Reuters: Will You People Stop Using ‘Surge’ and ‘Post 9-11′?
December 31, 2007 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Media Bias, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Uncategorized, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off
-By Warner Todd Huston
This is the time of year for lighthearted fluff for most news agencies and it is usually a welcome respite from hard news as we all get ready to celebrate the arrival of “Baby New Year.” The year-end list is a staple of that happy, fluff and we get them up the wazoo, for sure. The list of “overused words” is one of those that we see every year, as well, and Reuters gives us a list by which they hope we wring out a few overused words and phrases as we ring in 2008. But, I am a bit dismayed over the choice of two of the words and phrases they want us to forget. The first is “post 9/11″and the other one is “surge.” The choice of words and phrases in the case of these particular two seems to be made not only with a left leaning bias, but with a bias that leads to the sort of dangerous ignorance that caused 9/11 and the surge in the first place. The ignorance of head-in-the-sand, looking the other way that allowed Islamofascism so so easily sneak up on all of us is rampant with the inclusion of these two in this list.
Reuters writer Andrew Stern gives us this first paragraph:
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A “surge” of overused words and phrases formed a “perfect storm” of “post-9/11″ cliches in 2007, according to a U.S. university’s annual list of words and phrases that deserve to be banned.
While most of the words and phrases that the public relations department at Michigan’s Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie chose for their list is innocuous fun, including “surge” and “post 9/11″ seems to me a dangerous inclusion.
Such phrases as “post 9/11″ and “surge” have also outlived their usefulness, they said. Surge emerged in reference to adding U.S. troops in Iraq but has come to explain the expansion of anything.
“Post 9/11″ has “out lived its usefulness”? How so? Has the danger of radical Islam passed us by? HARDLY! To make people forget 9/11 is a travesty and will open us right up to the sort of complacency that we wallowed blissfully in on September 10th, 2001 — a blissful ignorance that was shattered so horribly. Does Reuters and Lake Superior State University want us to return to 9/10 thinking? When one sees that they also want us to forget about Bush’s “surge” policies in Iraq, as well, it would seem that forgetting is exactly what they want. It’s all just so passé, huh?
There was also one other somewhat disturbing bit in their year-end list of over used words and phrases.
Other contributors took umbrage at the phrase to “give back” as applied to charitable gestures, usually by celebrities.
“The notion has arisen that as one’s life progresses, one accumulates a sort of deficit balance with society which must be neutralized by charitable works or financial outlays,” one said.
Now they are against charity, too?
I am sorry, but there isn’t a damn thing wrong with the very rich imagining that they should “give back” to the community that helped them become so wealthy! Not a thing at all. Why so cynical?
In any case, this is a bad way to start 2008. The makers of this list chose badly, but they chose with their bias in the lead. Still, it’s sad to say that it isn’t surprising that a University made the list and a member of the MSM is promoting it.
So, let me end with a list of “overused” words and phrases of my own, ones I’d love to see eliminated:
- Reporters — here is a creature that died years ago. It is an outdated term that no longer applies
- Journalism — see above
- Education — here is something that has also ceased to apply to society, as well
And now for the biggest canard that should be eliminated for 2008 and all the years to come after:
- Government is here to help
Groan! What a myth.
Happy New Year to all!
____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please register to do so. I hate to do that but there are so many spam-bots out there that deleting spam comments would be a full time job if I were to just open it up for anyone without asking them to jump through a few hoops first.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. Anyone can register. No registrant's information is kept, used, or sold. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Social Networking
Help the Soldiers!
American Genius
Our Founding Ideas- The Declaration of Independence
- The Federalist Papers
- The U.S. Constitution
- Debates of 1787
- The Anti-Federalist Papers
- The Writing of John Locke
"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
Recently Written
Featured Sites
What THEY Say:
Foreign News In English
Illini Alliance
Blogroll
of Thinking
Political Parties
Contact Us
Email Publius' ForumArchives
Links
Other Blogs
MilBlogs
Religion
Gun Rights
Education
Separation of School
from State
Radio Hosts
| Blog: |
| Publius' Forum |
Topics: |
| Politics, News, Commentary |
