it’s countdown to finals time for me, which is terribly exciting. this means, however, that the final one-and-a-half weeks of school are crammed to the max with projects and tests. i’m currently slogging my way through an essay that’s due tomorrow in roman military history. oh, what a fascinating class, you say sarcastically. well, as much as i despise the romans, it is actually interesting. i don’t much like the topic of the essay, though; it’s on instances of bias in tactitus’ histories and annals. what i chose to do was to analyze the word choices tacitus makes in the histories in his account of galba’s murder. most of these are subtle, sly comments that readers might miss on a casual skim-through, but which pop out once you’re actually looking for them. i would love to relate this to journalism in my essay, but i’m afraid i can’t.
word choice is such a huge deal in journalism. just by a slight difference in word choice, the meaning of a sentence can be skewed one way or another, convincing readers to hold a certain point of view without ever letting them realize what they’re being duped into believing. this is an incredibly powerful way in influence people.
if you want people to believe something, don’t let them catch on to your persuasion.
okay, now back to my regularly-scheduled duel with tacitus. thank you for reading.
