Institutional bureaucratic writing follows teachable rules for opacity and misinformation

Evidence

Professor Gerald Grow (2012) has written brief guidelines called “How to Write ‘Official,’” which provides a set of rules on how to communicate opaque-ly and misinformatively. These rules, which specify the nine top features of good euphemistic writing, include: Put it in the passive voice and delete the agent of the actions; inflate with terminology that does not add meaning; build in noun strings; add a qualifier of uncertain relation to the original statement; add noun strings and terminology to the qualifier; separate related words; equivocate and obfuscate; cover your tracks and make yourself look good. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 373 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Legal writing conceals hidden agendas discoverable through semiotic analysis; Passive voice and jargon are teachable techniques for hiding agency — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 373; Structured reports can layer institutional position over scholarly dissent. — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 46 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Passive voice and jargon are teachable techniques for hiding agency #exemplifies (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 373