Propaganda: Obfuscation

Obfuscation is a word that should be better known, to better understand the world around us.

First of all, speaking as a computer programmer, the word obfuscation comes up a lot. I think what it refers to is a computer program that is written deliberately so as to be confusing to a human, although clear to a computer. Obfuscation of code is sometimes accidental, sometimes deliberate. How can it be accidental if the computer understands it? Well, that's because a program gets tested in the computer, and if the computer does not understand, the program is altered until the computer does understand. Once the computer understands, it is not really necessary that the program be understood by another human being. It would be a nice thing, but not necessary.

Deliberate obfuscation is another matter. First, it is pretty easy to do accidentally, so why try it deliberately? For the thrill of it, I would say, look at all the viruses computer programmers write. Obviously their kind of fun is different from most. And there may actually be some value in concealing the meaning of a program from other humans. Anyway Google "obfuscation" "example", and you'll come up with plenty of hits referring to computer programs.

Next, obfuscation in human language. Obfuscation works best in a binary way like on/off. George Orwell refers to the blackwhite in propaganda, where if something is black, you call it white. That's obfuscation. Obfuscation does not work when you are talking about degrees, such as saying "it's raining a lot" when "It's just raining a bit". That's because it really does not conceal the meaning to anyone, nobody ever agrees on how much something is happening. On the other hand, it is obfuscation to say "It has not rained for forty days and it is not raining now, and it will not rain in the future", instead of "It is raining cats and dogs outside right now!"

Obfuscation is useful in propaganda, as George Orwell explained in the book "1984". To keep opponents off balance in any debate, obfuscation is a key quality for the skillful propagandist. Examples of obfuscation: Peace is war. Science is religion. Hitler was a Jew. OK now you're starting to get it. Use obfuscation to throw the opponent off balance, and onto the defensive. Also rattles them a bit that they have to respond to such a stupid statement. But they do have to respond, or they default the argument.

Some practical examples, where obfuscation can be put to good use commercially. First in advertising, it is always good to obfuscate your message to sell your product. I'm going to go with a favourite organization of mine, Fox News, which was formed for the express purpose of promoting the Republican Party's point of view and making liberals look bad. So of course the choice of the slogan "Fair and Balanced" is a perfect example of a practical application of obfuscation.

Now how about those new subdivisions that have been put up at the edge of the city after razing a nice little forest that was home to chipmunks, birds and deer, thus slaughtering all of them under the bulldozer's treads? Call your subdivision "Deer Run", with paved streets names "Forest Glen", "Chipmunk Circle", and "Wood Thrush Freeway", and you have a perfect example of obfuscation again.

In the vehicle category, I can think of one vehicle that gets the prize for the only name I know that fully qualifies for three-way obfuscation. The "Cadillac Escalade SUV" Sport-Utility-Cadillac are all three obfuscations of each other.