Words, words, words: Even the parliamentarians are the very models of post-modernists

Words not only describe and define events, but also describe and define those who use them. Recent media coverage of the rescue of an American Air Force Captain from Serb-held Northern Bosnia, and the slaughter of a family in Melbourne by a severely disturbed man used the term ‘Rambo’ for both stories. In the same newspaper, the activities of child molesters in Asia were described under the heading ‘Child love’. The importance of the words used to describe assaults on children was recognised in a recent Victorian Crime Prevention committee report.