Sedition Euphemism in Bashar al-Assad’s Speech
extent of violating war crime. They do not hesitate to recruit child soldier, use human shields, rape many women and even mutilated the bodies of Assad’s loyalists to
spread fear. Those wrongful acts are better portrayed in plotter and conspirator compared
to the euphemistic expression orchestrator which semantically does not include wrongful act. The third semantic property compared is the fact that the action is
against other people’s wishes. In orchestrator, the sense is that other parties will most likely accept the arrangement. However, in plotter, since it means planning
something wrong or harmful, there is strong possibility that the arrangement or plan is against other people’s wishes or ideas. While in conspirator, it is explicitly
described that the arrangement or plan is against other people’s wishes. The wrongful actions conducted by the FSA are clearly against many parties’ wishes. Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International have sent them an open letter regarding their violation of the International Humanitarian Law. Their misconducts, obviously,
are also against Bashar al-Assad’s interests. Therefore, the expressions plotter or conspirator better fit the situation in Syria compared to orchestrator. The table below
shows the semantic properties of orchestrator, plotter, and conspirator. orchestrator
plotter conspirator
arranging something +
+ +
wrongful act -
+ +
against others’ wishes - ±
+ Table 6. Semantic properties of orchestrator, plotter, and conspirator