:: What's in a Name?
I noticed yesterday an interesting name change. While the
BBC call the "dirty bomb" suspect recently taken into US custoday "Abdullah al-Muhajir",
the NYT, along with many US TV news services such as FOX, CNN, and MSNBC, persist in calling him Jose Padilla.
Just what
is his name? If Abdullah al-Muhajir born Padilla effected a legal name change, then his name
is Abdullah al-Muhajir. Otherwise, why not call Marilyn Monroe Norma Jeane Mortenson? Takes a bit of the glitter off, doesn't it?
To call this man "Jose Padilla" without proper explanation becomes a covert political statement. Doing so makes him more American, less threatening, albeit in a twisted way. By virtue of being more "American", he also becomes a target for the inalienable rights gang-- he becomes a hot commodity, the Threatened Personal Liberties Victim, along with Johnny "Jihad" Walker, the other American Taliban.
On the other hand, if this man assumed the name Abdullah al-Muhajir and did not use it "legally", then he is, of course, Jose Padilla. Which puts the onus back whoever persists in calling him Abdullah al-Muhajir.
But what is in a name after all?
