Akademik

belligerati
(buh.LIJ.uh.rat.eye)
n.
Writers and other members of the intelligentsia who advocate war or imperialism.
Example Citation:
How the war fevers raged in those days after Sept. 11. The nation's syndicated belligerati were beside themselves. Columnist Michael Kelly flayed the unconscionable pacifists as pro-terrorist and evil. Charles Krauthammer argued for bombing an enemy city, anywhere.
— Michael Powell, "An Eminence With No Shades of Gray," The Washington Post, May 5, 2002
Earliest Citation:
Both men have retained their reputations as enfants terribles, probably perpetuated by their cruel-lipped, scowly poses in publicity photos.
— Joy Press, "The Belligerati," The Village Voice, November 6, 2001
Over the past few months, however, the word's meaning shifted to the "warmongers/imperialists" sense thanks to a controversial article by the historian and novelist Tariq Ali that appeared in March:
[F]ormer critics of imperialism found themselves trapped by the debris of September 11. Many have now become its most vociferous loyalists. I am not, in this instance, referring to the belligerati — Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and friends — ever-present in the liberal press on both sides of the Atlantic.
— Tariq Ali, "The new empire loyalists: Former leftists turned US military cheerleaders are helping snuff out its traditions of dissent," The Guardian, March 16, 2002
Notes:
This word began it linguistic life referring to writers who use an angry, confrontational style (belligerent + literati). Its first media appearance came in a review of the books The War Against Cliché, by Martin Amis, and Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens (see the review title).
Note that this sense of this term made an even earlier appearance on Usenet (April 10, 2001).
Related Words:
chicken hawk
civilogue
embed
Iraqnophobia
panda-hugger
punditariat
barking head
chatterati
commentariat
dread merchant
hyper-power
panda-hugger
R2Per
shouting head
soft power
Categories:
Books and Magazines
Media and Journalism
Military

New words. 2013.