AMERICAN IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA AND ITS EUPHEMISMS: President Barack Obama makes no bones about it. He calls the treatment of hunger-striking prisoners at Guantanamo “force-feeding”. But in a just declassified Pentagon document, many of the detainees are described as engaging in “long term non-religious fasting”. It’s the latest linguistic leavening from the US Department of Defence, a title in itself emblematic of the culture of euphemism at an agency that for 150 years proudly called itself the Department of War. Since the Bush administration’s declaration of a “Global War on Terror”, the military has worked overtime to enlarge its encyclopedia of euphemisms. Here’s just a sampling of terms that have become common parlance, and their translations: “Special rendition” – kidnapping “Environmental manipulation” – applying extreme hot and cold temperatures for interrogation “Kinetic” – firing bombs, missiles and bullets “Countervalue attack” – fire-bombing a city Not to mention the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that nearly everyone but former Vice President Dick Cheney calls torture by waterboard.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 19:25:13 +0000
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