CORPORATE MEDIA'S WEAPONIZATION OF SEMANTICS

The corporate media’s use of the term “illegal” transportation when referring to the export of Venezuelan oil is a good example of the weaponization of semantics. The shadow (or “ghost”) fleets that transport the oil to circumvent the U.S.-imposed sanctions are owned by companies that change their names. They use fake flags and turn off tracking in order to avoid being seized, as is happening today in the Caribbean. But does that make them illegal? Maybe by U.S. law they can be considered illegal, but the high seas are not U.S. territory. By calling this activity “illegal” the corporate media is reinforcing Trump’s discourse based on the notion that the U.S. owns the world.