In class the other day, we quickly touched on a subject that interested me, the private military trainer and contracter "Blackwater" had recently changed their name to "Xe". I wanted to investigate why they did this. The name blackwater, according to an
article I found, is named for the swamps near the North Carolina location of the training facility and headquarters, and the near 100 black bears around that area. A company spokeswoman claims the name has no meaning, except the Xe is the abreviation for the element Xenon... I'm not sure what this means, but to me the name 'Blackwater' sounds malicous in some way. And Xe LLC somehow sounds more professional, even if it is for a company that deals in war. The companie's president claims that this name change indicates a "shift away from providing private security". But will more change than the name? What is your take on all this?
Any time a company changes their name they are embarrassed and hope you won't notice that they are actually the same company... It's genius (ehhh, maybe not).
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what AIG did on their way to a bright new future for the American people, by the American people. A few months later, AIU (AIG's new name) was was giving out huge bonuses and burning money like a young rock star in a five star hotel.
I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Xe to change anything about how it runs business, you'll die(unless you want to change the meaning of holding breath to give it a positive new beginning, a fresh start away from previous negative connotations). I doubt people will even call Xe Xe, everyone still calls AIU AIG and thinks of them as the ones who flipped America on its side, and people will continue to see blackwater as the company that committed crimes against humanity.
After watching something about Blackwater on Real Time and listening to Doc Oc talk about it, I'm really happy I've read a blog post about it. I looked up xenon on wikipedia to get a basic understanding on what kind of element it is. I learned that the greek word "xenos" means "foreigner" or "guest". Perhaps those involved with Blackwater agreed with you in that it has a malicious-sounding name, so they addressed their practices and ways in a more euphemistic tone. For me, it's easier to picture torture with a military company than say, people who are just "visiting". Also, xenon has been used in the past to detect the use of nuclear weapons (i.e. in North Korea). This may give what's formerly known as Blackwater some sort of justification for their activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. I thought the name change was very interesting. Thank you!
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