Abstract
The central notion of this chapter is that a certain predication of terrorism makes certain counter-terrorism policies more likely than others. It does not claim that the metaphors used to predicate ‘new terrorism’ in the tabloid newspapers the Bild and The Sun ‘cause’ particular policies in the sense of dependent and independent variables. As we have seen in the last chapter one cannot talk of a causal link between certain metaphors and policy. Nevertheless, metaphors do open up certain policy options as they promote certain belief systems and justify causes of action (Mio 1997; Hartmann-Mahmud 2002). Metaphor ‘defines the pattern of perception to which people respond’ (Edelman 1971: 67). This chapter does also not want to offer an overview of all the existing counter-terrorism measures both Germany and the United Kingdom have implemented but indicates that the construction of ‘new terrorism’ in discourse made certain response appear logical while others are considered absurd. It wants to show how military, criminal, disaster management and immigration measures as well as the absence of any engagement or negotiation policy fit the predication of ‘new terrorism’ in discourse.
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‘Metaphor is the dreamwork of language and, like all dream-work, its interpretation reflects as much on the interpreter as on the originator’. (Davidson 1978)
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© 2010 Alexander Spencer
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Spencer, A. (2010). Metaphors, Predicates and Policy Implications. In: The Tabloid Terrorist. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281301_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281301_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-36569-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-28130-1
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