"Homeland" is so Nazi like...it creeps me out.

[Stoid]

What the hell was TeamBush thinking when they decided on “Homeland”? Doesn’t that just make your skin crawl? Don’t they have anyone in the administration who recognizes what a creepy and Hitlerian sounding word that is? Ew. Double Ew.

Latest usage that gave me the yuckies:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20031221_813.html

**
“These credible sources suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond,” he said. “These strategic indicators, including al-Qaida’s continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland, are perhaps greater now than at any point since Sept 11.”
**

TeamBush and 'pubs in general are usually alarmingly effective at using language, but I think they really blew it with this.

I really wish they’d toss it.

Oh, wait. I don’t wish that. I’d just like that. What I wish is that they’d all go away and leave my country the fuck alone before they destroy everything about it that makes it great. ( ** Pump Action Gerbil ** always admonishes me when I wish for small things. You never know…maybe you only get one, and you’d hate to waste it.)

[CanvasShoes]

Funny you should mention that, I’ve always thought it was creepy too.

I thought of it as sounding 1984ish, as in “Big Brother”.

VERY creepy.

[Michael_Ellis]

Makes me think of a supermarket.

[Muad_Dib]

As a conservative libertarian Republican I agree with you on this. However, I am still more t’ed off over the “PATRIOT act”. What a stupid name. If you wanted some dumb flag waving name why not call it “The defense of freedom act”. Yes it would still be dumb, but at least it would make some sense.

[Guinastasia]

Homeland sounds more folksy cutesy to me. Not creepy, just kind of backwater, hicksy.

Now if he starts talking about the “Fatherland”, I’m going to run.

[Waverly]

Well, now that we have progressed to invoking Godwin in the title, where do we go from here?

[Early_Out]

Well, how about some alternatives, folks! I vote for “Department of Fuzzy Kittens.”

[hermann]

Didn’t the UK have the “Homeguard” in WWII? Would you be happier with “Motherland”, or “Fatherland”, as mentioned?

[Michael_Ellis]

It was two words actually, hermann. Home Guard.

[Windwalker]

*Originally posted by Michael Ellis *
**It was two words actually, hermann. Home Guard. **

Man, I wish we had those here in the American homeland. You know they’d be affectionately known as our Homie G’s. Fo shizzle!

[Darkhold]

I think it was a master stroke. They’ve turned every policy they support into a patriotic gesture. You complain about the acts you’re not upset about the erosion of civil rights you’re unpatriotic at best a traitor at worst. Sure smart people will roll their eyes and see through the BS (talking about seeing the pure manipulation of the names not saying you’re stupid if you don’t have a problem with the acts themselves) but since when is the majority of people in this country willing to think that much?

[Neurotik]

*Originally posted by Muad’Dib *
**As a conservative libertarian Republican I agree with you on this. However, I am still more t’ed off over the “PATRIOT act”. What a stupid name. If you wanted some dumb flag waving name why not call it “The defense of freedom act”. Yes it would still be dumb, but at least it would make some sense. **

The more patriotic and feel-goodie the title of a bill is, the more likely it is for the contents to be completely at odds with it.

[beagledave]

For Homeland to be an obviously “Hitlerian” and “nazi-like” term, wouldn’t it make sense that Hitler would actually have used the term rather often?

[Patty_O_Furniture]

Homeland üeber Alles!

[Metacom]

*Originally posted by Early Out *
**Well, how about some alternatives, folks! I vote for “Department of Fuzzy Kittens.” **

How about “Department of Domestic Security”?

WAY less creepy then “homeland.” “Homeland” strikes me as having both fascist (e.g., fatherland, motherland, etc.) and Orwellian overtones–and by “Orwellian” I mean “dumbed down language”: Imagine the “Department of Peoplework,” the “Department of Peopleteach” or the “Department of Protectamericans” for the labor, education, and defense departments…

[beagledave]

As article points out…there really is not a real precedent for the usage of “homeland” to describe the U.S.

In a bitter fit of irony for Stoid, the term actually dates to the Clinton administration…

In fact, Jeff Greenspan, writing on the libertarian news and commentary site lewrockwell.com, has traced the phrase “homeland security” to a pair of Clinton Administration documents, “Presidential Decision Directive 62: Protection Against Unconventional Threats to the Homeland and Americans Overseas” and “Presidential Decision Directive 63: Critical Infrastructure Protection,” both dated May 22, 1998.

There are some valid criticisms of the term “homeland” in the article… (mainly, that the dictionary definition seems to refer to only native born folks, as opposed to “nation” which is more all encompassing) “hitlerian” or “nazi like” ain’t one of them.

[Reeder]

*Originally posted by Muad’Dib *
**As a conservative libertarian Republican I agree with you on this. However, I am still more t’ed off over the “PATRIOT act”. What a stupid name. If you wanted some dumb flag waving name why not call it “The defense of freedom act”. Yes it would still be dumb, but at least it would make some sense. **

It’s not a chosen name…it’s an acronym.

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.

[Francesca]

*Originally posted by Reeder *
**It’s not a chosen name…it’s an acronym. **

Reeder - are you suggesting it’s a random accident that those words spell PATRIOT? That they didn’t choose those words on purpose?

[capacitor]

I prefer something hip, like “Homeboys’ Security”.

[Larry_Mudd]

I can never hear someone say “homeboy” without an echo of Josephine Hull’s semi-hysterical “He was always such a homeboy – he loved his home,” from Harvey.

Yeah, hip-hoppers trying to come across all badass never fail remind me of the archetypical fruity old auntie. I wish they knew.