Gaza - Israel War, War of Civilisations ,War of Worlds, this tragic, unasked for conflict is all of these. It is also a war of words.
Take X ( Twitter ) - if you dare - and amongst the brutal pitbull fighting you will find brilliant arguments. They refer to history, fundamentals of democracy, how society organises itself, political shenanigans and much more. Sophisticated thoughts, sophisticated words.
But for most people in war or peace, for governments or companies, old or young, educated or less so, sophisticated ideas and long words do not work.
That old wartime statesman Churchill was on to this - "Short words are best and the old words ,when short, are best of all." he said. No long words there.
The US Military knew it too. The well known acronym KISS - "Keep it simple, stupid!", is a design principle first noted by the US Army in 1960.
This rhetorical approach which has military origins is true for all messaging.
There are good reasons for this.
Simple is understandable
The thing to do is to take the complex idea, strip away everything till you have the basic idea and then turn it into language that a smart 12 year old could understand.
Simple has the ring of truth
When something really matters or is urgent we speak simply. Picture the scene. It's Saturday night and your teenage daughter is not back home an an hour after she said she would be - again . What does a worried Mum say to a worried Dad?
A. I'm unsettled by the timekeeping of one of our middle child.
OR
B. Where is that kid? She's late again!
Simple words work better because it's the language we use when we care.
Simple flatters the audience
People like what they can understand. This can reach a ridiculous level where some people mock everything by reducing things to banality. Take care not to be too manipulative with this technique but it is definitely something to remember.
Simply Repeat
The tendency to chop and change for the sake of not being a parrot works against you.
Brand messaging - or any long term change of opinion - is a marathon not a sprint.
It needs consistency and stamina over years.
Educated, knowledgable people believe that they have to come up with the most thorough and elegant arguments - and they do to work out what the essential message ideas are. But then that needs decluttering for the rest of the world. It's that simple.
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