malignant attitude growing within dinarland which invites any kind of nonsense as intel and puts the burden on the reader to "discern" what's garbage. Of course, the reader is trusting and is disadvantaged by having no resources to vet the intel. The idea is to just keep it honest and unembellished, and free of extrapolations or expressions of philosophies or hope offered as statements of fact!

Let's try that here at what is said to be (as it's been said on the run up to Christmas for years) "the real end of the ride". Truth and not misleading would be great. It's yet another way to........

Stay grounded.

I am,

ubiety