Hi dabum,
Not to be etymologically outdone (OK, so I do have a competitve side after all), here's my answer to why I do not accept your spin on this one:
yourdictionary.com
Main Entry: cow.ard
Pronunciation: 'kau(-&)rd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French coart, from coe tail, from Latin cauda
Date: 13th century
: one who shows disgraceful fear or timidity
The pukes who rode those planes into the towers are infamously disgraceful. But they weren't timid. To call them cowards is mere propaganda, used to disparage, and make more uni-dimensioal one's enemy in the eyes of a gullible public. The truth of the matter is, we got outfoxed, and they were awfully clever about it. That's the scary part. Because in spite of the lunacy of the suicide soldier in theory (eventually no one is left to fight the battle), there appears to be a huge issue with fertility rates in the slums throughout the Mid East. I'm encouraged by what I see of developments in Iran, where the younger population seems to be embracing the ways of the West and fundamentalists represent an older generation that hopefully will soon be leaving the stage. But I do think that we need to find a means to spread (if not the truth of it) at least the illusion among the dispossessed and delusional like Bin Laden among the Islamic populations that the U.S. wants to be a friend and ally and not as we've come across so often as a callous manipulator and exploiter of the region. We can basically get away with the same shenanigans, IMHO, but we do need better spin in the region.
-Ray |
