The term "enemy" truly bothers me

[Ned_Devine]

Maybe WE'RE the enemy! I don't look at the world in terms of enemies and the fear and threat that they impose. When I hear the talking heads refer to us capturing our "enemies" or "taking the fight to the enemy", I feel like I'm watching some really bad Chuck Norris movie. If certain people really are our "enemies", how did they become that way? I'm having trouble putting to words what I'm thinking. I think what I'm trying to say is that I can't believe how dumbed down the dialogue has become. Can anyone else elaborate on my point? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this

[Monkeyman]

1. I don't know as a vet I live by Know Your Enemy to Defeat Your Enemy

[scarletwoman]

2. The "enemy" is always the "other". Those who are not in your tribe. (nt)

[Ned_Devine]

3. Is this all?

I was expecting a little more

[Parisle]

5. I certainly understand your frustration, Ned

--- I've often thought about the ways in which this administration has selectively employed "semantic tricks" in their persuasion campaign against American principles. The continual use of the term "enemy" has bothered me a lot, too,... Hey, it's anybody they want it to be, eh? Plus it spares them the trouble of actually identifying a particular "enemy."

--- I can recall a particular early incidence of this usage creeping into the neocon PR vernacular. Bush was answering some questions and, when asked about the preemptive nature of the attack on Iraq, he replied, "The enemy attacked us." The questioner, to his or her credit, DID point out that the US was attacked from somewhere other thatn Iraq. But the administration intent in the adoption of this term is clear,.... particularly in Orwellian terms. And come to think of it,... Bush is Big Brother. It's "us versus them," ... and if you're not with "us," .... then you're with "them," ..... the enemy.

--- In much the same vein is the ongoing use of expressions revolving around "staying until the job is done," in Iraq,.... "completing the mission." Again, sparing themselves the inconvenience of stipulating just what these expressions mean. "Supporting the troops" is another emotionally-charged pile of nonsense where war-funding is concerned. But then, at the level at which the "Bush base" thinks, the reactions to these usages are more Pavlovian, than reasoned.

[Ned_Devine]

7. Thank you, Parisle...

It's a lot of catch phrases that they feel don't need to be elaborated upon. Blanket statements if you will. It's sort of like "Why should we explain it to you? While we're explaining, the 'enemy' is planning to blow up one of our cities in the 'homeland."
That's another thing...when did we start calling the U.S. the "homeland"?

[JeffR]

4. "some really bad Chuck Norris movie"

best profanity-free description for the Bush years I've ever seen.

And the dialogue has been dumbed down, but I remember the same rhetoric from the Sixties. It's slicker and more pervasive now, but it's the same old same old, dressed up for a new century.

On edit: Maybe that should read for a New American Century?

[Ned_Devine]

8. Nice Joanie Michell "Blue" avatar

[thekuch]

6. Dennis Kucinich: Is It Time For Impeachment? (video)

Dennis Kucinich: Is It Time For Impeachment? (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ckfdlrja8


The Kuch

[Ned_Devine]

9. I think what really bothers me...

...is when I hear someone like Tom DeLay use the word "enemy" as if he has any idea what it's like out there to serve or have to deal with any reality. The truth is that he is the "enemy" and the longer he is allowed to spew his venom, the more the American public is to be victimized