Final word on gulags

As usual, Fafblog has it. Especially sweet is the passage sticking it to the silly nitpickers with silly lists of Why US Detention Without Trial Isn’t Actually Exactly The Same As A Gulag.

"Please: we find the term ‘gulag’ absurd and offensive. A ‘gulag’ is Russian. You are not being interrogated to death by Russians. You are being interrogated to death by the greatest country in the world."

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9 thoughts on “Final word on gulags

  1. And, with the ‘Freedom Archipelago’ thing, fafblog also mentions probably the most direct reason for thinking the ‘gulag’ term appropriate.

  2. Can’t be bothered to read that link, but you might consider that the word "gulag" does have a very real meaning to *millions* of bereaved families in the former Soviet Union. The same courtesy and sympathy that would stop one from bandying Auschwitz around in loose metaphors should apply here.

  3. the word "gulag" does have a very real meaning to *millions*

    A very real meaning which would not be lost on the families of people incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, I’m sure.

  4. And how many people have been interrogated to death at Guantanomo? Zero seems to be the best current estimate. Not to mention that if you had any actual idea how the gulag worked, you’d know that it had nothing to do with interrogation. Snark has its place, but it should have at least a little bit of a relationship with reality.

  5. I thought perhaps I should just make clear that although I am an annoying old guy, I’m not Annoying Old Guy. Clear?

    But he’s spot on!

  6. Possibly Lubjianka (spelt wrongly i’m sure, sadly not in my phone’s dictionary) would be more apt, but a little less culturally relevant…

  7. Can’t be bothered to read that link, but you might consider that the word "gulag" does have a very real meaning to *millions* of bereaved families in the former Soviet Union.

    As does the name ‘Stalin’, which is worth remembering next time some loon like they have at Samizdata compares, say, fuel duty or the EU or the hunting ban to ‘Stalinism’. As also the name ‘Mao’…

    I could go on, but I’m actually getting quite bored of these word games where everyone alternately tries to claim the moral high ground, it’s like a group of kids shimmying up gym ropes, each daring one another to get a bit higher.

    (And yes, I know I just did exactly the same thing.)

  8. Sorry, N.I.B., but what you deride as ‘word games’ are actually valuable weapons in the all-important War On Metaphor.

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