I haven't been reading enough of the news lately I guess. The other day, actually a week or so ago, I was watching the Fox News channel when they reported a "homicide bombing" in Israel. "Homicide" bombing? Really? I had to take a double take on that one...maybe they mispoke or something, but then they said it again. "Huh?" I said out loud, I think. It piqued my interest enough to research it a bit, and as it turns out many of the more "right-leaning" news spots are using the term rather than the traditional "suicide bombers". In fact, as far as I can tell, it started with a statement by Ari Fleischer that I found in the oh so credible NewsMax site back in April: "They are not suicide bombings. They should be called homicide bombings."
The problem is, of course, is that these people are indeed "suicide bombers". They are killing themselves -- "Suicide" -- while setting off bombs -- "bombers". Etymologically, it's right on and not that difficult to understand. I mean, the term has been used for a long, long time for those who would blow themselves up in the presence of "the enemy" whether it be kamikazi pilots in WWII or little village girls in Vietnam. Suicide bombers is what they are but there are some that feel some need to spin the action to make it sound more horrible than it already is (as if suicide is glorified in our society) in order to underscore the fact that these people are killing people with the redundancy that these people aren't just bombing, they're killing people too. Perhaps their listeners (and in Ari Fleischer's case, that pretty much means the media en masse) don't understanding that when someone straps a bomb to themselves and lets it go off in a crowded area they are intending on killing as many people as possible (i.e. "homicide") and so it needs to be explained with spun redundancy. I don't know. All I do know is that's it's a stupid trend in news that makes me question if the little bit of trust I have in the media's "objectivity" is too much. I see this little thing (as well as others -- such as the labels given to either side of the abortion debate depending on the view of the reporting like "pro-choice" or "pro-abortion" versus "pro-life" or "anti-choice") and it's really disgusting. Either Fox News (and many other news outlets out there) think the public at large is too stupid to understand what exactly a "suicide bomber" does OR they are trying to spin the situation, making the Palestinians look more monstrous and (oh the catch-word of the 43rd presidency) "evil" and therefore less human and deserving of a sympathetic ear. Yeah, people that blow up innocent people are real ass holes, and are probably burning in Hell as we speak...but this style of reporting seems to degrade the Palestinian people as a whole, homicide being a more barbaric notion to our instincts perhaps, at least more barbaric than blowing oneself up for a cause on believes in. Or something.
The problem is, of course, is that these people are indeed "suicide bombers". They are killing themselves -- "Suicide" -- while setting off bombs -- "bombers". Etymologically, it's right on and not that difficult to understand. I mean, the term has been used for a long, long time for those who would blow themselves up in the presence of "the enemy" whether it be kamikazi pilots in WWII or little village girls in Vietnam. Suicide bombers is what they are but there are some that feel some need to spin the action to make it sound more horrible than it already is (as if suicide is glorified in our society) in order to underscore the fact that these people are killing people with the redundancy that these people aren't just bombing, they're killing people too. Perhaps their listeners (and in Ari Fleischer's case, that pretty much means the media en masse) don't understanding that when someone straps a bomb to themselves and lets it go off in a crowded area they are intending on killing as many people as possible (i.e. "homicide") and so it needs to be explained with spun redundancy. I don't know. All I do know is that's it's a stupid trend in news that makes me question if the little bit of trust I have in the media's "objectivity" is too much. I see this little thing (as well as others -- such as the labels given to either side of the abortion debate depending on the view of the reporting like "pro-choice" or "pro-abortion" versus "pro-life" or "anti-choice") and it's really disgusting. Either Fox News (and many other news outlets out there) think the public at large is too stupid to understand what exactly a "suicide bomber" does OR they are trying to spin the situation, making the Palestinians look more monstrous and (oh the catch-word of the 43rd presidency) "evil" and therefore less human and deserving of a sympathetic ear. Yeah, people that blow up innocent people are real ass holes, and are probably burning in Hell as we speak...but this style of reporting seems to degrade the Palestinian people as a whole, homicide being a more barbaric notion to our instincts perhaps, at least more barbaric than blowing oneself up for a cause on believes in. Or something.
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