Language Cultural Diversity and the War on Terror
Cultural awareness and the careful use of language and rhetoric haveenhanced the global war on terrorism. Language is a powerful tool that caneither act to demonize the enemy or to increase the understanding of theenemy through cultural awareness. Cultural awareness itself is a powerfultool in the arsenal against terrorism, as it allows for the betterunderstanding of the enemy, thus enhancing the effort on the global war on Perhaps one of the most important and inherent dangers in the war onterror is the prospect of demonizing and oversimplifying the enemy. DanRather, famous anchor and managing editor of CBS News, illustrates thedanger of such an approach. In answer to David Letterman's question, "Whydo these people hate us'", Rather responded, "They're evil" (cited inCorliss, 2001). In Rather's defense, the interview took place shortlyafter the tragedy of September 11th, and he was likely overwhelmed withshock and grief. Nonetheless, his answer does illustrate both the power oflanguage and a lack of cultural awareness on our understanding about thewar on terror. Traditional military terms like Charlie (describing theViet Cong), (Wikipedia) are also examples of the use
The culture of the Middle East can often be difficult for Westernersto understand. This course uses the insights andawareness of the Jordanian army to help give American recruits a look atArabic culture and specific situations that they may face. However, language can also be a powerfullynegative rhetorical tool for demonizing the Arab world, as seen in DanRather's characterization of the terrorists as "totally evil" (Fedler,2001). military has taken steps to provide cultural awarenesstraining to its soldiers, thus enhancing the global war on terrorism. of language todistance us from the enemy as individuals. As such, language can be used to help create cultural sensitivityand awareness in the war on terrorism, as well as to further the demonizingof the enemy. Rather's sort of rhetoric is dangerous, as it serves to dehumanizeour enemies and portray them as completely evil and ourselves as entirelyrighteous. Further, such language has the disadvantage of reducing our understandingof the Middle East, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the war onterror. The prophetic dream can be understood as an attempt for Bin Ladento establish the justness of his cause to his Islamic audience. Notes Fedler (2001), "When we totally dehumanize our enemies,the terrorists, once again, have won. Effectively, America can no longer afford to beisolated from the rest of the world, and especially from an understandingof the Middle East and Islam, and an understanding of how segments of theMiddle East view America's actions. " In doing this, those fighting thewar on terrorism are "drawn into the simplistic dualism of the terroristswho see themselves as totally righteous and all Americans as totally evil"(Fedler, 2001).
Common topics in this essay:
Notes Fedler,
,
Dan Rather's,
Freedom Jordanian-based,
Middle East,
David Letterman's,
Corps Artillery,
Bin Laden,
Continuing Freedom,
Cong Wikipedia,
cultural awareness,
war terrorism,
global war,
war terror,
global war terrorism,
middle east,
enhancing global war,
awareness training,
enhancing global,
cultural awareness training,
powerful tool,
fedler 2001,
totally evil,
awareness cultural awareness,
evil fedler 2001,
|
Acceptance Essays
