The rhetorical use of invective and scapegoating in early antiwar songs of dissensus against the War in Iraq

Abstract

This thesis analyzes lyrics of wartime songs from the American Revolution to antiwar songs of the Iraq War as persuasive rhetorical documents that contribute to deliberative and epideictic war debate. Since war is a major issue of constitutional proportions, war debates seek consensus by employing invective and scapegoating. Wartime lyrics castigate enemies as avaricious, bloodthirsty, dehumanized, dishonest, evil, oppressive, racist, slavish, unjust, or whorish. Since the Vietnam Conflict, antiwar lyrics have condemned American leaders, constituting dissensus against governmental war policy and seeking to create new antiwar consensus. Alternative music genres of heavy metal and punk rock create lyrical and musical dissensus against mainstream music and war, and this thesis highlights representative antiwar songs written in the first year of the Iraq War.