Calling it "newspeak" misses the point. All good propaganda has an
element of (partial) truth. Simply avoiding the word "insurgency"
simply avoids substantive analysis. (BTW, the Bushies use much worse
terms; "insurgency," as I've said, is pretty harmless.)
_of course_ language involves politics. But I wouldn't say that it
_is_ politics.
JD
I wrote:
> > Ian seems to be saying that since the Bushmeisters use a term
> > ("insurgents") it is _verboten_. So if Cheney calls his home a
> > "bunker," does that mean that we should eschew that term?
Ian:
> Who gives a rip what Cheney calls his house. The Bushies are engaging in
> Newspeak when they call the violence in Iraq an insurgency. That you seem to
> be missing this, and the larger point that language is politics baffles me
> to no end. Actually I'm at the end of my bafflement as I'm done with this.<
--
Jim Devine
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine
