War of Words
When our president speaks what do you hear? Perhaps a repetition of abundantly used words and phrases. For example in President George W. Bush’s state of the union address in January, 2006, he mentioned the word free or freedom ten times within the first ten minutes of his speech. The root word democracy was used a handful of times. Terror or terrorist also spat out of the president’s mouth numerous times.
But what do these words really mean? Evil, sovereignty, diplomacy, regime, fundamentalist, oppress, respect, dictatorship, liberation…what comes to our minds when we hear these words?
The average American watches CNN, CNBC or their local news channel and these words are defined through the media. As we listen to these news broadcasts, subconsciously, the context in which the words are being used helps to form meaning separate from what we may find in Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
There is one word in that dictionary that can not be distorted. It can not be twisted to mean something different. That word is propaganda. In Webster Dictionary, propaganda is defined as follows:
The spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
I think we can all agree that the above mentioned words are being used to injure an institution, a cause and a person. Rightfully or wrongfully so. But for right now, lets revisit the true meanings of some commonly used terms.
Freedom* - the quality or state of being free as the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
With that definition in mind, I try to understand what Bush meant when he said, “We will choose to act confidently in pursuing the enemies of freedom.” Who are these “enemies of freedom” our president speaks of? Can he be referring to the Israeli government who continues to coerce the Palestinian people into submission? That same government, who over the last 50 years created over four million refugees?
Perhaps the president is chasing his own tail as musician, Kanye West, said, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” About 13% of the United States population is not free of necessity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 37 million Americans were in poverty in 2005. 9,250,000 of those poor people are African American. Are you not an enemy of freedom if you are the richest country in the world, yet a disturbingly large percentage of your people are not free from poverty?
In that same State of the Union address, Bush said, “Iraqis are showing their courage every day, and we are proud to be their allies in the cause of freedom.” It is estimated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the invasion in 2003. That study, according to CNN, was done in 2004. Those civilians were at a 2.5 times greater risk of dying than they were before the war began.
Democracy – 1. government by the people; rule of the majority. 2. a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Over five-hundred years before Jesus, nations were being ruled by tyrannical and oligarchic governments. Typically there was one man or a few rich men who made and enforced laws. Cleisthenes, an Athenian changed that, around 510 BCE. He introduced democracy as he divided Attica (southern Greece) into 30 districts, similar to how our government is split up. Issues were debated and democracy was invented.
Today, it seems Bush is moving in the opposite direction. He’s making a transition from democracy to tyranny. For starters, he allegedly cheated to win the 2000 presidential election. In the most controversial election in our history, what seemed like a clear victory for Gore, who the people had voted in favor of, turned into Bush’s win.
Traditionally, the Congress has the right to declare war and grant the use of military force. However, according to the Washington Post, the Bush administration feels he did not need approval from Congress to go to war with Iraq. A senior administration official was quoted to have said, “We dont want to be in the legal position of asking Congress to authorize the use of force when the president already has that full authority.” That type of governing clearly is not democratic.
When Bush tells the world that he wants to establish a democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, which democracy is he talking about? The “democracy” that he is running or that of Cleisthenes? Additionally, forcing a people to run their country by using a democratic government is undemocratic itself. Perhaps the people want a state governed by the laws of Allah. While the legendary Athenian took a nation from tyranny to democracy, Bush is guiding us out of a democracy and into a type of dictatorship.
Terrorism - the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
The threat of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians being bombed out of their homes is terrifying. As the definition explains, terrorism is used as a means of coercion or to force compliance by fear or threat.
Before Israel’s invasion into Gaza on June 27, 2006, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert made clear that the operation was “not to mete out punishment but rather to apply pressure so that the abducted soldier will be freed. We want to create a new equation — freeing the abducted soldier in return for lessening the pressure on the Palestinians.”
During three months of attacks, Israel killed 267 Palestinians, including 52 children and 12 women, according to one report. Almost 1,000 Palestinian civilians were injured including 284 children and 37 women! That incident very clearly is an example of terrorism.
In September, 2006, President George W. Bush went to the United Nations with an attempt to tweak the understanding of the Geneva convention. Bush, in effect, was seeking a clearance to practice a form of draconian law on terror SUSPECTS! Not convicted terrorists or convicted anything. It was regarding interrogating suspects! Once again, another example of terrorism: The U.S. government attempting to use terror as a means of coercion.
As physical wars are unfolding, there is also a war of words being fought in an attempt to win public opinion. The enemy is you! You are the one who is being duped! It is your mind that will forever hold a distorted meaning of certain words and terms. Instead of letting these meanings absorb our brains, like water in a sponge, we have the ability to fight back. Our minds are one thing that we will always have control over.
Last update : 10-03-2007 00:45
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