“Militants”:media propaganda

I’ve written and said many times before that in American media discourse,the definition of “militant” is any human being whose life is extinguished when an American missile or bomb detonates

This is definition of “militant” by use of the media who always tends to sway words in their own way. This definition of militant is very vague because it does not specify who is a militant. Although it seems very vague it is the actually definition of “militant”, which is an umbrella term for anyone who dies by a drone.

The article explains that Obama’s rhetorical emphasis on avoiding civilian deaths “did not significantly change” the drone program, because Obama himself simply expanded the definition of a “militant” to ensure that it includes virtually everyone killed by his drone strikes.

-This is saying that drone safety hasn’t changed but the definition of militant has. It says that militant covers everyone killed by drone strikes. This is what the government wants; an umbrella term that covers all the bases. This claim has no direct definition.

-The author is trying to show that a militant can be anybody but doesn’t give a definition in itself.

By “militant,” the Obama administration literally means nothing more than: any military-age male whom we kill, even when we know nothing else about them.

-What is considered a “military-age male”? All countries have different age limits for what they consider a military age male.

-If a militant is anyone of age to be in the military and male what about women and children?Are they still civilians.

-This is the most defined definition of “militant” the author gives, yet it still doesn’t cover everyone like.

The definition of militants is still not a complete definition. It tries to cover everyone under it so no one can be considered a civilian.  The author did a good job at making it clear that the definition of militant is supposed to cover everyone and eliminate “civilian” in order to hide casualties but it is vague and leaves openings which are not defined. Using a slightly different definition each time shows that “militant” can be taken in many different ways.