“Oligarch”. “Hardliner”. “Regime”. All common terms seen in Anglo-American media when describing politicians and power structures in official villain states; yet - mysteriously absent when talking about ourselves or our allies.
This Part II of our Citations Needed countdown of the Top 10 “Enemy Epithets,” derisive descriptors that are deployed to smear enemies without any symmetrical usage for U.S. officials, policy or imperial partners. Designed to conjure up nasty images of despotism and oppression, often pandering to Orientalized prejudice, these epithets demand people shut off their brains and have the label do the thinking for them.
We are joined again by FAIR’s Janine Jackson and Jim Naureckas.
I hate that “Oligarch” has as special anti-Russian meaning when they are just describing America.
Episode 138: Thought-Terminating Enemy Epithets (Part II)
For real, the fall of the USSR isn’t the only way you create “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor”