Quote
Originally posted by: Darth Chaltab
Even if the end were to justify the means, the Ends are completely different. Terrorists seek to opress, America seeks to free. Terrorists spew hate; America excecutes justice. Terrorist target civilians. We target only terrorists. And sometimes we miss, and when we do, it is allways a tragedy.
This depends on whose point of view you are seing things from.
Both sides fall prey to the same linguistic othering of their enemy in opposition to what they see as 'right' as you just did.
The following list of othering expressions all come from British press coverage of the 1991 Gulf War:
We launch... ************************************************* They launch...
first-strikes ************************************************** sneak missile attacks
pre-emptive ************************************************* without provocation
Our men are... ********************************************** Their men are...
professionals ************************************************ brainwashed
lion hearts ************************************************** paper tigers
cautious **************************************************** cowardly
confident *************************************************** desperate
heroes ***************************************************** cornered
dare devils ************************************************** cannon fodder
young knights of the sky ************************************** bastards of Baghdad
loyal ******************************************************* blindly obedient
desert rats ************************************************** mad dogs
resolute **************************************************** ruthless
brave ****************************************************** fanatical
Our boys are motivated by... ********************************** Their boys are motivated by...
an old fashioned sense of duty ********************************* fear of Saddam
Our boys... ************************************************* Their boys...
fly into the jaws of Hell *************************************** cower in concrete bunkers
Our ships are... ********************************************* Iraqi ships are...
an armada ************************************************* a navy
Israeli non-retaliation is... ************************************ Iraqi non-retaliation is...
an act of great statesmanship ******************************** blundering/cowardly
Our missiles are... ****************************************** Their missiles are...
Like Luke Skywalker zapping Darth Vader *********************** Ageing duds
Our missiles cause... **************************************** Their missiles cause...
collateral damage ****************************************** civilian casualties
We... ***************************************************** They...
precision bomb ********************************************* fire wildly at anything in the skies
Our planes... ********************************************** Their planes...
suffer a high rate of attrition ********************************* are shot out of the sky
fail to return from mission *********************************** are zapped
The 'truth' "from a certain point of view".
Saddam was a bad guy and I'm glad he's gone but I'm also sorry to the 1.3 million estimated people he murdered that he was propped up and supported by successive US governments until he outlived his usefulness in the region. Hopefully Iraq's next American appointed puppet will agree to play ball with Big Oil or they'll come gunning for his head too.
Edited to fix italics.