"Unprecedented" and Other Words of Propaganda

As a freelancer, I often edit books and articles translated from Chinese into English. One common characteristic of these works--works from writers who have been raised on a steady diet of government propaganda--is that everything is a superlative. No matter what is talked about, if it is Chinese then it must always be the first, the greatest, the largest, the longest, the widest, and the most. Even the most trivial of events in Chinese history are always "unprecedented". (On the other hand, if it is American it is always the worst, but that is a different topic entirely.)
I make it a rule to edit out such statements, because more often than not, they are lies. But even when true, there is often less than meets the eye about them. For example, if China is to be celebrated as the most populous country in the world, then India should also be celebrated as a close second. But why should being a populous country be something to celebrate to begin with?
From the standpoint of writings style, all of these superlatives have to go, because they add nothing to the text. Knowing that the Great Wall, for example, is the longest wall in the world tells us nothing about how steep some of its staircases seem when you stand at the bottom. It tells us nothing about how the Wall never served as an effective barrier at any point in its entire history, or how long stretches of it west of Beijing consist only of low dividers of packed earth. Good descriptive writing tells us how things look, feel, sound, and smell. It puts us there, in the midst of things, seeing what the author sees, feeling what the author feels. A simple superlative offers little to such a description. If such a thought needs to be expressed, it is better to use a good metaphor or simile. Don't say that a certain woman is the most beautiful in the world--describe her beauty, instead, and convince us of her beauty.
Not only does the use of such superlatives and words like "unprecedented" add nothing, but they often seem infantile, like boys in a locker room comparing each other to see whose equipment is bigger. People with true confidence, people who are truly great, do not need such hyperbole.
One would think that in America, of all places, we would have risen above such things. America's accomplishments--and the accomplishments of the American people--should speak for themselves. There should be no reason why anyone in America with true achievement and true greatness should need to be flattered with hyperbole, superlatives, or with words such as "unprecedented"--even if the use of such words were accurate. To resort to the use of propaganda--and that is what it is--is a sign not of greatness, but of great weakness. It is like a basketball player of modest skills who needs people around him all the time saying "You the man!" in order to feel better about himself. I had hoped that our country, government, and media was more mature than this. As I have seen in the last year, I was wrong.

(h/t Instapundit via The Virginian)