Iraqis Demonstrate Against Violence
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Thousands of Iraqis took to Baghdad's streets Friday condemning terrorism and urging a halt to political violence. 'Found via Drudge.[OK... so far, so good.]
The demonstrators shouted "death to terrorists"...
[Gaak! This sounds like a bad MadTV skit. Were these demonstrators paying attention to the supposed purpose of their event? Or are Iraqi political demonstrations just naturally dripping with ironic metacommentary?] --Iraqis Demonstrate Against Violence (UPI/Washington Times)
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Hah...good catch! That does seem strange. Perhaps it's a cultural difference and "death" does not so much mean murder but is a loose translation of "bring an end to"? (They must say the same thing when they see Americans watching the Super Bowl... "This is super, true, but why are these silly pigskin-obsessed American's playing football and not BOWLing?")
That's a good point, Mike. I suppose if today I were to announce that I was on a "crusade" to point out media bias, or that Matt Drudge is "pontificating" again, from a certain perspective those words have a religious connotation. So even if the protestors did use the word "death" maybe there is death and there is death. There are linguists and feminists who argue that computer terms such as "crash", "bomb", "kill" and so forth, remnants of the computing industry's origin as a military research project, are subtly oppressive to women.