WAR ON TERROR--->
GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM

Another essay from linguistics professor George Lakoff via AlterNet:

The phrase "War on Terror" was chosen with care. "War" is a crucial term. It evokes a war frame, and with it, the idea that the nation is under military attack -- an attack that can only be defended militarily, by use of armies, planes, bombs, and so on. The war frame includes special war powers for the president, who becomes commander in chief. It evokes unquestioned patriotism, and the idea that lack of support for the war effort is treasonous. It forces Congress to give unlimited powers to the President, lest detractors be called unpatriotic. And the war frame includes an end to the war -- winning the war, mission accomplished!

And

It is important to note the date on which the phrase "war on terror" died and was replaced by "global struggle against violent extremism." It was right after the London bombing. Using the War frame to think and talk about terrorism was becoming more difficult. The Iraq War was declared won and over, but it became clear that it was far from over and not at all won and that it created many new terrorists for every one it destroyed. The last justification - fighting the war on terror in Iraq so it wouldn't have to be fought at home -- died in the London bombing.

Click here for the rest.

Yeah, this is pretty weird. The only conclusion I can come to is Lakoff's: the messy political reality of terrorism is now becoming so extraordinarily obvious that the White House feels forced to attempt to subtly alter voters' expectations. This is bound to be a failure: even Bush can't seem to get away from using the phrase "war on terror," and I'm betting that Fox News, which quickly jumped on the fucking stupid term "homicide bomber" as a replacement for "suicide bomber" when Bush started using it, will decide that "global struggle against violent extremism" is too cumbersome for their rapid-fire approach to the "news." At any rate, it's clear that the White House is getting desperate, and that's fine by me.

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