The War [preposition] Terror

[womzilla]

Also Avedon:

Stop calling it "the war on terror". Just stop. You can refer to what the administration is doing as "the war of terror", or maybe just "the terror war", but for the rest of us, it is just the project to reduce terrorism, and that is something completely different.

While it's tempting to try to mad-lib random prepositions into my subject (The War beyond Terror; The War without Terror; The War worth Terror; The War throughout Terror), there's actually a more serious rephrasing that Avedon's comment leads to:

Bush and his cronies want to fight terrorism. Sane people want to stop terrorism. These aren't the same goal, and the things which lead to the first don't lead to the second.

(The War against Terror. That's the one worth fighting. But it's not the same as The War against Terrorists.)

Comments

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Maybe the War on Terror will be as successful as the War on Poverty. And the Struggle Against Extremism will be struggled by thoughtful moderates. And Zarathustra will spake thusly: "Can't you guys read?"