Orwell claims that “Political language - and
with variations this is true of all political parties, from Anarchists to
Conservatives - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable,
and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Admittedly, it may sounds
more or less absolute, but I have to agree with it when I think of many
speeches that George Bush’s government addressed about the war to Iraq, which
is a controversial war people are still debating right now.
Here is a text of radio address by President
George W. Bush to the nation on September 28, 2002.
Bush, in different situations, repeated
hundreds upon hundreds of time to a public who are still skittish in the wake
of September 11. In this speech over one year after the “911 Attack”, he used
many words such as dangerous, weapon, threat, terrorize etc. to remind people
of that great tragedy and huge sadness they couldn’t get out of for a long
time. He
wanted to persuade the public that if
they didn't wage war, Iraq was going to attack the United States homeland with
its enormous arsenal of ghastly weapons. He tried to attract public’s attention
to focus on the threat from Iraq in order to justify the war and got many other
purposes covered.
Here is another link of Bush's war ultimatum
speech from the Cross Hall in the White House on March 17 2003.
This time, some positive phrases like responsibilities,
honor, victory, freedom and liberation were mentioned over and over again. Three
days after this speech, the war began. Bush attempted to use language to
manipulate public and made them feel that war with Iraq was inevitable and
necessary, and even hoped them to feel a sense of mission that Iraq war was
doomed to happen for the sake of Iraqis. In this way, American government would
win support from most people and loyalty from brave soldiers. However, their
potential selfish purposes were still hidden under that table.
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