War on Terror - How Discourse changed after 9/11

Abstract or Introduction

[...] The discourse he (re)started, continued or resumed on “shaped public
discussion and debate surrounding terrorism worldwide”. '9/11' has become a term
everybody understands “in its conventional sense, as a realm of creative
expression” as Daniel J. Sherman and Terry Nardin point out in their book Terror,
Culture, Politics: Rethinking 9/11. Also Shana Kushner and Amy Gershkoff say that
'9/11' has become an “ideograph in the sense that the historical event represents an
attack on the beliefs, values, attitudes and “way of life” within the United States”. Not
only in the English language '9/11' has become a “dictum” but in many others, too.
In this term paper I want to take a closer look on the speech President Bush
delivered on September 20, 2001 as State of the Union Address to a joint session of
Congress. In my analysis I will go through the speech step by step in order to figure
out the main points Bush is making. From there I want to continue with its effects and
influence on the discourse about 'war on terror'. I am mainly referring to Norman
Fairclough and his interpretations in Language and Globalization and also to Kevin
Coe et al. and their study No Shades of Gray. With the help of these publications I want to emphasize the impact and the aftermath of Bush's discourse as well in media
as in society.