Enduring Freedom: War, Corporate Television, and the Delusion of the Delusion

Abstract

This article analyzes the rhetoric employed by the Bush Administration following the September 11th attacks, focusing on how it instrumentalized Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of truth to justify a new foreign policy. The paper explores the administration's use of metaphors and metonymies to reinterpret terrorism, disregard international law, and rule by force. It examines specific instances such as the attack on Afghanistan, the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, and the deployment of the trope 'Support Our Troops.' The article argues that the shift from 'Operation Infinite Justice' to 'Operation Enduring Freedom' reveals a double meaning that ironically allows the Other to speak. The study investigates the complicity of corporate television in disseminating this rhetoric, highlighting the challenges of analyzing commercial television as per Fredric Jameson's dictum. It concludes by discussing the extensive media network that mobilizes metaphors, metonymies, and television images, leading to either disenchanted resistance or a flawed understanding of the culture industry.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)