While Chowderhett's and May's 'Vaporware' is a dollar short and a day
late,this just in...
Anti-war slogan coined, repurposed and Googlewashed... in 42 days
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 03/04/2003 at 12:12 GMT
This year marks the 100th anniversary of George Orwell's birth, and the
writer who best explained the power of language on politics would be
amazed what can be done with the Internet.
On February 17 a front page news analysis in the New York Times
bylined by Patrick Tyler described the global anti-war protests as the
emergence of "the second superpower".
Tyler wrote: "...the huge anti-war demonstrations around the world
this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the
planet: the United States and world public opinion."
This potent phrase spread rapidly.
Anti-war campaigners, peace groups and NGOs took to describing the global
popular protest as "the second superpower"
[Greenpeace release]. And in less
than a month, the phrase was being used by UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan. [Financial Times - reg
req'd].
And a week ago, a Google search for the phrase would have shown the
vigorous propagation of this 'meme'.
Full Article...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30087.html
