Trump Brings Back the Department of War, Hurrah!

Prof. Glenn Diesen

Trump has renamed the Department of Defence to the Department of War. This is a great development for people who are in favour of a return to honest language.

Political propaganda is to a large extent about manipulating the language to engineer consent. By merely changing the language, one can appeal to the best in humanity to convince people to do the worst in humanity.

So let us return to honest language! The US does not spend 1 trillion dollars a year on “defense.” NATO is not a “defensive alliance.” Regime change is not “democracy promotion.” Wars of aggression are not “humanitarian interventions.” The NATO-backed unconstitutional coup that removed the democratically elected president of Ukraine against the will of most Ukrainians was not a “democratic revolution.” European leaders refusing to sit down and talk with Russia while claiming that weapons are the path to peace, even though 69% of Ukrainians favour negotiations to end the war, are not “pro-Ukrainian” or “helping Ukraine.” Gunboat diplomacy is not “freedom of navigation.” NATO countries did not ally with al-Qaeda and ISIS in Libya and Syria to defend human rights. The invasion of Iraq was not about WMDs. Torture is not “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Government-funded institutions working with intelligence agencies to manipulate civil society in other countries are not “human rights NGOs.” Expanding a military bloc against the largest country in Europe and redividing the continent is not “European integration.” Censorship is not “content moderation” or “combating disinformation” Imperial policies are not “external governance.” NATO did not occupy Afghanistan for 20 years so little girls could go to school. The genocide in Gaza is not being carried out to free hostages. Iran's nuclear reactors were not bombed to support women’s rights.

George Orwell's doublespeak envisioned a language where dissent was not possible. I therefore welcome the return to the honest language of the Trump administration. At least an honest language enables the public to dissent.

[Many thanks to Matthew Alford for the audio reading of this article.]