Steven Poole: Political Term 'Weaponise' Flashcards
Why has ‘weaponise’ a poltical buzzword received so much contention?
Because, of how it has made everything seemed like into a “weapon”.
The term has “broadened” OED’s definition, it is to “provide (a nuclear or other explosive device) with a mechanism for being and propelled toward a target”.
Now it has acquired the meaning of “weaponising something that isn’t actually weapons”
An example of “weaponsing something that isn’t actually a weapon”
- A specific example found in 2009, where PowerPoint sarcastically was described as ‘wealthy dull weaponization’
What does Poole mean with weaponising that “Politics is just the combination of war by other than weapons”
Tthe significance of this statement is showing that although within Politics you don’t imagine Politicians as soldiers with guns shooting each other on the battlefield. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a that-type of war being present. There is a whole different type of war going on.
It’s been ‘re-designed’ but the whole concept of war is still present. For example, in War you have oppositions, people fighting against each other just as you have in politics with parties and politicians doing the same.
What does this teach you about how to look at language within exams?
It teaches me to see the bigger picture within contexts. That it isn’t how it always seems. I must look at the context, define and decode the language feature and link with the context. Language. Use. Is. Very. Important .
Why does “weaponise” blur the ethical lines between people of wielding metaphorical weapons and those who use real weapons to use the kill and people”?
. To me, and to most people, the word has always had connotations with death, harm, injury and the idea of murder. When some describes Ed Miliband weaponizing the ‘NHS’ in the general election. Although it has the denotation that he’s using NHS as a means of gaining advantage to win the election. In this sense, it doesn’t have the denotation that he has a real weapon. It’s harmless in an aspect that Ed Miliband won’t be physically using NHS to kill people.x
What does this teach you about euphemisms?
It’s all about context. And people need to realise that words are can have different meanings; this is why we need to broadening in such contexts.
It also reveals how language can represent to show how situations are not what they always seem. An example is the use of “weaponise” within democracy gives this an anti-democracy.
