Symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew.

The conceptualisation of an enemy as ‘evil’ also occurs in the discourse

of George Bush Senior:

We are resolute and resourceful. If we can selflessly confront evil for the sake

Of good in a land so far away, then surely we can make this land all it should

Be. (January 1991)

However, it was not one that was developed in his discourse. It was not

until a camp was set up at Gauntanamo Bay for ‘detainees’ from the war

Against the Taliban in Afghanistan that we have the powerful visual

evocations of the Nazi concentration camps: humans incarcerated in

Cage-like structures.

Although depersonification is not uncommon as a rhetorical strategy

for powerful evaluations of political opponents as ‘enemies’, it has been

Widely criticised in anti-war discourse for the use of inanimate notions

such as ‘collateral damage’ to refer to civilian victims of bombing. I have

Also shown how it was commonly found (along with rebirth metaphors)

In European Fascist discourse of the twentieth century. Evidently, there is

A danger when using conceptual metaphors such as TERRORISTS ARE

ANIMALS and TERRORISTS ARE PARASITES that they become means of

Conceptualisation and therefore provide the basis for political action.

Politicians and Rhetoric

It was only by thinking of Jews as if they were animals or insects that

Permitted those in charge of following instructions to implement the

policy of the Final Solution. Similarly in Iraq during the post-‘victory’

Phase, photographic evidence of the physical and sexual degradation of

Prisoners by their guards appears to have removed any concept of the

Human rights of prisoners of war. 3 Depersonification is a linguistic strategy

For providing the motivation and the moral climate in which such a

Practice can be normalised. Critical Metaphor Analysis is a means of

Identifying and evaluating leadership policy and is a form of linguistic

Investigation into the worst abuses of humanity.

Finance metaphors

Metaphors from the domain of finance occur frequently in the George

Bush Junior corpus but less commonly in that of George Bush Senior.

They are indicated by words such as ‘debt’, ‘price’, ‘cost’, ‘stake’ etc. and

Imply a basic conceptualisation of the relation between individuals and

Between nations as based on monetary transactions. They are rooted in

An underlying concept MORAL ACTIONS ARE FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS and

Are a very clear illustration of what I have described in the previous

chapter as the creation of a marketplace of ethics:

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