[heygiraffe]

> The People's * is a prefix used by totalitarian governments.

Indeed. And so are words like "homeland".

The last ~2 decades have seen a widespread change in ideas about the relationship between the U.S. federal govt. and the people. As a result, practices that were once restricted to highly repressive states are now merely a bit controversial in the U.S. And then we also have these ways of naming things that you & I noted.

So I wonder: could it be that thinking more like a totalitarian somehow naturally leads one to talk more like a totalitarian?

[Retra]

I keep watching older TV shows that aired when I was in the military and they keep using the term "War on Terror", which frankly, is something I'd never directly heard in the military (only from politicians) and it's surprising to me that anyone would say such a thing without reactively slapping themselves for gleefully eating up such confusion-inducing propaganda.

I think some people just like talking like that.

[dTal]

Another one to watch for: "bad guys". It's such a common phrase in America I think people are numb to how thought-stopping it is. TV shows, cops, defense contractors, everyone's eager to nasty things to "bad guys" (but it's okay, see, because they're bad).

A definitional enemy. Very newspeak.