Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I remember wonk, i think, had a strong reaction to homicide bombers, but i forget why.
but "homicide" need not be used*, because all bombs are intended to kill, so all bombers are killers, and thus the only adjective that makes sense is "suicide" since that distinguishes from the guys who, say, blow up a roadside bomb remotely.
Okay. that at least makes sense, but it seems a silly thing to get angry about. I can see getting angry about "freedom fries" actually, way more than calling a guy a "homicide bomber".
*no one uses it to modify the act, the "bombing," it is used to modify the actor.
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I get angry about it because it is an insidious attempt to convey a sense of righteousness in our position which does not exist.
The need to "morally" justify our moves annoys me. That's a small minded way of looking at something far more complex than Joe Six Pack's simplistic moral totems. No one wears a white hat in geopolitical maneuverings or wars. It's survival of the fittest. No right, no wrong. Countries do what they do to survive and prosper. We can't even grow up and realize that. We have to make it the guys in the white hats vs. the guys in the black hats. And Fox cheerleads those simplifications with that sort of wordplay.
You might say "its just semantics." Yes. Propaganda is just words. Meaningless words, which through history have never, ever caused any problems for anyone...
