6 research outputs found
Post-9/11 Discourses Of Threat And Constructions of Terror In the Age of Obama
We argue elsewhere (Bloodsworth-Lugo and Lugo-Lugo, 2010) that the G.W. Bush years displayed a consistent merger of discourse surrounding otherwise unrelated issues (for example, terrorism, Saddam Hussein, September 11, 2001, immigration, same-sex marriage). This discourse served to construct and intertwine conceived international and domestic âterroristâ threats. During Barack Obamaâs campaign for the U.S presidency, post-9/11 American anxieties worked to render Obama himself into a threatening body through questions concerning his middle name (Hussein), his perceived religious affiliation, and his patriotism and citizenship. In the present paper, we argue that the post-9/11 language of âus versus themâ (âEither you are with us, or you are with the terroristsâ [Bush 2001]), delivered to the American public and international community to garner consent in the wake of the September 11, 2001 events, and transformed into public policy for the remainder of the G.W. Bush presidency, provided a lens through which Americans would continue to construct and perceive the world beyond the Bush administration. Ideology surrounding âthe War on Terror,â in particular, has either been resisted or co-opted and deployed by social agents in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. We claim that in the age of Obama, Bush-generated discourse and ideology has been activated to continue and advance policies and practices aimed at identifying and containing âterroristâ threats
The Essential Crowd: Service Workers and Social Death in Pandemic Times
During the spring of 2020, public messaging in the United States regarding COVID-19 conveyed the idea that pandemics and viral infections strike people from âall walks of lifeâ and that âdiseases know no bordersâ. Corporations and media outlets disseminated the message that âwe are all in this togetherâ. While there might be some truth in these messages, they have also been challenged as existing social inequalities have been exposed by the impacts of COVID-19. The slogan âwe are all in this togetherââwhich apportions risk equallyâis undermined when we consider the âsocial apparatusâ that informs peopleâs everyday lives. While people from some walks of life have been afforded the opportunity to telework, for instance, others have been required to report physically to workplaces. Given the tag âessential workersâ, these people often work in places that carry greater risk of infection, partly because these spaces are some of the few remaining in which crowds continue to gather during the global pandemic. We use Lisa Marie Cachoâs (2012) formulation of the concept of âsocial deathâ to offer a working theoretical model of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We engage with Cachoâs model of âsocial deathâ to highlight the blurred lines, in times of crisis, between those rendered valuable and valueless (or disposable)