Words

I advocated in 2002 for environmentalists to stop talking about global warming and climate change, and start talking about global heating and the Climate Crisis. When Al Gore started using it, the Climate Crisis became preferred.

In the summer of 2004 I passed along a suggestion through someone with access to high levels of the Kerry campaign: the campaign slogan of "A Fresh Start." In the last weeks of the campaign, Kerry was using "A Fresh Start for America" as his slogan. No one ever acknowledged anything.

A few years ago I was interviewed on an Oregon public radio station about issues related to a piece I'd written, "Consuming the Future," and we talked about how to get the country back on track. I suggested that the theme of such an effort should be "We're all in this together." That's become a theme that Barack Obama repeats often.

Then there are little things, that get picked up and passed around, who knows how--and who knows who really came up with them first. I've heard nomenclature from my blogs repeated by Keith Olbermann, for example, although I doubt he reads these. But my readers may have noticed that he's picked up the "Hate Talk Express" title I used for a couple of days. However, this time, even if he stole it from here, he didn't steal it from me. I stole it from the text by a front pager at Daily Kos--and I don't even remember which one.

It's a weird way to participate, the invisible way, and at times it all seems like my fantasy. Which it probably is, but on the other hand, I must be on to...something.