Einer gegen alle – Ein Virus erklärt der Menschheit den Krieg

Abstract

In March 2020, state leaders take resolute action to combat the novel Coronavirus A more or less consistent lockdown is imposed in almost all countries of the world There is also verbal armament The French president speaks of a war against the virus The American president declares himself a wartime president The German side is, for good reasons, more cautious about such war metaphors War metaphors are emotionally effective, convey elements of mythical communication and fulfil important criteria for political framing In the national and international press, the legitimacy of war rhetoric is discussed in the context of the Corona crisis, especially as it becomes clear that this rhetoric is used in order to impose unwelcome measures On the other hand, the use of military metaphors in the pandemic is judged differently in different nations, as varying collective concepts of war must be assumed © 2021 Gesellschaft fuer deutsche Sprache e V All rights reserved