What the 'Struggle' Is All About

The Bush administration has finally confirmed my
point. Showing the same irresoluteness that kept
shifting the rationale for the war against Iraq,
the White House has now changed the name of the
conflict that was, according to Mr. Bush, to last
forever. The “War on Terror” is now redesignated
the “Global Struggle Against Extremism!” No
announcement has been made as to who won the war
that was as magisterially ended as it had begun.
Nor is there any explanation as to why the
administration has deviated from White House
Chief of Staff Andrew Card’s previous political
marketing advice: “you don’t introduce a new
product in August.” The War on Terror has been
meeting with increased consumer sales resistance,
leaving those who trade in death and destruction
to come out with new and larger repackaging.

Neither the people of Iraq nor American soldiers
will notice any change in their daily lives, of
course. The killing and destruction will
continue, but under a different rationale. Have
you observed how quickly the media and
politicians incorporated the new terminology into
their public liturgies, substituting the word
“extremism” where “terrorism” was once employed?
Well-trained actors are quick to adjust to script
changes.

I'm gonna take a wag here and predict that “Global
Struggle Against Extremism!” won't fly long. The
phrase is too long and doesn't roll trippingly off
the tongue like the "Warn terr". What's more the
former sounds like a bastardized IWW slogan.

The World's Biggest Soap Opera continues...

Stay untuned.

Full essay.

Via Bill St. Clair