It amazes me politicians needing to make a point resort to hyperbole so often. It would be a sound tactic if it wasn’t so badly overused. It’s no more than a cliché effort at striking terror into the heart of the audience.
Hyperbole is exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It’s used to evoke strong feelings or create a strong impression. It shouldn’t be taken literally no matter how desperately politicians want to scare the senior citizens and low-income voters to sway into voting their way.
An example of hyperbole is: "He hefted it and felt the bag weighed a ton.” Hyperbole makes the point the bag was very heavy, though it’s probable it doesn’t actually weigh a ton.
Specifically, Auxesis is a form of hyperbole intentionally overstating something or implies it’s greater in significance or size than it really is. This is the political hack’s favorite when looking to start a panic. When seeking the definition of a political hack you frequently find a photo of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, or Harry Reid when defining “Political Hack”. This doesn’t preclude the possibility of seeing George W. Bush, John Boehner, Eric Cantor or some other right-wing thespian seeking to milk the public for their last tear. It all depends on the publisher of the dictionary whether left or right wing.
Because of the Debt Ceiling Crisis (we must use the word CRISIS to properly accentuate the dangers of the discourse to follow) the subject matter is immaterial. It’s the presentation of the subject must scare the cumulative undergarments from their coverage of the people’s sensitivities. You use terminology scaring the pants off of people so they’ll immediately assault the perceived transgressor and slay them at the polls. Inflated numbers count and the more hot air trapped within the confines of the truth, the bigger the balloon coming perilously close to bursting unless you see it their way.
It’s not the balloon bursting they care about; it’s the loud noise drawing attention to that truth that’s just been shattered. When this happens people understand and get upset at being lied too.
Example: Nancy Pelosi says the Republican Party is trying to “kill” Social Security. The Democratic Party wants to save Senior Citizens by “fighting for Social Programs”. Republican say Democrats are trying to cause a collapse of the American Economic System, causing us to fail in honoring our just debts and responsibilities. This will collapse the economy of America. Who is correct?
Both are, and both should need an EPA certificate before they let this crap out before the public.
Social Security is in trouble
The fact is Social Security is in trouble. It’s trouble brought about by the same fools complaining about the other fools wanting to solve the problem. They both seek answers they individually can claim as appropriate to rest the laurels on their brainless little brows and not the other guy’s. This is a matter of what shade the background of the portrait will be: blue/gray or gray/blue. There’s very little difference in the ideologies. The actors want praise for solving the problem they created so you’ll not see they actually do very little in general.
Hyperbole and Auxesis are politician’s primary operative tools when presenting arguments they can’t win. It’s proven statistically and analytically that hyperbolic statements drive the masses to action. Auxesis, when properly used, causes a disconnection from the ideology and push the public to do outrageous things. Check out Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Mao, Stalin and the other bombastic, ideology drivers in world history.
Nobody’s comparing the present administration to these dictators or any criminals awaiting trials for war crimes today. But, all politicians use hyperbole to drive public sentiment in the direction they want it to go. Politicians can’t seem to tell the truth without exaggerating it so they look more the savior than the other guy.
Please, quit accepting a puddle of brown mush on your plate as being good for you just because they say it is. It might need an EPA certificate to convince you one politician’s output stinks as badly as the next guy’s.
Thanks for listening
