Battle Babble: Selling War in America

by Thomas Lee

Euphemisms sell war. From Operation Desert Storm to Operation Iraqi Free-dom, and throughout the intervening years of deadly sanctions, a dense fog of rhetoric rose to hide the government's imperialistic ambitions and our brutality. Blunt realities of war have been smothered under layers of language. This book will play a role in the evolution of an increased sensitivity towards the deceptive words of war.

Thomas Lee, Ph.D., biologist...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567512860
• ISBN13: 9781567512861
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Common Courage Press
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

An actual dictionary exposing war propaganda usage and terms

Plenty of books talk about wartime jargon, but here's an actual dictionary exposing war propaganda usage and terms in Battlebabble: Selling War In America. Soldiers and civilians alike will find it's a-z reference allows for quick look-up of terms and definitions - but it's much more than just a one-paragraph dictionary: in-depth coverage often takes up several pages to thoroughly explain history, jargon, and approaches to selling war in the media and to the public.

BattleBabble, by Thomas. F. Lee

Battlebabble is "a dictionary of deception": it lists alphabetically euphemistic terms the government uses to describe wartime activity, what author Dr. Thomas Lee calls "a tidal wave of deceptive rhetoric poured from the White House, aimed at drowning reason and protest." Such terms include "collateral damage," "friendly fire," and "air campaign," all of which in fact describe death and destruction but are peddled for public consumption by these "patriotic" and mendaciously neutral phrases. Lee's "dictionary" is cogent, meticulously researched, well written, and passionately argued. It contributes significantly to the war against the war, and repeats a message we can never be reminded of too often: that, as Orwell said and Lee quotes, "Political language. . .is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Lee's specific exploration of individual terms and phrases ruthlessly exposes exactly this point, with deep concern for the social ignorance and complacency such language fosters. If more people shared and acted upon Lee's simple but penetrating belief that governments must try to see war as "not the final resort, but a totally unacceptable alternative"-which he admits "is worlds away from the usual assumptions of our society"-perhaps pacifism would begin to seem less like an extreme stance and more like the right one. Battlebabble bravely and effectively tries to move us in that direction.

A "must-read" for all Americans

In his new book, "Battlebabble, Selling War in America", long-time activist Thomas Lee tackles the painfully disturbing subject of government deception and its willing advocates. This book comes to us at a time when people, who were originally beguiled by George W. Bush's war rhetoric, are now having second thoughts. Mr. Lee expertly defines and illuminates the reality lying behind the deceptive and euphemistic language employed by the current administration. This book is a "must-read" for all Americans. Maureen E. Levine, Ph.D.