Has the language of demonization been productive? Two eminent journalists, David E. Sanger and Neil MacFarquhar, wrote an article in The New York Times about the ramifications of President Bush’s declaration that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea constituted an “axis of evil.” The question is whether Bush’s pugnacious attitude and language have been instrumental in facilitating productive changes in the behavior of these nations.

It is possible that Bush’s tactic of terror and language of demonization have encouraged change in a number of nations that includes Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. However, America should not count on bullying the world into submission forever. The important question that we should be asking is whether Bush’s declaration of an “axis of evil” has done lasting and substantive harm.

Bush’s belligerent language and the anti-Americanism it has engendered has had a negative effect on the moderate middle ground in the Middle East and Muslim world. The article notes that reformists in the Middle East and Muslim world claim that Bush’s inflammatory language has created an environment where reformists are easily dismissed as “lackeys” of the American regime. When the moderate voices are lost in the din of America-bashing, the voices that are most easily heard may be those of radicals and political extremists. In effect, Bush has marginalized the moderate reformists.

The New York Times quotes a senior defense official as making the alarming pronouncement that ‘What he did was get the whole world’s attention. It’s had an effect beyond the three nations, and whether that was accidental or calculated, in retrospect I think it was a smart thing to do.’

It is truly frightening if the consequences of Bush’s axis of evil” statement were simply accidental. Furthermore, his pronouncement has marginalized moderate reformists in a flood of anti-American anger. At this point, Bush’s rhetoric has not proven to be much better than abysmal.  

Mimi Hanaoka