civilians – Page 2 – Engaging Peace

March 20, 2011, is “GLOBAL DAY of LISTENING to ‘live without wars.’” Inspired by Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, Afghans For Peace, and the Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project, the organizers of the latest Global Day of Listening event are providing opportunities for everyone to talk with ordinary people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Yemen, and other countries around the world.

Follow the instructions and you will be able to hear the stories of people who have firsthand experience with war, occupation, terror, and the death of innocent civilians, and you will be able to ask questions of these people, who are choosing peace rather than revenge as a result of their experiences.

Most Americans get their “news” from the “popular media” that are controlled by the same rich and powerful interests that exercise enormous influence over governmental policy and that gain much of their wealth through the country’s involvement in wars. Don’t believe their propaganda; do not let them convince you that “the only good X (insert name of one of the current popular ‘enemies’) is a dead X” or that you have to “kill or be killed.” Throughout history millions of people have pursued and achieved peace.

Even if you do not take advantage of this opportunity to talk to someone in Baghdad, Kabul, and elsewhere over the weekend, do take some time to click on the links provided above to learn more about these organizations and their fight for peace and/or view some brief videos in which survivors of the invasions in their countries make their pleas for peace.

After you participate in the listening, please share your reactions by commenting here on Engaging Peace.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Another moral disengagement mechanism identified by psychologist Albert Bandura is euphemistic labeling. This mechanism refers to the process of sanitizing language in order to detract from the emotional intensity of the reality being referenced.

Some examples of euphemistic labeling:

“Friendly fire,” used to describe the accidental killing of soldiers by their own comrades
“Servicing the target,” used as a substitute for bombing missions
“Collateral damage,” applied to the killing of innocent civilians

Another favorite is “enhanced interrogation”—not exactly the term most of us would use when describing repeated efforts to bring a 15-year-old boy almost to the point of drowning over and over again.

An excellent example of euphemistic labeling by the U.S. government was changing the name of one of its major executive departments from the Department of War to the Department of Defense.

Consider the 1982 U.S. invasion of Grenada, a tiny Caribbean island. Six thousand U.S. troops bravely took on almost 125 powerful Cuban soldiers (for which 7,000 medals were handed out); U.S. students in a medical school waited to be rescued; and a U.S. newspaper helpfully published a map of the city of Granada in Spain. Sadly, an aircraft bomb hit the wrong target and some children at an orphanage were killed.

And what was the U.S. government “defending” against? The building of a 5,000 foot runway that Soviet jets in Cuba might be able to use to bomb, well, somewhere.

In the next post, we describe the moral engagement alternative to euphemistic language—that is, telling it like it is. In the meantime, please comment and share examples of euphemistic labeling that you’ve noticed.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Note: This post was adapted from my previously published article in Peace Psychology (a publication of the American Psychological Association), Spring, 2009, as well as Corgan, M., and Malley-Morrison, K., Operation URGENT FOLLY, International Psychology Bulletin, Spring, 2008, 28-30.

Global day of listening: An opportunity to listen and learn

Euphemistic labeling (Moral disengagement, part 3)