Swaggering Savagery and the New Frontier
The "war on terror" launched by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11 is disturbing for many reasons, not least of which is the brutality with which this war has been carried out. A second feature of the American response to 9/11 to draw fire both at home and abroad is the "cowb...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2007]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2007, Volume: 16, Issue: 1 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The "war on terror" launched by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11 is disturbing for many reasons, not least of which is the brutality with which this war has been carried out. A second feature of the American response to 9/11 to draw fire both at home and abroad is the "cowboy" swagger of President Bush and the Bush administration. A third point of criticism argues that 9/11 offered the Bush administration the perfect excuse to test the doctrine of "preemptive war" as a tool in the extension of American control of territory rich in oil reserves. These three features of the war on terror—its brutality, the cowboyism of the White House, and a context of American empire—are interrelated phenomena, and they are the product, at least in part, of the frontier myth that informs American popular culture and civil religion. The rhetoric, visual, and performative culture of the Bush Administration vis-à-vis the contemporary war of terror has too many resemblances to earlier "wars on savagery" to ignore. There is a new frontier to be conquered, and the Bush administration overtly mythologizes, ritualizes, frames, and sells this new "war" with reference to an earlier one, namely, the Indian wars. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.16.1.003 |