A US air force pilot controls a Predator
drone from the command centre in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Photograph:
David Bathgate/Corbis
A 2004 official alert from the FBI warned that "terrorists may use secondary explosive devices to kill and injure emergency personnel responding to an initial attack"; the bulletin advised that such terror devices "are generally detonated less than one hour after initial attack, targeting first responders as well as the general population". Security experts have long noted that the evil of this tactic lies in its exploitation of the natural human tendency to go to the scene of an attack to provide aid to those who are injured, and is specifically potent for sowing terror by instilling in the population an expectation that attacks can, and likely will, occur again at any time and place:
"'The problem is that once the initial explosion goes off, many people will believe that's it, and will respond accordingly,' [the Heritage Foundation's Jack] Spencer said … The goal is to 'incite more terror. If there's an initial explosion and a second explosion, then we're thinking about a third explosion,' Spencer said."A 2007 report from the US department of homeland security christened the term "double tap" to refer to what it said was "a favorite tactic of Hamas: a device is set off, and when police and other first responders arrive, a second, larger device is set off to inflict more casualties and spread panic." Similarly, the US justice department has highlighted this tactic in its prosecutions of some of the nation's most notorious domestic terrorists. Eric Rudolph, convicted of bombing gay nightclubs and abortion clinics, was said to have "targeted federal agents by placing second bombs nearby set to detonate after police arrived to investigate the first explosion".
In 2010, when WikiLeaks published a video of the incident in which an Apache helicopter in Baghdad killed two Reuters journalists, what sparked the greatest outrage was not the initial attack, which the US army claimed was aimed at armed insurgents, but rather the follow-up attack on those who arrived at the scene to rescue the wounded. From the Guardian's initial report on the WikiLeaks video:
"A van draws up next to the wounded man and Iraqis climb out. They are unarmed and start to carry the victim to the vehicle in what would appear to be an attempt to get him to hospital. One of the helicopters opens fire with armour-piercing shells. 'Look at that. Right through the windshield,' says one of the crew. Another responds with a laugh.
"Sitting behind the windscreen were two children who were wounded.
"After ground forces arrive and the children are discovered, the American air crew blame the Iraqis. 'Well it's their fault for bringing kids in to a battle,' says one. 'That's right,' says another.
"Initially the US military said that all the dead were insurgents." read more>>
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Misleading words
Words whose apparent meaning is opposite from their actual meaning. The words listed here are comparable to words such as Ministry of Truth, Goodsex, and Joycamp in Orwell's version of Newspeak
Affirmative Action
Implied : Action which is correct ("Affirmative" means correct, and "Action" is normally good as well)
Actual : Preferential treatment for a particular minority group. (See : Apartheid, Racism)
American interest
Implied : The interest of Americans.
Actual : The interest of American corporations. This term is used by politicians that wish to start a war, without explaining the specific reasons they are doing it.
Bipartisanship
Implied - When both sides agree.
Actual - When conservatives acknowledge that liberals are right, and agree to support their programs.
Change - This term is generally used to suggest that a particular idea is good because it is newer. But, seldom are the effects of this "change" fully examined. Newer is not always better. Remember… Nazism was change. Communism was change. Prohibition was change. 'Jim Crow' laws were change. Democracy was change…. Ok, so sometimes change is good. But, when a politician asks for 'change', one should consider whether or not the cure is really any better than the disease.
Department of Defense
Implied - Department concerned with the defense of America's borders
Actual - Department concerned with maintaining of American principles around the world through acts of large-scale terrorism.
Feminist
Implied - One who wishes to be more feminine, and wishes to protect feminine ideas and custom.
Actual - One who wishes to be more masculine, and destroy differences between the sexes.
Free Elections
Implied - The masses are free to choose any person they wish to run their government.
Actual - The masses are free to choose between the two candidates we choose for them... and if possible, even that is prohibited.
Gay Rights
Implied : Right to be a homosexual.
Actual : Denying the right for anybody to argue with a homosexual's political views.
Gun Control
Implied - Laws which will control guns, and keep weapons out of the hands of criminals.
Actual - Laws which criminals will ignore, but which will keep weapons out of the hands of potential victims.
Hateful Policies
Implied - Policies which spread 'hate'.
Actual - Policies written by people that we hate.
National security
Implied - The security of the nation.
Actual - The security of those in power. The security of our colonies.
Progressive
Implied - One who wishes to move his country forward.
Actual - One who wishes to move his country toward a state-socialism.
Terrorist Attack
Implied : When an evil group ruthlessly attacks peaceful citizens for no reason whatsoever.
Actual : When we upset a group so much, they fight back as best they can against our superior forces. America is a "good" country because we bomb the hell out of terrorist nations. (I'm sure if some other great Empire would have interfered with Washington DC's conquest of the South in the way we interfered with Iraq reclaiming its own southern region, we would bomb the hell out of them too.)
World Community
Implied : A league of equal states. Communities are quaint, little places where everybody gets along - and wouldn't it be nice if the world was like that?
Actual : Other petty governments that don't stand in the way of U.S. interest. A desire to turn the world into one community - and just like any other 'community', it will need to be policed - by us.
Politically Incorrect Dictionary.
The words listed here are words that are no longer usable, or whose meanings have been altered to make them difficult to use. These were all words which could be freely used at some point in US history, but which modern culture is attempting to stamp out.
Broken Home - Replaced by Dysfunctional family.
Bum - Replaced by Homeless Person. Calling a person a "Bum" implies that the person is a moocher that is too lazy to get a job. Referring to him as a "Homeless Person" removes this stigma, and implies that he would be a perfectly normal citizen if only the government would give him a house.
Crazy - Replaced by the term Mental Illness. And, since it is an illness, it may be treated in the same manner as other diseases - with drugs. Of course, this idea is nothing new ... people have been using drugs to treat depression for centuries.
Criminal - Replaced by behaviorally challenged. This is one change that makes sense. A lot of the people in prisons today are not really "criminals" in the classic sense. Thanks to the "War on Drugs", there are a lot of people in jail because they failed to "behave" properly.
Eastern (As when used when discussing Asian Culture) - Too Eurocentric. Instead, use Africa as your frame of reference. When discussing European culture you should now use the phase "Northern", and when discussing Asia use the phrase "North-Eastern". Now isn't that better?
Factory - Replaced by Plant. The word Factory is a place where mistreated laborers toil long hours to produce pollution that billows forth from gigantic smokestacks. The word Plant is preferred since it is more difficult for this term to carry a negative connotation since this term is also used to describe nature. Its counterpart noun describes plant life (Plants, as in flowers, shrubs, etc). And the Verb form, to plant, is the process of lovingly placing a seed in the ground so it may one day grow into a mighty oak. Who can complain about having a new plant in their backyard?
Failure - Replaced by Deferred Success.
Fairy - Homophobic. Replaced by Petite airborne humanoid which possesses magical powers. The term fairy should be avoided when discussing these mythical beings, regardless of how gay they may appear.
Fat - Replaced by Enlarged physical condition caused by a completely natural genetically-induced hormone imbalance. Of course, this is very difficult to say in one breath-- so people will find it easier to not say it at all. The term "fat" is simply too short and to direct. It all too clearly points out that the reason that an obese person's skin appears so swollen is because it is being buttressed by large amounts of... well... Fat.
Foreign Food - Replaced by Ethnic Cuisine. The word foreign is generally used when one wishes to refer to something that alien to ones own country -- something that is not normally found within the jurisdiction of your own particular political unit. But with the increasing power of multinational organizations (such as the U.N. and large corporations), nothing can be said to be truly 'foreign' anymore. In a world where you can find a McDonald's in Moscow, a Disneyland in Japan, or a single currency throughout Europe, the word 'Foreign' is losing its meaning.
The word 'ethnic' provides a more accurate way to refer to these cultural traits which are continually growing fainter as we move away from the world of the past, in which different areas of the world were actually unique.
Founding Fathers - Too Sexist. Instead, use the term The Founders. We wouldn't want to exclude all those great female leaders of 18th century America would we?
Garbage Man - Replaced by Sanitation Engineer – A Garbage Man picks up garbage. A Sanitation Engineer engineers it.
Ghetto - Replaced by Economically disadvantaged area. This term is used by politicians who believe money from the Government would solve their problems.
Girlfriend/Wife - Replaced by Unpaid sex worker
Handicapped - Replaced by Physically Challenged, or even worse, handicapable
Home-ec (Home Economics) - Replaced by Family and Consumer Sciences, and I'm really not sure why. These classes have been taught in school since the early 1900's after Ellen Swallow Richards, an old-time feminist and the first woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, formed the American Home Economics Association in 1909. But I suppose that the reason for the change has something to do with the fact that Home-Ec is generally considered a 'girly' class, and is therefore sexist.
Housewife - Replaced by Domestic Engineer. This is to remove the necessity of marriage from the task of raising children.
Illegal Aliens – Replaced by Undocumented Immigrants. The phrase ‘Illegal Aliens’ implies that these people are a bunch of law-breaking creatures from outer space, while ‘Undocumented Immigrants’ suggests that they are good old-fashioned immigrants that simply have not gone through the hassle of being ‘documented’ yet.
Janitor - Replaced by Custodial Artist. No matter what you call it, this is a person who is paid to clean up shit.
Jungle - Replaced by Rainforest. A Rainforest is a happy place where Disney characters dance and sing ... a jungle is a scary place with lions, tigers, malaria and natives that want to cut off your head and boil it for dinner... who in their right mind would want to save that!?!
Lumberjack - Replaced by Murderer.
Man’s Job and Woman’s Work - Replaced by Traditional Gender Role. These are basic practices that are followed in one form or another by most of the life forms on this planet, and have been part of human culture for thousands of years… and as with most other ‘traditions’, a lot of people believe that it is time for a change.
Midget - Replaced by Vertically Challenged.
Natural Disaster - replaced by Unnatural Event caused by man's destruction of the environment. Every hurricane, mudslide, and flood should be blamed on Global Warming, even though these events have been occurring for millions of years. (I'm still waiting for somebody to blame the last Ice Age on the campfires of cavemen)
Psycho - Replaced by Pathologically High-Spirited
Secretary - Replaced by Administrative Assistant – The word Secretary comes from Latin and means ‘Confidential Officer’ – And for some unknown reason this is a bad thing.
Sex Change - Replaced by gender re-assignment.
Swamp - Replaced by Wetland. Swamps are full alligators, bugs, and disease. If anybody went around saying that we need to "save the swamps", people would think they were out of their friggin' mind!
Trailer Park - Replace by Mobile Home Community.
Ugly - Replaced by Visually Challenging.
White Trash - Losers of European descent. Term still in acceptance, although its counterpart term to describe trash of the negro race is being eliminated.
............................keep fighting the good fight, with your minds as weapons.................
.....................kosmicdebris...............................
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