Words of war

(What goes through your mind when you hear the phrase �cluster bomb�?) Cluster bomb makes me think of bombs being released in a small space. This is what I call un-speak because it’s bringing in an unspoken argument about what happens which is meant to obscure the real truth. (This is not a new phenomenon, using the power the words.) It’s been happening as long as there’s been politics. It goes back to Confucius and earlier. These days we have more of a soundbyte culture so people really try to pack in as many soundbytes as they can. (Which examples stand out most to you?) For instance in America you had recently inheritance tax and British called it the death tax. Then a Democrat suggested they should call it the Paris Hilton tax. There’s also pro-life vs. pro-death�which principal should trump the other. Because these phrases are unspeak, you end up with people shouting past each other. For cluster bombs are also interesting, because bomblet is a cute little word and people who want to keep cluster bombs never refer to them as bombs but as munitions. (I think there are a couple of reasons why these terms are adopted. But when you think about a daisy cutter, the lethal weapon, it has a cute name. isn’t something psychological going on there?) This aim is with the military personnel as much as with the public.