Call Me Violent Again and I’ll Kill You.
Friday, February 10, 2006 at 08:25AM 
Quote: "No one doubts that the press should be free to satirize. But freedom of the press cannot excuse the promotion of noxious stereotypes." Reza Aslan in Slate.
Figure of Speech: paromologia (pa ro mo LOW gia), the sacrificed pawn of rhetoric.
Danish newspapers publish nasty cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, one replacing his turban with a bomb. Furious at this stereotype of the violent Muslim, some of the faithful respond with ... violence.
Writer Reza Aslan, a Muslim herself, offers a more effective rebuttal to the newspapers: Shame on them. She does it with a paromologia (Greek for "agree with"), a figure that concedes a point in order to make a stronger one. It's a close relative of concessio.
Snappy Answer: "You're right. But anger doesn't excuse acting like a stereotype."
Reader Comments (2)
-<a href="http://recallnolan.com">Kathy Miller</a>