The Language of War

The PR war continues unabated. There are a number of PhD theses just waiting to be written about how this war is being represented to the American people. Six months ago, how often did you hear the word “regime” in an average week? Once, twice, never? That’s now a code word with “regime change” because, hey, who could support something as sinister sounding as a “regime?” Try this for an experiment: every time you talk about our current government, use the word regime and see how sinister it sounds. “Senior Bush regime officials say that the war might take all summer.” “The first 11 days of the war have brought back with a vengeance the deep splits that have long existed within the Bush regime and the Republican Party over policy toward Iraq.” I find myself in awe over and over again that such crude Public Relations 101 tactics have been so overwhelmingly effective on the American people, who are in general uncritical of what their government tells them.

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Dave Slusher is a blogger, podcaster, computer programmer, author, science fiction fan and father. Member of the Podcast Hall of Fame class of 2022.