Baroque rhetoric

In the context of discussing Fox News' abandoning all pretense of journalistic objectivity, a Talking Points Memo reader asks, "[W]ould someone ask the Fox news spokesperson why Fox's news anchors continue to refer to suicide bombers by the Bush administration's favored term "homicide bomber?"

Good question, but for me, "homicide bomber" is a sign of another odious aspect of recent American history. In both words and deeds, the Bush administration set the volume at 10. Anything less was considered weakness. So we got terms like "homicide bombers" because--I'm assuming--that while the word "suicide" immediately poses the question "Why?" and a willingness to understand, "homicide" or "homicidal" signifies meanness, and while there is an interest in ascertaining motive in murder cases, there's no pity there like there is in some cases of suicide. In short, homicide is a meaner word than suicide.

But in fact, "homicide bomber" conceals more than it reveals. All people who plant bombs are homicidal; but not all bombers are suicidal. IRA operatives didn't strap explosives to their chests. Ku Klux Klansman didn't crash truck bombs into black churches. Timothy McVeigh parked his Ryder truck full of combustible fertilizer in front of the federal building, and walked away.

Calling somebody a suicide bomber doesn't betray feelings of sympathy that one might feel when one gets the news that a friend or loved one has killed themselves. But it does narrow down the form of violence to a particular MO that signals a particular context, set of grievances, aims, etc.

This particular right wing tic is a symptom of a broader cultural disease in turn-of-the-century America, it's, shall we say, baroque tendencies. Everything has to be larger than life. McMansions. Hummers. Supersized fries. And in the realm of public policy, we can't just dismantle an organization that's part religious cult, part paramilitary organization, and part organized crime racket with a variety of military and law enforcement means. We have to call it a "War on Terror" to signify our toughness. Even if "Terror" is a tactic, not a belligerent state whose officials we can drag onto the deck of the battleship Missouri to sign unconditional surrender papers.