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Indeed it is one of the scariest departments simply because of its name. "Homeland Security" is ironically, especially un-American sounding, in that no one eve
by JackFr 13y ago
Indeed it is one of the scariest departments simply because of its name. "Homeland Security" is ironically, especially un-American sounding, in that no one ever uses the word 'homeland'. See http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/kausfiles_special/2002/06/the_trouble_with_homeland.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/kausfiles_sp...
They should have gone all in originally and just named it the "Committee for Internal Security".
- jivatmanx 13y agoI have heard Dianne Feinstein use the word "Homeland" outside of the context of the department itself. I'd guess that Lindsey Graham and others are also doing this. The more traditional phrase, Republic, used by Benjamin Franklin, and in the pledge of Allegiance is, as your article points out, more closely ties the U.S. to certain philosophical principles, whereas the term homeland is restricted to the physical, geographic location and the individuals in it. If the lexicon is reduced to physical protection, than it's less vulnerable to arguments of lost liberty.
- ericssmith 13y agoI was also creeped out (still am) by the name, especially given the spirit of the times (eg yellow ribbons etc). I had the same sense as described here: http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/alyssa-figueroa/dissecting-word-homeland-and-why-we-only-used-it-after-911 http://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/alyssa-figueroa/dissecting... I was also surprised at the time by often seeing "Department of Defense", as we were bunker busting and daisy cutting the crap out of people across the globe. I also just recently learned that we don't know the number of US military installations around the globe (700?, 900?) and instead of dismantling them after collapse of USSR, we found new justifications.