The Bush Dyslexicon

The Bush Dyslexicon. Written by Mark Crispin Miller. Translated by Kim Tae-hang. 451 pages. 12,500 won. Korea Broadcast Publication.

In the age that images overwhelm the reality, image manipulations of politicians by the media sometimes distort the real politics. The images of politicians are created by the media and they often replace the real politicians.

Miller, a New York University professor of media studies, checks one by one the process that Republican George W. Bush was elected president and emerged as a guardian of peach against the evils of the globe facing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Through this book, he claims that the American media glossed over the public opinions, blasts the reality that made someone that they support president in secret, and appeals to the public to look directly at the reality. Such an appeal applies to the Korean society that has already entered the era of the media.

According to Miller, President Bush, who uses simple, repetitive language, was misled by the media as an ordinary, familiar president who tells what he feels inside and who represents the American sentiment. He examines into the language of Bush on TV and reveals the invented image of the president, since inappropriate use of language is more easily exposed through the media than other weaknesses. The author points out Bush’s grammatical gaffes, syntactical shipwrecks, mind-boggling malapropisms and simply dumb comments, adding “All of the modern presidents are better than Bush in eloquence and knowledge.” Miller also reveals the president’s lies, comparing with his speeches on TV and points out the danger of the Christian fundamentalism that separates the world into good and evil.

The purpose of the book, however, is not for mocking and denouncing President Bush. It is trying to warn against the media’s efforts to make Bush president and the tendency that considers Bush a hero, and restore the true democracy that America has been pursuing. Unfortunately, President Bush became an easy target within the range of the author.

Hyoung-Chan Kim khc@donga.com