Bestest Words - Softcover

Miller, Rodney G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1737489554 ISBN 13: 9781737489559

Publisher: Parula Press, 2022

Synopsis

Need to tell fact from opinion?

And the proven from the plausible?

For anyone who cares to crush the manufactured outrage in recent public discourse, Bestest Words pushes back on screams for the camera and other propaganda.

These 70 commentaries were written as blog posts from 2020 to 2022, amid worldwide threats to health, safety, and freedoms previously taken for granted. While most of us dealt with lockdowns, social distancing, work and study from home, contact tracing, hospitalization rates, and an unfathomable loss of loved ones, the author points out that pseudo-populists amplified threats to democracy.

This collection shares ways to counter the nonsense talk and ruthless disregard of pseudo-populists for human life, truth, and freedom. The author explores the media, language, books, politics, sport, and daily occurrences to offer a variety of approaches for keeping the perspective needed to see through and dismantle disinformation, misinformation, and manipulation.

Amid ongoing challenges, he supports the insight of Albert Camus who recognized a substantial value of democracy to be what it prevents. These commentaries suggest when and how to

• Hold public figures and the media accountable.
• Stand up to the verbal abuse that Orwell predicted.
• Reassert truth and other core values in daily life.

Thoughts for choosing the very best words to help democracy thrive.

Table of Contents
Bestest Words?; Hope; Humor; Leadership; Speaking & Writing; Democracy; Truth, Law, & Justice; Media; Propaganda; Thinking for a Future; Blogpost Titles, First Lines, & Dates of Publication; Bibliography; Index

A Spotlight on using words wisely

About this title

About the Author

Rodney G. Miller's book Australians Speak Out is named Reviewer's Choice by Midwest Book Review senior reviewer, Diane Donovan. His other books exploring insights and priorities to strengthen communication include Bestest Words, Communication Essays, and Communication & Beyond. He is published by the State University of New York Press and The Royal Society of Queensland, with early writing in The Australian newspaper. While teaching communication at Queensland University of Technology, he founded and for over a decade edited Australian Journal of Communication. He has since led the advancement of innovative education for universities in the United States and internationally. Website: communicator.rodney-miller.com

From the Back Cover

Words shape ideas and feelings!

With truth-telling now needed more than ever, the blogposts collected here address the word-salad of public figures, social media, and mass media.

In 70 blogposts, Rodney Miller shares perspectives to encourage hope, humor, and leadership, spotlighting independent thought as the best antidote to propaganda.

Written from May 2020 through 2022, during worldwide threats to health, safety, and freedoms previously taken for granted, he challenges disinformation, misinformation, and trash-talk, to reassert civil values important to daily life.

He illustrates approaches for using words wisely to call for accountability in public communication and to help democracy thrive, by reading, listening, speaking, writing, and voting thoughtfully.

Included is a list of blogpost titles, dates of publication, bibliography, and an index.

Edition details

• Publisher: Parula Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1737489554
• ISBN 13: 9781737489559
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232