What I found to be of great interests in this weeks reading was the word "euphemisms."
Euphemisms are inoffensive words that are used instead of highly charged terms.
Basically, euphemisms are used to trick the mind into thinking, "Oh, it's not that bad."
Some of the uses of euphemisms are as follows: (77)
(1) "clean bombs" doesn't sound so bad. This term is able to make one think that it's a bomb, but it doesn't cause that much damage - not like other bombs. Only if this were the case. Clean bombs are one thousand times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima!
(2) "collateral damage" sounds like what has been damaged isn't that significant. Collateral damage is the same as civilian deaths. The damage greatly exceeds significant.
(3) "friendly casualties" is another term that's misleading. Friendly casualties are American troops who have been killed by American bombs.
This language and the way it is used, especially by our political system, is misleading and deceives the public.
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