[Peace-discuss] [Peace] Demonstration at the U of I, COL

[Karen Aram]

I think “doublespeak” is a topic worth pursuing as there are so many “concepts" that we as a nation just accept. Those of us in the anti-war movement, whether we know the definition or not, at least tend to “recognize" it when we hear it. As you say “enhanced interrogation” which actually means torture, and “rendition" means kidnapping and  incarceration, is another. 

One “concept" that has always bothered me is that upon which our foreign policy has  been based upon. “Within our interests”. In the seventies while a freshman that “something must be in “our interests” for the US government to intervene or pursue, was a concept I found questionable, but didn’t really challenge, as friends who were already second year law students, knew better. 

I now see I was right to question, given how “our interests” has been expanded to mean, "whatever we want,” including other nations land and resources, and we’ll do whatever it takes to acquire "what is in our interests". This concept, though not necessarily the same as “doublespeak” nonetheless is related, and perhaps why so many well educated people just accept such, without question. There are unfortunately many Harold Killer Koh’s out there, "are they truly evil, or does it have to do with their training and education."


> On Oct 29, 2016, at 08:19, Karen <karenaram at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I think we all agree on that Karen, and I think most of us are aware of the meaning of doublespeak, at least those of us who recognize it when we hear it. 
> Those of us who challenge the administration, challenge mainstream media, challenge the system that abuses the vulnerable. Those at the COL of the U of I, are of course, trained experts in the use of doublespeak. 
> 
> We need to be vigilant at all times.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 29, 2016, at 08:03, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> And, of course, Koh is responsible for helping to develop the
>> justification for the current administration to commit its crimes. And
>> Koh is the biggest promoter of those doublespeak justifications.
>> 
>> [doublespeak: Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures,
>> disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. George Orwell's
>> Animal Farm used doublespeak.
>> 
>> An example of doublespeak: Using the term "enhanced interrogation"
>> which actually means torture.
>> 
>> -kem
>