Call Me Violent Again and I’ll Kill You.
Friday, February 10, 2006 at 08:25AM
Figaro

brutus.jpgQuote:  "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 Speechparomologia (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."

Article originally appeared on Figures of Speech (http://inpraiseofargument.com/).
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