The Hypocrisies of Terror Talk

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/25/the-hypocrisies-of-terror-talk/
Publisher:  Counterpunch
Year Published:  2016
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX19820

The religious identity of terrorists and the place where terror strikes shapes the rhetoric that media uses to describe the perpetrators and places.

Abstract: 
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One UK newspaper used the word “shooter” 14 times in a few paragraphs. Somehow, “shooter” doesn’t sound as dangerous as “terrorist”, though the effect of his actions was most assuredly the same. “Shooter” is a code word. It meant: this particular mass killer is not a Muslim.

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But wait. Not a single report, not one newscast, referred to the Kabul slaughter as an act of “terror”. The Afghan government did. But we did not. We referred to the “suicide bombers” and the “attackers” in much the same way that we referred to the “shooter” in Munich.