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1. Embed this notice
   yosh (yosh@toot.yosh.is)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Mar-2025 01:52:01 JST yosh

   Reminder: the term “annexation” is used instead of “invasion” to make the threat of war sound less hostile and more palatable.

   You are always free to reject framing of this kind. It’s not a “special operation” or “proposed annexation” — it’s a ground invasion. A threat of war. Call it what it is.

   • Embed this notice
     yosh (yosh@toot.yosh.is)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Mar-2025 01:51:59 JST yosh

     in reply to

     Nazi Germany had a knack for making up all sorts of legal terms and processes to justify their menagerie of horrors.

     People feel safe in process. Euphemism is comfortable. And it absolutely works. Because it’s not state-sanctioned murder, it’s “capital punishment”. It’s not torture, it’s “enhanced interrogation.” It’s not genocide, it’s “protecting national security interests”. And so on.

   • Embed this notice
     yosh (yosh@toot.yosh.is)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Mar-2025 01:52:00 JST yosh

     in reply to

     Cladding terms like these in euphemisms is no accident. Even a child can tell you that war is a bad thing.

     But if you don’t call things what they are, and make them sound academic or legal — well then all of a sudden it seems like it must be something elaborate and maybe even complicated.

     No no, we’re not invading another country. We are re-evaluating the legality of historical territorial boundaries. Or something like that.

     Mr. Bill repeated this.