Weblog
05/07/02 02:15 PM: Faux News: Homicide Bombings
So, have you heard about the latest Palestinian suicide bombing? Oops. I mean “homicide bombing.” It is easy to understand the motivation behind the change in terminology. Israel=good, Palestine=bad. Thus, anything to make the Israelis seem gooder or the Palestinians badder is A-OK (mandatory). Anyway, I remember reading something about this in the newspaper a while back, but I had forgotten about it until I turned on FoxNews just now. The suicide bombers’ intent is to kill people. Thus the term “homocide bomber” more accurately describes the situation . . . or so the logic goes. At first glance, that seems valid. The new term does more accurately describe the intent of the bombers, since their purpose is more in killing other people than in killing themselves. But the purpose of any bombing is to kill people, is it not? Despite the name, daisycutters are not dropped from the sky for agricultural purposes. Why aren’t the American pilots who litter Afghanistan with bombs called “homocide bombers?” The only thing that distinguishes them from the “suicide bombers” is that they fly away to safety afterward.
