“Doublespeak” in its different forms is by no means the sole preserve of authoritarian or totalitarian regime: open democratic societies are equally afflicted. Professionals in “communication,” working under the influence of processes of civilization whose main effect is to produce increasingly policed societies, receive commissions to develop patterns and methods of discourse whose aim is to minimize the risks inherent to communication itself. In treating communication primarily as an instrument, these “communicators” may well find that their activities are turning into a particularly lethal weapon against the democratic and humanist values that are inherent to communication. To move beyond this subverted form of communication and liberate it from the many forms of doublespeak that have imprisoned it, the practical conditions in which they exercise their profession need to be transformed by reinforcing their role as mediators.