{"id":{"repo_id":"unlv","oai_identifier":"oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2631"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/unlv/oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2631","repository":{"repo_id":"unlv","name":"University of Nevada - Las Vegas","base_url":"https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Using religious discourse to construct reality: President George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden","abstract":"This thesis examines and compares the religious discourse used by President George W. Bush in his September 20, 2001, address to a join session of Congress and by Osama bin Laden in his taped statement that aired on Al Jazeera television on October 7, 2001. As leaders of societies who both believe they are God's chosen people with a mission, both men relied on the religions of their respective nations to create a reality whereby one was good and the other evil. To illustrate how Bush and bin Laden achieve this, I apply the social construction of reality theory as it was originally presented by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. I conclude that religious discourse allowed Bush and bin Laden to, in the words of Berger and Luckmann, \"nihilate\" each other rhetorically and to create and maintain their own constructions of reality---their own \"symbolic universes.\"","abstract_html":"This thesis examines and compares the religious discourse used by President George W. Bush in his September 20, 2001, address to a join session of Congress and by Osama bin Laden in his taped statement that aired on Al Jazeera television on October 7, 2001. As leaders of societies who both believe they are God's chosen people with a mission, both men relied on the religions of their respective nations to create a reality whereby one was good and the other evil. To illustrate how Bush and bin Laden achieve this, I apply the social construction of reality theory as it was originally presented by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. I conclude that religious discourse allowed Bush and bin Laden to, in the words of Berger and Luckmann, "nihilate" each other rhetorically and to create and maintain their own constructions of reality---their own "symbolic universes."","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Menegatos, Lisa"],"institution":"University of Nevada, Las Vegas","degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Communication Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dolores Tanno"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2002-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:25:47Z","subjects":[],"languages":["English"],"rights":["IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1632"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1632","href":"https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1632","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.25669/blei-vkan","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dolores Tanno"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Menegatos, Lisa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Nevada, Las Vegas"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communication Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["IN COPYRIGHT. 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To illustrate how Bush and bin Laden achieve this, I apply the social construction of reality theory as it was originally presented by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. I conclude that religious discourse allowed Bush and bin Laden to, in the words of Berger and Luckmann, \"nihilate\" each other rhetorically and to create and maintain their own constructions of reality---their own \"symbolic universes.\""]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Using religious discourse to construct reality: President George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dolores Tanno"],"dc:creator":["Menegatos, Lisa"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis examines and compares the religious discourse used by President George W. Bush in his September 20, 2001, address to a join session of Congress and by Osama bin Laden in his taped statement that aired on Al Jazeera television on October 7, 2001. As leaders of societies who both believe they are God's chosen people with a mission, both men relied on the religions of their respective nations to create a reality whereby one was good and the other evil. To illustrate how Bush and bin Laden achieve this, I apply the social construction of reality theory as it was originally presented by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in the 1960s. I conclude that religious discourse allowed Bush and bin Laden to, in the words of Berger and Luckmann, \"nihilate\" each other rhetorically and to create and maintain their own constructions of reality---their own \"symbolic universes.\""],"dc:format":["pdf"],"dc:identifier":["10.25669/blei-vkan","https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1632","https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/context/rtds/article/2631/viewcontent/uc.pdf"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:publisher":["University of Nevada, Las Vegas"],"dc:rights":["IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Using religious discourse to construct reality: President George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden"],"dc:type":["Text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Communication Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:25:47Z"}