The “mother of all bombs” and the forceful force of the greater weapon

Abstract

In April 2017, the United States military dropped the GBU-43/B Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB), colloquially known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” in Eastern Afghanistan. This essay foregrounds the MOAB as an intensified manifestation of argumentum ad baculum (appeal to force). I argue the weapon forwards dynamic material and symbolic appeals to force, and also satisfies sadistic appeals of force, to buttress American militarism from public opposition. After assessing the MOAB’s argumentative capacity to deliver convincing claims to international and domestic audiences, I conclude by calling for adoption of object-oriented sensibilities to understand and defy the forceful force of argumentative weapons.

Keywords:

• Argumentum ad baculum
• mother of all bombs
• force
• war rhetoric
• violence

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Catherine Langford and the reviewers for their encouragement and insight.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessy J. Ohl

Jessy J. Ohl is an Assistant Professor of Communication at The University of Alabama.