The airwaves and cyberspace have been awash these past two weeks in buzz words and slogans, all intended to persuade us that one or the other candidate will be the perfect President. Words are cheap, they say. You can say anything. But words also shape reality. Political language can persuade, convince, sway—or, probably more often, affirm what we already believe—simply by its being said. And it seems that once said, political statements become de facto truths, at least in some circles. Regardless of whether their claims are true. And regardless of whether what’s promised will ever actually happen.
I have a long-standing fascination with language and how it acts in the world. The power it has to shape reality. So naturally I’m intrigued by the sort of language that politicians use to make their points (and grab our votes). This includes the buzz words (support/entitlement, illegals/Dreamers, individual success/collective responsibility) and slogans (“Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?”; “‘We’re in this together’ is a better vision than ‘You’re on your own’.”). It also includes the words folks wrap around those buzzes and slogans, the topics they choose to talk about and the words they use to name those things.
So imagine my delight when I discovered that the New York Times has been creating a “word cloud” during these political conventions. In case you’ve never heard of a word cloud, it’s a diagram that shows the key words that have been used in some setting. The size of their representation in the diagram shows how often they’ve been used. The NYT word cloud is made up of circles with the words inside, and the size of each circle shows how often that word was used. Since both conventions are now over, today’s word cloud compares the language used in speeches by both parties during both conventions.
This is such fun to explore, I can hardly contain myself—really! It made me smile out loud! Before I send you off to the cloud (perhaps never to return), here’s a bit of a word cloud map.
This word cloud shows how often a particular word or phrase was used per 25,000 words spoken. Also, the circles are colored red and/or blue—red for the Republicans, of course, blue for the Democrats. So, for instance, when it shows that the word “science” has a frequency of 2 for the (blue) Dems and 1 for the (red) Repubs, that means that Dems said “science” twice for every 25,000 words spoken—not just twice overall (which is good news!). Oh, and in general, words that Dems used more are on the left side of the diagram (how fitting!), and those that Repubs used more are on the right.
One more thing before you head cloudward: As you look at the word cloud, think first about the sort of global impression you get (other than that “Obama” and “Romney” topped the list for frequency on both sides, by a mile). The first thing I noticed was the tone, the “feel” of words that were more Dem-leaning (more blue, more toward the left) compared with those that were more Republican-leaning (more red, more toward the right). Some words are right in the middle. It seems everyone talked about families, jobs, the economy, the American dream, choice, and hope … although I’m guessing the two sides were saying very different things about these topics. Some words are surprises: who would expect Dems to mention war and veterans more than Republicans did?
And finally, here’s the really cool part! Once you’ve explored the cloud a bit, check out the interactive feature. You can type in words or phrases of your choice in the box at the top, and it will give you an instant analysis of how often those were used by each party. At the bottom, you’ll see excerpts from speeches where your words were used. This is beyond fun! I tried several words and got some interesting results: community, individual, together, wealth, cooperation, Dreamers, borders, vision, military, international, dependent/dependency, power, grandmother (I knew the Dems said this a lot, so I was curious). Try it yourself, and then try to figure out why it worked out as it did. Your guess is as good as anyone’s , so go for it!
OK, so now it’s your turn … and then you can come back for the finale. Here’s the New York Times word cloud from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Go play on it. (If you're reading this on a smart phone, go check it out on a computer. You'll be glad you did.)
Fun, wasn’t it? And now, back from the fun to the fray …
I have to admit that I didn't listen to Romney’s acceptance speech … nor Ryan’s, nor the speeches nominating them, nor any other part of the Republican convention. Other than reading excerpts from those speeches and reading a lot of commentaries about them, I confess to deep ignorance about what was said in Tampa as the Republicans dodged Isaac and recollections of Romney’s record in Massachusetts.
But I listened to a lot of the Dem convention and watched a good chunk of it. And I gotta say that hearing these speeches—especially from Julian Castro (mayor of San Antonio … remember this name!), Elizabeth Warren, Bill Clinton, and President Obama—was like walking through that spring-green, sun-splashed field you see in ads for Claritin. It has been years (dare I say decades?) since I heard that sort of flat-out, unapologetic liberal rhetoric. It worked for me. "This, this," I thought, "is the country I want to live in!" Not the one that measures success in dollar signs, but the one that says things like, "If I get in the door, I don't close it behind me. I hold it open as wide as I can for the next person to pass through."
Most of the talking heads and bloggers thought Clinton’s speak was excellent. I totally agree. Some of the pundits didn’t like Obama’s speech so much (great on rhetoric, short on specific proposals). Although I agree on the particulars, his speech was certainly inspiring to this old leftie. Now, I’m sure the Dems had their bad moments, too. I wasn’t privy to the wrangling over the inclusion of “God” in the platform and the debate about whether Jerusalem should be declared the capital of Israel. But the rhetoric that I heard, the words that were designed to move me did just that.
Of course, the most important take-away message from all of this was the absolute obligation to vote. Obama said that this is the clearest choice in a generation. I’m thinking maybe longer than that. The word cloud says it in pictures; the speeches said it in words; the Electoral College will say it in the kind of government we’ll have for the next 4 years … and the kind of judicial system we’ll have long after that. Bottom line: We all must vote. You know this.
I’m happy to give you a suggestion if you’re unsure which words you find more compelling…
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