Tax burden and tax relief - These terms are favoured by the Right because they imply that taxation is an unnecessary burden placed upon people from which they need relief. This is, of course, nonsense. In all but the most corrupt and/or plutocratic banana republics and the most impoverished third-world countries, the value of the services the state performs will, for the majority of the citizens, exceed the value of the taxes they pay. Only the richest 5-20 % will lose more money in taxes than they gain in social services. In other words, tax is only a burden for those who do not need relief.

My own tentative suggestion is that we instead use the terms tax share and tax downsizing, respectively. These terms more accurately reflect the purpose and nature of the progressive tax system: Taxes are used to share the wealth, and tax downsizings are intimately linked with downsizing in social services.

War on Terror - This is probably the most widely used piece of newspeak in circulation. It is highly misleading in a great number of ways. First, it suggests that terrorism is a real and serious threat, which it really is not. Second, it suggests that counter-terrorism - which is, inasmuch as it should be a concern at all, clearly a task for the police - should be treated as a state of war. Third, the "War on Terror" label is used to conflate counter-terrorist operations and real wars.

I've personally started using the War on Liberty to describe the so-called "War on Terror," as it seems to be far more descriptive of what's going on: A perpetual war waged solely to provide political cover for the erosion of our liberties by the hard right (well, that and lining the pockets of their owners in Big Bizniz). Jerome cites Stephen Colbert for War on Terra. I like it, but I don't know how many people understand the word "Terra" - and at any rate, it'll only work in writing.

Think Tank - I actually had doubts about whether to include this on the list of newspeak, as it seems to have taken on negative connotations all on its own.

I still much prefer to call a spade a spade, however, and most think tanks are paid liars. If one prefers a less confrontational term, Belief Tank also captures the phenomenon nicely [a belated credit: "Belief Tank" is originally featured in Doonesbury a shade over a year ago (on the 28th of January 2007, to be precise). My bad for not noting that in the first place].

Additionally, DoDo suggests Shill Tank, which I guess falls somewhere between the two terms I proposed. Jerome cites Migeru who suggests doublethink tank.

Improving Efficiency - An item of newspeak that's as effective as it is misleading (who can be against improving efficiency, right?). Usually used when speaking of the public sector (as in "improving efficiency in the public hospitals"), it has become code word for downsizing, which remains the correct term.

Business School - This is different from most newspeak terms in that it doesn't replace or appropriate a real term. It is, however, newspeak because it serves to provide graduates from these institutions with a veneer of academic respectability and credentials that is frequently (although by no means always) greatly exaggerated.

Precisely how to counter this effect, I do not know, as it is really a part of the glorification of business "leaders" (more often bizniz leaders, actually) so prevalent in our society. Suggestions are most welcome.

In the comments, I suggest that perhaps we can use the term bizniz to denote business models that we find distasteful. That would, of course make Bizniz School the obvious counter-newspeak.

Thanks to ceebs for reminding me of a crushingly obvious candidate: Terrorism and the accompanying Terrorists. The ultimate brand-name detergent for those annoying liberation movements that regular repression just doesn't seem to rid you of. ANC? Terrorists! Uh, waddayasay? They're the democratically elected government of South Africa these days? Nevermind, then... FARC? Terrorists! Definitely terrorists. And commies to boot. Fatah? Of course Fatah are terrorists! What do you say? They're not terrorists anymore? Damn, why didn't I get that memo! Hamas? Let's see... A democratically elected government that we don't like and which is defending its sovereignty from people we do like? Yup, terrorists they are.

The best counter is probably to insist that liberation movements be called, well liberation movements and to scrupulously distinguish between acts of terrorism (attacks primarily targeting civilians) and acts of sabotage or guerrilla combat, which denote politically motivated property damage and attacks on military targets (and, arguably, "civilians" taking part in an illegal annexation), respectively.

srutis adds another one that should have been obvious: Reform, and Martin provides the counter that I have been using myself for a while: Deform.

Another possible counter is to simply avoid using the term reform and instead describe the reforms in question. Thus, instead of saying Labour Market Reform, one could say reduced protection for workers. Almost as short, just as snappy.

rdf adds Faith-based Organization, which is newspeak for religious group (usually of the fundagelical variety).

rdf again with Death Tax, which is newspeak for the Estate tax (or inheritance tax in general).

Inheritance taxes are in place to prevent the creation of dynastic wealth, so perhaps we could use heir tax to underline the neo-feudal nature of massive inherited wealth (which is, after all, the ultimate unearned income).

And a third one from rdf: Smart Growth is also very probably newspeak. It sounds like the kind of growth that technophile (or simply anti-environmentalist) politicians keep telling us about but never seem to get around to subsidising (a particularly egregious example is the current Danish government, which talks a lot about using technological fixes to prevent global warming without having to change society - and in the same breath cuts back on both the subsidies for and permissions to build wind farms...).

I can't think of a snappy counter that sums up all the reasons why such technophilia is both misguided and naïve, though.

rdf highlights the need to distinguish between NGOs that are genuinely independent of governments, and NGOs who permit themselves to be bullied (see, e.g., the US-imposed gag rule on development programmes).

Again, however, it's a rather complex issue, and I'm at a loss for a snappy soundbyte that can describe it. nanne suggests para-governmental organisation. I like that. If you discretely emphasise the "para" it would allude to "para-military" - which, as we all know, means "a terrorist we don't like."

someone reminded me that Growth is also a newspeak term, although it is somewhat more insidious than most. What is usually implied when people speak of growth is that it must be continual and perpetual. If growth ever stops (or even - horror of horrors - reverses), Bad Things happen - at least the way our economies are currently set up.

I think that simply insisting upon the appropriate qualifier will largely nerf this gambit. When speaking of growth in this sense, one could use perpetual growth (the allusion to perpetual motion is, of course, entirely deliberate). Karen in Austin suggests that instead of speaking of sustainable growth, we should speak of survivable growth,. which also has a nice ring to it.

Another favourite in recent years has been Private Contractor as a euphemism for mercenary or militia.

Besides insisting on using the correct terms - mercenary and militia - I can think of another way to deal with this particular item of newspeak. And one that pleases my sense of humour too. Why don't we start calling all the other militias around the world private security contractors too? As in "Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based private security contractor, has engaged Israeli settler-militia in several skirmishes this week."

de Gondi has one that I can't believe I missed in the first place: Extraordinary Renditions, which is newspeak for outsourced torture and governmental kidnapping.

Jerome suggests wealth capture, neo-feudalism and Anglo Disease, which are all good catch-all counter-propaganda. Rentier-class, by eternalcityblues is also a good framing.

So, that's the newspeak dictionary so far. Feel free to come up with other examples of wingnut newspeak and/or ways to counter them in the comments.

- Jake