A War Mentality

Dan, over at Faith in Public Life, has a neat short entry "I Declare War on Metaphors" that treats the issue of the supposed war on Christmas. He definitely gets it right when he notes:

As culture war watcher Beth mentioned last week, public observance of Christmas in Basra, Iraq, was canceled after two local Christians were killed because of their religion. That is a war.
Earlier this month Americans United for Separation of Church and State threatened to sue the city of Dallas, Ga., if they didn't remove a nativity scene from public property. That is a legal dispute about the proper use of public property.

This distinction seems lost on the good people at CBN (among many others). According to their story about Dallas, Christmas is "under attack" and "under siege" and "simply part of a larger war being waged on anything and everything Christian."

There is indeed a distinction there. But, let us imagine that the folks at the Americans United for Separation of Church and State truly had nefarious intent at heart. It would still be a shame and an insidious strategy to unleash such a discourse of war in our society. I understand the power of war rhetoric to mobilize folks, but I don't think theo-political leaders that use it recognize the danger and insidiousness of such a discursive move. What possibilities does it occlude? At what cost peace? What would count as disarmament? Who are the soldiers? Enemy combatants? Who are these generals? What weapons are permitted? What atrocities will be committed? What, and whom, do we sacrifice over and over again in this war? How does it harden our heart, narrow our possibilities for compassion, and blind us to the call to love (or at least not harm) our neighbor? One thing seems clear to me: those who seem hell-bent (yes that is purposeful usage) on prosecuting this war need to look deeply at how they encourage, support, or provide aid and comfort to those who may commit atrocities as part of this "war." Let them not forget that there is such a category as war criminal.

Comments

[Dan]

Good points all. Do you have a background in general semantics literature?

[Nacho]

Hey Dan, thanks for stopping by. I did study some General Semantics, but what moves me here is my training as Rhetorician. It is sad that on one hand there seems to be little understanding of the dangers of a rhetoric/discourse of war -- on the other hand, some folks that do know better are still willingly playing with fire.

How about you? General Semantics? Socio-Linguistics work?

Thanks again!

N