menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

The language of war is built on lies

25 0
09.04.2026

The language used by Trump and Netanyahu turns violence into virtue, framing war as moral, necessary and inevitable while masking its human cost.

In trying to explain a need to destroy Palestine, Iran and Lebanon, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu use words to justify what is unjustifiable. They dig into the language of war, which portrays simplicity, sees violence as moral, and offers an either/or, us or them choice in the conduct of world affairs.

Instead of liberating thought and encouraging creativity, the language of these war mongers exalts the idea of dominating and winning and stays blind to values other than their own. One side is civilised, the other is not.

Arrogance in the language of war is loud, justified by religiosity, largely fundamentalist and evangelical. The pronouncements of Trump, his Secretary for War Pete Hegseth, of Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Israel Katz, display self righteous dogma as though God has recommended  that there is no other way to think and act.

Trump speaks of  good versus bad, and Christianity versus the devil. In his 2 April address to the American people, he........

© Pearls and Irritations