Urge Congress to adopt these urgently needed steps to true security amidst the coronavirus pandemic

Urge Congress to adopt these urgently needed steps to true security amidst the coronavirus pandemic

I just sent emails to my U.S. representative and senators with support for steps that can lead to greater economic stimulus while targeting aid toward people who need it most.  My message said, in part:

I support truly grassroots economic action that targets aid to the most vulnerable and working families, not a top-down stimulus with mostly resources for bailouts of large corporations:

• Guarantee sick and family leave and well as unemployment insurance for everyone
• Protect our democracy and elections during this time through universal vote-by-mail
• Protect the vulnerable by imposing a moratorium on deportations, evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs
• Include nonprofit organizations in any support for businesses designed to avoid layoffs  
• Offer cost-free care related to the pandemic, especially for the uninsured
• Ramp up production of lifesaving technology like tests, ventilators, and protective equipment
• Suspend economic sanctions that can block lifesaving medical equipment in countries hard hit by the coronavirus. 

My message concluded with a thank you to my representative and senators and their staffs for their public service during this hectic and scary time.

This link, provided by Peace Action​, makes it easy to write and send your message.

What’s the Best Term for Referring to Old People? - The Atlantic

What’s the Best Term for Referring to Old People? 

Joe Pinsker writes in The Atlantic​:

"Calling someone old is generally not considered polite, because the word, accurate though it might be, is frequently considered pejorative.

"It’s a label that people tend to shy away from: In 2016, the Marist Poll asked American adults if they thought a 65-year-old qualified as old. Sixty percent of the youngest respondents—those between 18 and 29—said yes, but that percentage declined the older respondents were; only 16 percent of adults 60 or older made the same judgment. It seems that the closer people get to old age themselves, the later they think it starts.

"Overall, two-thirds of the Marist Poll respondents considered 65 to be 'middle-aged' or even 'young.' These classifications are a bit perplexing, given that, well, old age has to start sometime.

"'I wouldn’t say [65] is old,' says Susan Jacoby, the author of Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age, 'but I know it’s not middle age—how many 130-year-olds do you see wandering around?' ...

"So if 65-year-olds—or 75-year-olds, or 85-year-olds—aren’t 'old,' what are they? As [Ina Jaffe, a reporter at NPR] suggests, American English speakers are converging on an answer that is very similar to old but has another syllable tacked on as a crucial softener: older. "The word is gaining popularity not because it is perfect—it presents problems of its own—but because it seems to be the least imperfect of the many descriptors English speakers have at their disposal. ..."

How Language Is Deployed as a Weapon of War – Mother Jones

How Language Is Deployed as a Weapon of War

Daniel King writes at Mother Jones​:

"How we talk about war is an early measure of whether we’re drifting to war, and whether we’re on guard against the manufacturing or stretching of reasons for it. It’s a historical constant: Carefully chosen euphemisms and deceptive sentence structures are routinely deployed to drum up public support and pave the way to battle. And it’s still happening.

Take, for example, a widely accepted catchall: 'defense.' Last month, the Defense Department called the assassination in Iran a defensive act after President Trump said he was 'call[ing] for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history” and “eliminat[ing] the Defense sequester.'

"A lot of time and tweets are spent in defense of 'defense,' even when we’re talking about offense.

"'The word "defense" is a euphemism for being prepared to wage war or waging war,' says John Donnelly, senior defense reporter at CQ Roll Call and president of the Military Reporters and Editors Association. '"Defense" includes offense, and that’s a great example of an official euphemism that has just become an accepted term, even though it cloaks the more complicated, harsher reality.' ..."

The use of jargon kills people’s interest in science, politics

The use of jargon kills people’s interest in science, politics

Jeff Grabmeier writes in Ohio State News:

"The problem is that the mere presence of jargon sends a discouraging message to readers, said Hillary Shulman, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

"'The use of difficult, specialized words are a signal that tells people that they don’t belong,' Shulman said.

"'You can tell them what the terms mean, but it doesn’t matter. They already feel like that this message isn’t for them.' ..."

Want people to care about climate change? Skip the jargon. | Grist

Want people to care about climate change? Skip the jargon

“The only thing that’s dumb is speaking to people in language that they don’t understand.”

Kate Yoder writes in Grist.org​:

"Forget 'dumbing down.' Using more common language is 'smartening up,' said Susan Joy Hassol, director of the nonprofit science outreach group Climate Communication in North Carolina, who coaches scientists and journalists to write and speak more conversationally. 'The only thing that’s dumb,' Hassol said, 'is speaking to people in language that they don’t understand.'

"Jargon is good way to kill someone’s interest in a particular topic, according to research published this month in PLOS ONE, a science and medicine journal. Readers take it as a sign that the material isn’t for them.

"For the study at Ohio State University, 650 people read paragraphs about self-driving cars, surgical robots, and 3D bioprinting online. Half of them read paragraphs filled with cringe-worthy phrases (like 'AI integration'), while the other half read phrases translated into plain English (make that 'programming'). After they were finished, those subjected to obscure words said they felt less interested in science — even when those words were defined.

"When something is easy to read, people find they want to learn more about the subject, said Hillary Shulman, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State. Her research has shown that people are more receptive to information written in plain old print instead of cursive, just because it’s easier to process. Avoiding jargon matters, she said, for anyone who wants to get their message to a broad audience. ..."