“Hunkering Down” and Other Misnomers: The American War Story During the Pandemic of 2020

• Published in: Journal of American culture (Malden, Mass.) Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 194 - 209
• Main Author: Boyle, Brenda M.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2021; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: American culture; Armed forces; Civilians; Coronavirus Aid Relief & Economic Security Act 2020-US; Defense contracts; Defense spending; Language; Militarism; Original; Pandemics; Social isolation; War; United States > US
• ISSN: 1542-7331; 1542-734X
• DOI: 10.1111/jacc.13279

[...]when the Defense budget already comprises an immense and potentially disproportionate share of the federal budget and for decades the Department has been the only federal office incapable of passing a federally mandated audit (Boyle, “Coda”; Stone), emergency taxpayer funds ostensibly intended for Personal Protective Equipment and virus testing materials were instead dedicated with the CARES Act to making military dress uniforms, “jet engine parts and body armor” (Gregg and Torbati), and, in the HEROES Act, “to reimbursing defense contractors ‘general and administrative expenses,’ a catch-all phrase associated with the costs of running a business such as paying executives, running the corporate office and even marketing and sales” (Pearson). [...]DoD can remain at once largely financially and ideologically unaccountable to American taxpayers. According to The Oxford English Dictionary, however, “hunkering” means “To squat, with the haunches, knees, and ankles acutely bent, so as to bring the hams near the heels, and throw the whole weight upon the fore part of the feet” (emphasis added). [...]the multiple studies, journals, and publications can be seen as providing balance to the journalism’s perceived partisanship in the pandemic discourse. [...]the sources—approximately 150 over the course of 9.5 months—are not comprehensive or taxonomic in their scope but instead are suggestive of the war story’s deployment during a national crisis that does not obviously demand a military response.2 2 This case can be compared to the 9/11/01 national crisis when the US populace supported a physical military response to the physical attacks by terrorists.