The Delivery and Contrast of Patriotism
patriotized history
patriotic change (of history)
identity shift
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The Delivery and Contrast of Patriotism |
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A list of examples of identity shift:
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Definition of identity shiftIn reality, some person or group was the target of violence by the US or one of its follower states. In the patriotic message, the action is shown, but the identity of the person or group has been changed.This patriotic change is especially useful for saving the benevolence myth. The myth says the US doesn't harm the people of other countries. So, one way to save the myth is to refer to the US targets as if they weren't the people of their country.
Being "of" one's own country in reality, versus in the patriotic messageIn reality, you are "of" a country if you are a citizen of that country, usually because you were born there. If you are a government official or soldier, you are a soldier or official of your country if you work for your country's government. If you are a civilian combatant, you are a resistance fighter of your country if you fight against some other country that has attacked your country.Often, however, in the patriotic message, if you are a target of the US, you are not "of" your country, even if you are a citizen and were born there. If you are identified as a US target, you will generally not be referred to as being of your country, even though, in reality, you are a citizen, you live there, and you have never been anywhere else. There are a couple of different ways this is done. Sometimes, if the text identifies you as a target of the US, it will not identify you by the name of your country, but by some group name that is not the name of the country. So, for example, in texts, the US might not be said to attack "Afghans" or "Vietnamese" or "Iraqis" or "Nicaraguans". Instead, it might be said that the US is attacking "Taliban" or "Viet Cong" or "insurgents" (or even "Saddam") or "Sandinistas". Someone can even be called a "rebel" precisely because they were fighting for their country's government during a US invasion of their country. At other times, if the text identifies someone as a US target or enemy, it will portray them as foreigners. So, for example, a text about US targets in Iraq might portray them as "foreign fighters" or "al Zarqawi".
Recognition of identity shift by propaganda analysts Herman and ChomskyAlthough they do not use the term identity shift, propaganda analysts Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky identify this pattern in references to the Vietnamese people during the US occupation of Vietnam. They note that CBS newsman Walter Cronkite's use of the term "Vietnamese" in a way that implicitly excludes the National Liberation Front is part of a more general pattern, "the NLF not being Vietnamese, as usual".Herman, Edward S. and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon Books. 1988): 323.
Identity shift and mastery/sovereignty shiftA identity shift is often accompanied by a mastery/sovereignty shift that is its complement. Whereas a identity shift removes a person's identity with their country (if they fight the US or are US targets), a mastery/sovereignty shift often identifies a person with their country (if they support the US). So, if you are in reality working for the US, you are often identified by the name of your country in texts. As soon as the US sets up a US-controlled regime, this regime will be referred to in texts as the people of the country it is in, even though in reality it lacks any independence from the US. In the patriotic message a person can be "of" a country even if they haven't been living there and actually work for the US against their own country. |
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