Posted by Wymark on 8/20/2009, 3:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Obama Sucks!!!!"
82.23.179.222
Yeah, lots of people in lots of countries believe these kinds of national myths about themselves. That 'We' are uniquely virtuous and good and benevolent and elevated, and the Other is uniquely barbarous and evil and treacherous. Be they the Communist hordes, the Muslim hordes, the Jewish hordes, the Amerindian hordes, the Slavic hordes, the Asian hordes, the Taliban hordes, or whatever. So 'We' have a duty to bring 'Them' the virtues and norms of our civilisation, or, if they're incapable of adopting them - perhaps because they're more animal than human - than we just have to wipe them out in the name of progress. They're myths that are generally used to facilitate public support for atrocity, especially on by the right.
See - At War With Metaphor: Media, Propaganda, Racism And The War On Terror by Erin Steuter and Deborah Wilis. Which you can download for free in PDF form here
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