Re: [casi] Metaphor and War: Part 1

[H Sutter <citext@DELETETHISchebucto.ns.ca>]

Yes, Hassan, these articles by Lakoff are very
interesting.

But it seems to me that he is trying to give the
impression that this just _happened_. He says,
for example:

"Metaphorical thought, in itself, is neither good nor
bad; it is simply commonplace and inescapable. [...]
Indeed, there is an extensive, and mostly unconscious,
system of metaphor that we use automatically..."

Ok, this is true in normal life, but this was a
propaganda campaign leading up to the 1991 attack.
And the Bush Admin was trying to fool the whole world,
not only its own citizens. So these metaphors, ie,
vilification were manufactured quite deliberately.
Again, Lakoff:

"Saddam Hussein was painted as a Hitler."

(There is a word for this in German: 'Feinbild'
(literally, image of the enemy, ie, concept of the
enemy). It is created deliberately as a propaganda
tool.

Lakoff:
"It is vital, literally vital, to understand just what
role metaphorical thought played in bringing us in this
war."

>From the accounts I've read, it was orchestrated - and
was planned even before the Kuwait invasion.

Here is a translation from an analysis of the German
press coverage during the Gulf War. (Apparently, it
just mirrored US propaganda, as it does now.)

The authors claim that the slogan "Never again war,
never again fascism" was used in reverse in a
"disinformation campaign" against Iraq:

<start quote>
By equating Saddam Hussein with Adolf Hitler, the
catch-phrase "Never again war, never again fascism"
was turned upside down and used to legitimize the
Gulf War. The reversed formula "Never again fascism,
therefore war" was then spread about to generate the
fear that history might repeat itself. For several
reasons, the public was effectively prevented
from forming a definite opinion on the [impending]
war: there was no clear-cut information about the
cause and the origin of the conflict; comments on
the motives of the US were contradictory; and efforts
to resolve the conflict by non-military means were
excluded from public discourse.
<end quote>

And during the war:

<start quote>
The Geneva Convention was often referred to by the [US]
media, but only if it could be used to build up the
_Feindbild_ 'Saddam' and to justify the escalation of
the attacks against Iraq.
<end quote>

This is just a different perspective - I can't judge if
it's valid or not.

And apparently a lot of (US?) propaganda lies were
put out to discourage peace demonstrations in Germany.
School children who demonstrated in masses were called
'anti-American', antisemitic, etc.

The more things change...

Elga




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