We are all familiar with the obscure and misleading rhetoric of politicians: riddled with concealed frames of reference and logical fallacies — especially answering a question with personal abuse directed at their questioner.

However, ‘obfuscation’ is often brought about by the conventions of document production and the social institutions that employ them.

Example: In the proceedings of Federal parliament (in Australia), sitting members are always referred to by the name of the electorate they represent — this is a convention of parliamentary procedure. The public however, know politicians principally by the political party they represent. By not acknowledging this information, an observer's understanding of what is going on tends to be obscured.

For years now, question time in the House of Representatives in the Australian Federal Parliament, has been broadcast live on the national television channel.

When an MP stands up to ask a question (or answer one), their name is displayed at the bottom of the screen along with the name of the federal electorate they represent. The political party they represent is not shown.

This is confusing, because MPs who are not government members are asking questions to bring the government to account and demand they explain their actions and motivations (see articles on ‘Logic’), whereas questions posed by government MPs are carefully staged to give the government air time on national television to praise their own actions.

This is an example of ‘obfuscation’ brought about by following an institutional convention rather than by deliberate design. There are thousands of such practices in modern society, the cumulative effect of which adds to the general climate of misinformation and deceit we live in.

Update December 2022: The television broadcasts of the House of Representatives question time are now showing the party along with the name of the questioner. This is a step towards clear communication. Since TV broadcasts started in 1991, it took a mere 31 years to reach this point!

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