"Politicizing" significant events.

We've heard the charge before... so and so is "Politicizing" 9-11, or "Politicizing" the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and so forth...

I want to throw out a semantic point--is this always wrong?

At its core, "Politics" refers to how a group determines policy. So, in a sense, if someone brings up recent controversial/tragic/horrifying events, and uses them to open up a discussion of whether a change in policy, or a change in policy makers, is needed... that is "politicizing" it, but very necessary.

What seems wrong is exploiting the events to take cheap shots or emotional appeals against one's political opponents--for example, if anyone did this, showing the face of a dead victim of 9-11, and asking "Would (insert name of victim here) want Kerry to be president?"

Having the same term for both clouds the issue. Why not simply refer to the former as "politicizing"... with no pejorative meaning, and the latter as "exploiting"?

- Yes. I often get accused of placing "attacking the president" above "winning the war in Iraq"... as if they were mutually exclusive somehow.

- Of course, they don't say "Iraq", they say "war on terror", which of course produces a swift backhand to the head.

- And just to add insult to... well, another insult, these are usually the same people who "politicized" Clinton's BJ and are now engaged in doublethink. Not that I was a huge Clinton fan.

- Yes. I often get accused of placing "attacking the president" above "winning the war in Iraq"... as if they were mutually exclusive somehow.

Click to expand...

I especially liked "You can't protest against the war! You have to support our troops!"

I heard that one a lot a year ago, and it annoyed the hell out of me. We weren't protesting against the military per se, just our President's idiotic use of them.

With an election on the herizon everything gets politicized. Every event is used as an opportunity to GET the other side. Peoples reactions are also guided by politics.

Like this prisoner thing. A conservative may think "man thats horrilble" but they cant say it, instead they make lame excuses for the abuse. The lefties may not even care about the abuse, but will make a big deal out of it cause its a free swing at the lefties.

The accusation of "politicizing" is a way to deflect criticism. Critics basically can't question anything the administration doesn't want to discuss without being accused of taking a political cheap shot...