A list of examples of omission:
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Definition of
omission
In this technique, the
text simply does not mention a fact. The fact is a violation of the
core myths.
In omission, the reader of the
text has no reason to believe the fact is true. If the fact is an event, the reader has no reason to believe that it happened, since it is not mentioned at all. But neither is the reader being told that it isn't true, or, if it is an event, that it didn't happen. The reader is simply being told nothing about it.
Omission
is one of several techniques that rely upon selection.
Three different types of patriotic selection
We list three techniques that make use of patriotic selection:
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In
omission,
the
text
omits a fact, but does not imply that the fact is not true.
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In
denial by omission,
the
text
omits a fact in a way that implies that the fact is not true.
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In selection: selecting on reversed criterion,
there exists a conventional selection criterion for the topic, and it is applied in the
text, but in reverse.
Identification of the topic set
In all three of these
techniques, the key issue is the identification of the topic set. In none of them is the topic set explicitly identified.
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In
omission,
there is no implicitly defined topic set either. A topic is discussed, but its bounds are left open, and the unpatriotic fact just happens to be one of those that are not discussed.
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In
denial by omission,
the topic set is implicitly defined, by the text, in a way that quite clearly would have included the fact if it were true, thus implying that it isn't true. The
text
points right at the spot where the missing fact would be, and then doesn't mention it.
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In
selection: selecting on reversed criterion,
the topic set is defined by customary practice rather than by the
text,
and the
text
selects in the reverse of the way that customary practice calls for. Thus anyone who comes across the
text
assuming that it is following customary selection practice will experience an implicit reversal in the nature of the events perceived; if the nature of the events were reversed, then the
text
would be following customary selection practice. Often this means the roles of the actors must be reversed from what they were in
reality.
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patriotized history
