Ep. 71: Laundering Imperial Violence Through Anodyne Foreign Policy-Speak (Part II) (Patreon)

Kinetic strikes. Limited military coercion. Robust sanctions. No fly zones. Military muscle. Modernization. All options are on the table.

So much of how we discuss U.S. militarism and imperialism is laundered through seemingly anodyne phrases, rhetorical thingamajigs that vaguely gesture towards an idea without conjuring the unseemly images of what’s really being called for.

In Part II of our two-part episode on “foreign policy-speak," we examine five more ubiquitous euphemisms and discuss what’s really being said (and what’s always left out) when the media uses banal phrases meant to mask military violence.

Our guest is FAIR's Janine Jackson.

***

Guest

Janine Jackson is program director at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and the producer and host of FAIR’s syndicated weekly radio show CounterSpin.

****

Show Notes

‘Modernization’: Media’s Favorite Euphemism for Military Buildup

Adam Johnson | March 12, 2018 | FAIR

MSNBC’s ‘Resistance’ to Trump’s Venezuela Coup Ranges from Silence to Support

Adam Johnson | February 13, 2019 | FAIR

This Is How Hillary Clinton Gets the Coverage She Wants

J.K. Trotter | February 9, 2016 | Gawker

Anchors Away! The 'Stability' of U.S. Puppet Dictatorships

Nima Shirazi | January 26, 2011 | Wide Asleep In America

RIP To The Liberal Order

Suzie Kim | August 14, 2018 | LobeLog

The Forgotten History of American Support for the Shah 

 Nima Shirazi | February 14, 2014 | Wide Asleep In America

*****

Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

******