An Illustrated Book of Loaded Language: Learn to Hear Whats Left Unsaid (Bad Arguments)

This is a book for every thinking person, the perfect antidote to todays culture wars.-Hope JahrenThe creators of An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments return with this desperately timely guide to how words can trick us. Learn to hear hidden bias, slant, and spin-from an irresistible cast of woodland creatures!Public discourse? More like public discord. The battle cries of our culture wars are rife with loaded language-be it bias, slant, or spin. But listen closely, or youll miss what Ali Almossawi finds more frightening still: words that erase accountability, history, even identity through what they leave unsaid.Speaking as wise old Mr. Rabbit, Almossawi leads us through a dark forest of rhetoric-aided by Orwell, Baldwin, and a squee-worthy cast of wide-eyed woodland creatures. Here, passive voice can pardon wrongdoers, statistics may be a smokescreen, gaslighting entraps the downtrodden, and irrelevant adjectives cement stereotypes. Emperor Squirrel isnt naked; he has a clothes-free sartorial style. Mouses roof becomes flattened (Elephants foot just happens to be there at the time). And when keen-eyed Owl claims a foreign shore, he seems to be overlooking someone . . .Fans of Almossawis An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments couldnt ask for a better primer on the less logical ways that words can trick us. It takes a long pair of ears to hear whats left unsaid-but when youre a rabbit in a badger world, listening makes all the difference.