He's not such a bad guy...

So, I couldn't find Luntz's "The Ten Rules of Effective Language" on E-Reserves, so I did a Google search, and hopefully I got the right thing.

Luntz's rules are very easy and simple, and they don't really seem like they are all that much geared towards trying to brainwash people, which is kind of the sense that I got from him before. I thought of him kind of as the guy that takes our feedback and uses it as a weapon against us, trying to group everyone into the same camp. While he does essentially use our feedback, it isn't so much for use in some evil scheme of his own, rather his rules paint it out more as though he is trying to cater to us, not control us.

For example, rules 1 and 2 are simplicity and brevity. There is absolutely nothing worse than some politician sitting on his high horse spitting paragraph after paragraph of his philosophy at you, using these big ass words that you know they themselves don't even understand, and then expecting you to vote for them. Luntz understands that it isn't about how long or how much you say, it is essentially what you are saying that matters, and if you want people to pay attention to what you are saying, the best way to do it is to be concise and to the point.

The other thing that Luntz gets is our need for entertainment. Rule number 8 is to visualize-describe something and make it become real for the listeners. The best books to read are the ones that have the most imagery, the ones that make you feel like you are right there in the novel, the same goes for speeches. If you really want me to pay attention to you, make it interesting, give me something to cling on to. Don't just babble all kinds of meaningless scenarios, make me feel like I am living whatever point you are trying to get across.

Overall, I dislike him less after reading this, because it doesn't seem as manipulative and one-sided as I originally thought it was going to be. I think that the rules he lays out are general rules which people can, and should, apply to all different areas, political or otherwise.