"YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN: WORDS ARE IMPORTANT ON TV NEWS"
It's time to put aside the visual images seen on recent TV broadcasts, especially those covering the Israeli-Hamas War. Instead, language has often taken a special place now, causing the audience to question the meaning ( and thus the irony ) of what is taking place. There are many examples, naturally, but a particularly relevant phrase is the Israeli pronouncement, " "Hamas uses people like human shields." Those words have always struck yours truly in an odd way: the term is both well-worn and also makes a point that doesn't fit. While "like human shields" is a figure of speech, a simile to be exact, it provokes more literal images than figurative ones. We end up being confused; how are we to interpret "human shields?" Other words used recently also seem ill-advised. Trump's favorite designation of late, VERMIN, is a case in point. We can't really be sure if he wanted to make a comparison to Hitler's and Mussolini's