Pixelated Semantics

Dot-com warfare for the new Stalin

In what is no small achievement for the 'leader' of the 'free world', G. Bush is now reportedly more unpopular than Stalin in eastern Europe, coming only just behind Hitler, and ahead of Bin Laden, in an opinion poll conducted among Hungarian secondary school children. Bush also has major image problems at home, with 80% of Americans questioned in a poll for the New York Times and CBS news thinking he had been either "hiding something" or "mostly lying" in his statements on Iraq. And Bush's stain is clearly spreading, with the "combative director" Michael Moore's focus on GW's Coalition Chums, like Man of Steel, leaving him to publicly ponder "What's confusing to me is how someone like John Howard can get in bed with George W Bush... He at least appears to have half a brain ... It's really disgraceful." [Perhaps it's Bush's steadfast character that appeals.] The adversarial nature of reporting on Moore is highlighted by the choice of 'color' words to accompany descriptive terms; "combative" and "polemical" create an implicit bias that is parallel to the actual intent of the article. The Whitehouse does have some friends - it seems Boeing Corp is "getting ready to fight a dot-com war" for GW - and deploying a heavy array of jargon in support. Their "net-centric operations offer commanders potential for a 'situational awareness' previously out of reach. The system can serve as a 'force multiplier'...". Though reported as "struggling with ethics issues recently in its dealings with the Pentagon", the company has still won tens of billions of dollars in new defense orders "despite the scandals". One suspects that some non-despotic, compassion-centric leadership would probably be more appreciated than smarter, faster collateral damage.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 11:34 am ::