I was listening to NPR All Things Considered on my way home last night, and I kept hearing them use the phrase, "Iraqi reconstruction."
Maybe it's just because I'm a Southerner, but "reconstruction' has a specific meaning to me, and some fairly unpleasant connotations, and it started me wondering.
We didn't talk about 'reconstruction in Kosovo, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else we've dropped bombs. I don't recall any talk of 'reconstructing' romania when Ceausescu was deposed. But now every third word out of CNN/ABC and the rest is "reconstruction." Heck, even Fox has used the word. You'd think that a news agency conceived and headquartered out of Atlanta would be a little more aware of the emotional loading of the word, and choose a more neutral word like "rebuilding," or even a positive word like "restoring."
Then again, maybe there was a reason for the choice. To a large number of people, "reconstruction" carries the same subconscious reactions as "occupation", without being overtly antagonistic. After all, Republicans did oversee the rape of the South known as reconstruction, and with elections right around the corner, it couldn't hurt to play on those old resentments.
Or am I just being paranoid?
Posted by Rich at April 22, 2003 10:29 AM | TrackBack