I have been thinking lately about terminology in use by the news media and politicians, as related to the basic concepts of peace, human rights, and social justice. Here are some thoughts:
- It bothers me when instead of talking about people by using the terms "person", "people", or "human being", they use the word "troops" to refer to our soldiers (as in "5 troops died today and one was injured"), and the terms "terrorist", "insurgent", or "the enemy" to refer to those people whom we are fighting. These terms dehumanize people on both sides, in an attempt to minimize the impact of their suffering and/or death.
- It bothers me to hear the term "the objective" used to mean "the extremely violent actions of war". (There's an example in this official military press release: "They define the wingman concept; meeting the objective under the worst of circumstances".) Use of terms like this is an attempt to keep people from thinking about what is actually happening (in this case, presumably bombing Iraqi buildings, infrastructure, and people from airplanes).
- The use of the word "justice" by the Bush administration bothers me. Throughout the current crisis in Iraq, they have been talking about "bringing people to justice" via bombing and shooting them. (There's an example in this White House press release from 2003: "...we've brought to justice about half of the al Qaeda network.... And so the other half still lives.") I thought that Justice was one of the foundations of the United States, and meant things like a fair trial, being presented with the evidence against you, appeals court, and the other protections we have in our Constitution. Shooting first and asking questions later is not really the same thing, and it is still continuing (as in the recent "kill or capture" order from Bush for some Iranians in Iraq).
- The common use of the word "war" for things other than wars also bothers me. Two examples of this are the "war on drugs", and a term I saw in the news recently, the "war on poverty". Do the people who coin such phrases think about what the word "war" really means? War is an extreme, violent means of trying to resolve a disagreement by coercing another group to succumb to your point of view (or by killing them so they can no longer disagree with any strength). War causes many casualties in the armies of both sides, as well as in innocent bystanders. Is this the right imagery for thinking about how to solve problems like drugs and poverty?