The Power to Wound

President Bush might or might not have been aware of the power of the word “crusade” when he used it days after the Sept. 11 attacks to describe the coming U.S. battle against terrorism. Some think his speechwriters knew exactly what they were doing, invoking Christian holy war against Muslims to arouse national fervor.

Then again, there’s “Crusader Rabbit.”

This term “crusade,” born of bloody and ultimately futile warfare, interwoven with religious passion, has evolved into a commonplace in modern Western culture, a casually secular word. “Crusader” today simply means activist, a title so innocuous that it was given in 1948 to the first animated cartoon series made for TV, about a bunny often seen with his lance and shield who traveled to such exotic locales as Texas to fend off evil with his tiger pal, Rags. We have crusading journalists, crusading environmentalists and, of course, crusading Tom DeLay.

Though evangelist Billy Graham has practically made the word his trademark, newspapers find it equally handy. This page has used it in seven editorials this year, not counting today. We’ve knocked filibusters for hindering “progressive crusades in Washington,” denounced the “tax-cut crusade” and praised Martin Luther King Jr.’s “crusade for economic justice.”

About the only people who didn’t use the word “crusader” were the early Crusaders themselves. They thought of themselves as pilgrims to the Holy Land. But since the pilgrimage also involved “taking the cross,” wearing the Christian symbol on one’s tunic as an ever-present vow of piety, these ventures eventually took their name from the Latin “crux,” or cross.

As easily as we bandy words about, the childish verse about sticks and stones has it wrong. Words have power to wound and inflame. Many Muslims have never taken the word lightly, and Bush wisely vowed after his first “crusade” speech not to repeat it.

Months before 9/11, a Catholic school in San Juan Capistrano changed its planned team name from Crusaders (the logo showed a shield emblazoned with two swords and a cross) to Lions. Muslims applauded this sensitivity. Yet a couple of years ago, when young Muslim men organized flag-football teams in Orange County, some adopted such sure-to-offend team names as Intifada and Mujahideen (holy warrior).

Today’s focus on politically correct language often seems silly. But nearly 1,000 years after the Crusades began, it’s worth remembering that “innocuous” is a point of view.