What’s in a Name? How the US Media Support the Butchers of Burma

What’s in a name? In a word, everything. To call a person a name, or out of their name, is to deny them something essential, something sacrosanct.

The nation the media call “Myanmar” has gone by two names for centuries: Burma, and Myanmar. It was known to the UN and the West as the Union of Burma until 1989, a year after a military dictatorship seized power and renamed it the Union of Myanmar.

For twenty years that military dictatorship has run a repressive police state where mass murder, torture, and forced labor are routine. The current typhoon aid debacle shows how little regard the Burmese regime has for human life.

Most of the world has adopted “Myanmar,” but the UK and the US Department of State haven’t. Burmese groups opposed to the regime prefer “Burma” and consider the use of ”Myanmar” as acquiescing to the regime.

The media in the UK generally use the name “Burma” while the media in the US, both left and right—FoxNews is a notable exception—generally use “Myanmar.”

The British media exercise admirable discipline and decorum in denying the regime in Burma its legitimacy. The American media display ignorance and weakness by failing to do the same.

Newsprism