Iron curtains: The world’s new dividing lines are no better than the old
As political metaphors go, “iron curtain” — first used to describe an actual partition in a theater — has gotten a good run. It’s been in circulation for 200 years.
But since Winston Churchill co-opted the term to describe the Soviet bloc’s borders, the metaphor has been as divisive as the physical borders it describes. In the Cold War, the term reinforced black-and-white bloc mentalities: The enemy typically belonged behind the Iron Curtain, and its morally superior antagonist in front of it.
Today, a quarter-century after its fall, “iron curtain” is back as a metaphor, according to an array of Western news outlets, including the Independent, Newsweek and the public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.… Seguir leyendo »