On "support" and other weasel words.

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On another there was a brief exchange on the notion of "supporting the troops"--what does it mean, and what are the sundry implications of that phrase?

I made a point that I (perhaps narcissistically) don't want to get lost:

It's a weasel word. In politics it means one thing, in personal life another. That should be obvious. But around war time people hide the political meaning behind the personal one.

I mean, in almost any other political context, if I use the word "support," then I'm talking about the goals and objectives and worldview of whoever it is I'm supporting. Which I don't, in this case.

I wonder if we can talk about how the meaning of certain words gets shifted around during wartime.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 20 March 2003 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I know what you're saying but I disagree slightly: I don't think there needs to be a political context to the word 'support'. In my eyes, it's only used in a, um, personal/humane context--it is the attempt to remove politics from the discussion.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 20 March 2003 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't know if this is on your point - but I would have liked to know what invasion-objectors actually meant when they said we should, instead, 'support' the 'Iraqi People' to rise up and overthrow SH.
By going how far? Supplying them with weapons to fight a civil war?

(I doubt if that's what they had in mind - but would it have been possible otherwise.....what do they expect, mass self-sacrifice?)

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Thursday, 20 March 2003 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

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