A QUICK GUIDE TO NEWS-SPEAK IN THE CONTEMPORARY MEDIA



in the west: the invasion of Iraq is - “The Iraq War”
in the east: the invasion of Iraq is - “The US War”

anti-Saddam militia are - “freedom fighters”
pro-Saddam militia are - “terrorists”

coalition soldiers stealing are - “taking trophies”
Iraqi citizens stealing are - “looting”

pro-US western nations have - “democracies”
those they decide are their enemies have - “regimes”

our leaders are - “presidents”, “statesmen”, “patriots”
their leaders are - “dictators”, “despots”, “tyrants”

in the west, Iraqi people
celebrating Saddam’s
demise in the streets - “welcoming us & thanking
of Baghdad are us for liberating them”
*
in the middle east, Iraqi
people celebrating
Saddam’s demise are - “celebrating Saddam’s demise”

our soldiers responsible for
slaughtering 1,000’s of Iraqi
men, women and children are - “heroes”
*
Iraqi soldiers killing a small
fraction of our ‘boys’ are - “war criminals”
*
while, our ‘boys’ responsible
for the mindless killing
of other ‘our boys’ are - “friendly firers”
*
meanwhile, back in Texas,
agents of the state killing
prisoners convicted of murder
- many of them innocent -
on death row, are - “just doing their job”
*
while the brutalised and abused
teenage youth of America
taking a bloody and suicidal
mad turn in their local
High School are guilty of - “murderous rampage”

coalition troops destroying and
defacing Iraqi public memorials,
art work and statuary are acting in - “jubilation”
*
outraged muslim anti-war
activists daubing a French
war memorial guilty of - “desecration”

journalists reporting
what we tell them to
report, the way we
want them to are - “our friends”, “patriots”, “employable”
*
those not are - “legitimate targets ”, “murdered”,
“out of a job”

in the US, we are - “liberating Iraq”
*
in the Arab world we are - “occupying”

an alcoholic and
clinical paranoiac - “if your not with me your against me”
*
US president - “those that are not with us, are against us”

in the US, those
that question
our motivation are - “enemies of freedom”, “unpatriotic”
*
rest of Arab world - “next on list”