In war, language is deliberately distorted

[struggle4progress]

By MICHAEL KEANE, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Published: Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005

<snip> Before any prisoners were abused at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay, the definition of torture had to be contorted.

Immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Department of Defense designated the military response as “Operation Infinite Justice.”

Muslim groups protested, saying that Islam teaches that Allah alone can provide “infinite justice.” The military campaign was quickly renamed “Operation Enduring Freedom.”

Similarly, when Bush described the war on terrorism as “a crusade,” he came under criticism because of the evocation of medieval wars between Christendom and the Islamic world. He dropped the term. <snip>

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050123/OPINION04/101230007/-1/opinion

[ultraist]

1. Using language to propagandize

Precisely!

excerpt:
"Our military commanders and political leaders must be careful that in using language to deceive the enemy, to propagandize or to persuade, they do not obscure their own thinking. That is what appears to have happened with the Justice Department’s twisting of the definition of torture.

Language is a powerful weapon, but like friendly fire, it can lead to self-inflicted wounds.

As the French playwright Jean Anouilh warned, “Propaganda is a soft weapon: Hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way.”

A few prime examples of Republican propogandizing:
Pro-Life (actually means ANTI-choice)
Death Tax (actually means Inheritance taxes for the wealthy elite)

Describing giving legal status to illegal aliens as "Humanitarian" denies the reality that it is being promoted to provide slave like labor forces for wealthy business owners and big corps.