NOT "WORLD WAR III"

From WorkingForChange:

"Calling it World War III is sound packaging," he said. "You've got to call it something and five years after 9/11 with Osama [bin Laden] still roaming free and Iraq an American quagmire, and the Republican Party in danger of losing control of Congress, this ploy makes marketing sense."

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God, "marketing" is sooooo right. There are numerous reasons, some of which are mentioned here, why the "War on Terror," which isn't even really a war, is not World War III. As Bush's psychotic foreign policy spins ever more out of control, it also becomes ever more incomprehensible. Looking to capitalize on what is to many Americans a totally confusing situation in the Middle East, Newt Gingrich and others are trying to popularize a convenient and easy-to-use meme in hopes of turning around the increasing distaste for the Bush Wars, and they just might have a shot at pulling it off.

Here's why:


Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan


John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima


George C. Scott in Patton


Charlton Heston and Hal Holbrook in Midway


Robert Wagoner, Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston and James Coburn in Midway


Sig Ruman and William Holden in Stalag 17

World War II was America's Golden Age, complete with mythic heroes, legendary villains, and an overwhelmingly accepted black and white understanding that the conflict was very much about good versus evil, and Americans were on the side of good. Of course, the reality is somewhat more complicated than that, but countless movies, with the biggest stars, about "the Big One" and our mythic role in it have deeply penetrated the American psyche--you simply can't be an American without believing that we were the heroes in the fight against fascism; it's part of who we are, the good guys who won WWII. It's not rational, especially because there's so much water under the bridge since then, but it is definitely a major aspect of who we believe ourselves to be.

When the conservative war-mongers start talking about "World War III," they're obviously trying to tap that part of American consciousness. That is, as linguist George Lakoff has repeatedly observed, the conservatives are playing a completely different rhetorical game than the one liberals are playing. They're trying to craft powerful myths; we're arguing about reality. Sadly, in this case at least, myth, when widely accepted, tends to trump reality in people's minds. If this "WWIII" frame catches on, it's back to the dark and repressive days of 9/11's aftermath, when you just weren't American if you didn't want to spill Muslim blood.

Personally, I think it's too late for this kind of tactic to succeed--the situations in Iraq and elsewhere are just too far gone for people to accept highfalutin bullshit like "WWIII," but, just to be on the safe side, the left had better start crafting a few myths of its own to better counter this latest right-wing rhetorical assault.

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