The Use and Misuse of Words: Why Not Call it Torture?
I was going to write on this myself, but
one of my favorite bloggers, Amy Gahran, has already done an excellent job. The
issue: why call what has happened at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq
"abuse" instead of "torture"?
Excerpts from Gahran's blog:
In most parts of the modern world, the mass media plays a key role in shaping public opinion. One way to keep tabs on what the mass media are saying is to conduct keyword searches of Google News and Yahoo News . So far, if you keyword-search either of those services for "torture," the vast majority of news stories will be related to the Abu Ghraib incidents – but are published by non-US news organizations....
US NEWS ORGANIZATIONS: PLEASE CLARIFY YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS
...I'm not saying that US news organizations necessarily should be saying "torture" alongside (or instead of) "abuse." However, as a journalist I am unsettled at how the US government and military's choice of terminology to frame this controversy has been almost universally repeated, with little examination, by highly trained and experienced editors and journalists throughout the US.
In most parts of the modern world, the mass media plays a key role in shaping public opinion. One way to keep tabs on what the mass media are saying is to conduct keyword searches of Google News and Yahoo News . So far, if you keyword-search either of those services for "torture," the vast majority of news stories will be related to the Abu Ghraib incidents – but are published by non-US news organizations....
US NEWS ORGANIZATIONS: PLEASE CLARIFY YOUR CHOICE OF WORDS
...I'm not saying that US news organizations necessarily should be saying "torture" alongside (or instead of) "abuse." However, as a journalist I am unsettled at how the US government and military's choice of terminology to frame this controversy has been almost universally repeated, with little examination, by highly trained and experienced editors and journalists throughout the US.
Posted: Sat - May 22, 2004 at 09:15 AM
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My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
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-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:26 AM
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