"Away From the Politics of Fear" is an interview with Janet Napolitano (President Obama's new Homeland Security Secretary) by SPIEGEL (a German weekly news magazine), and she spoke about immigration, threat of terrorism as well as other things. When, Janet Napolitano made her first testimony to the US Congress as Homeland Security Secretary she failed to mention the word "terrorism" and that made people think that Islamic terrorists did not threaten her country. However, she then says that instead of using the word terrorism she used "man-caused" disasters . Although it was difficult to make the connection between 'terrorism' and 'man-caused disasters' by by substituting a harsh term (terrorism) by a euphemism she would have reduced the chances of angering others or insulting them.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,613330,00.html
I really liked the replacement of the word terrorism with man-caused disasters. I mean she could have even used the words man-made disasters but it just shows how politicians these days put a lot of thought into the words that they say fearing that it might mean something else. Terrorism does seem like a word that we are often used to hearing it in the news but somehow 'man-caused disaster' doesn't sound as harsh. To me it sort of sounds like it's the opposite of natural disaster which has nothing to do with terrorism.
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