Friday 7 March 2014

rhetorical analysis: "Muslims view 'Islamic' terrorists the same way most Christians view the Westboro Baptist Church..."

OP's original post (see my comments below):


"Muslims view 'Islamic' terrorists the same way most Christians view the Westboro Baptist Church..."

Source: https://twitter.com/YasiraJaan/status/326576176355217408


MY COMMENTS

### "Muslims..."
Which Muslims?

Aren't 'Islamic' terrorists also Muslims?

How DO most Christians view the Westboro Baptist Church?


### "...'Islamic' terrorists..."
This is a classic example of doublespeak.
(further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak )

By putting "Islamic" in quotes the OP shows that she's consciously aware of her choice of words.
Would the post be just as "appealing" if she had written "Muslim terrorists"?
If she really wanted to go all-out with her doublespeak, she should have used "Islamic extremists" or "Islamic fundamentalists".
Additionally, using one of those "kinder" terms would also have made her "apples and oranges" comparison a little more "kosher".


### Notice how she uses "Muslims" and "most Christians".

"Muslims", without any quantifying adjective is all-encompassing, i.e. "All Muslims".
Yet she only credits "most Christians".
Do you see the implication here? E.g.:
"All Muslims get it, and most Christians get it."


### "'Islamic' terrorists ... [vs] ... Westboro Baptist Church"
Using the analogy form "A is to B as C is to D", this reads:
Muslim terrorists are to Muslims
as
Westboro Baptist Church are to most Christians

This isn't semantically/logically/necessarilly an "apples and oranges" comparison, but that really depends on the answer to these questions:

* Does this mean that Muslims only feel threatened/hurt by Muslim terrorists' actions in the same degree as Christians feel threatened/hurt by Westboro Baptist Church members' actions?

* Do Muslims see the Westboro Baptist Church the same way "most Christians" see "Muslim terrorists"?

The implication can be demonstrated like this:

(NEWS HEADLINE: Muslim terrorists just did another suicide bombing killing other innocent Muslim children.)
Muslim: God! They are so rude and annoying!

(NEWS HEADLINE: WBC members just demonstrated at a homosexual's funeral, yelling things like "God hates fags!")
Christian: God! They are so rude and annoying!

Is this what the OP meant?

###

Here's a proper doublespeak version (what the OP should have written, to avoid negative reactions as much as possible):
"Most Muslims dislike Islamic extremists like most Christians dislike the Westboro Baptist Church..."

And here's a fair, "matter-of-fact" version:
"Most Muslims dislike Muslim terrorists like most Christians dislike the Westboro Baptist Church demonstrators..."