THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-January 21, 2017- Topic 2
A deserved commutation
Chelsea Manning, the
American whistle-blower slapped with a 35-year
sentence for leaking classified State Department documents to the anti-secrecy
group WikiLeaks, has had her sentence commuted by the outgoing President,
Barack Obama. Earlier known as Bradley, she has gender dysphoria, is undergoing
hormone therapy for gender reassignment, and has twice attempted suicide while
being held at a men’s prison.
Mr. Obama’s decision to
commute the sentence could not have come at a more fraught juncture in U.S.
politics. WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy
in London, had promised to allow himself to be extradited to the U.S. if Mr.
Obama freed Ms. Manning. Now he says he will abide by that promise. However,
WikiLeaks also put itself at the centre of what has been a difficult American
election resulting in the victory of Donald Trump, when it published emails of
the Democratic National Committee allegedly stolen by hackers with links to
Russia. Those leaks, along with other cyber-malfeasance associated with the
highest levels of government in Moscow, are considered by many angry Democrats
to have derailed Ms. Clinton’s run at the White House. Has Mr. Obama done a
good turn to a group that played a role in the Democratic Party’s debacle in
November last year? Has he opened up his party to attacks by Republicans for
sending a “troubling message” to future leakers with information that could
play into the hands of America’s enemies? Maybe. Yet what he has done for sure
is to mitigate, in small measure, the U.S.’s reputation as a superpower that
preaches about democratic values such as the right to dissent and freedom of
speech, yet at home has come down with an iron fist on whistle-blowers.
Vocabulary
Commuted: reduce a judicial sentence, especially a sentence of death to one less severe.
Example: The governor recently commuted the sentences of dozens of women convicted
of killing their husbands
Synonyms: reduce, lessen, lighten, shorten, cut, attenuate, moderate
Hormone: a regulatory substance produced in an organism and
transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells
or tissues into action.
Example: These gonadotropins in turn stimulate synthesis of steroid hormones in
target tissues.
Commutation: action or the process of
commuting a judicial sentence.
Example: Jones then applied to the State Board of Pardons and Parole for commutation
of the sentence to life imprisonment, which was denied.
Pleading: make an emotional appeal.
Example: They pleaded with Carol to come home again
Synonyms: beg, implore, entreat, appeal to, supplicate, importune
Espionage: the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by
governments to obtain political and military information.
Example: Balzac pumped him for information on organised crime and political
espionage .
Synonyms: spying, infiltration, eavesdropping, surveillance, reconnaissance
Holed up: spend the winter in a dormant state.
Example: Hedgehogs are active only at night, and some species hibernate in the
winter.
Synonyms: lie dormant, lie torpid, sleep, overwinter
Malfeasance: wrongdoing, especially by a public
official.
Example: This would occur whenever the public is made aware of official malfeasance
or incompetence.
Derailed: to leave its tracks accidentally.
Example: A train was derailed after it collided with a herd of cattle
Mitigate: make less severe, serious, or painful.
Example: He wanted to mitigate misery in the world
Synonyms: alleviate, reduce, diminish, lessen, weaken, lighten, attenuate