Discerning Rhetorical Techniques in Barack Obama’s Speech “A New Beginning”

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 56-80
Author(s):  
Lok Raj Sharma
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Interest ◽  
Prime Objective ◽  
Principles Of Justice

The prime objective of this article is to discern rhetorical techniques in US President Barack Obama’s speech “A New Beginning” delivered at Cairo University on Thursday, June 04, 2009 as part of his efforts to improve American relations with the Muslim world by evoking a vision of peace, prosperity, coexistence and cooperation.   Some major sentences or assertions were taken from his speech and were evaluated as analysis which involved rhetorical techniques to persuade his audience. Mr. Obama felt the necessity of removing burning suspicion, mistrust and discord between America and the Muslim World. He proposed a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, based upon mutual interest and mutual respect. He highlighted common principles of justice and progress; and valued the tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. It can be concluded that Mr. Obama’s rhetorical techniques used to persuade his audience were influential and his assertions trustworthy.

scholarly journals Successful Schools, Stagnant Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 144-152
Author(s):  
Saulat Pervez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Private Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Successful Schools ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Relevant Concept ◽  
The World

With so much focus on illiteracy, we sometimes forget the dire stateof affairs in our urban centers with regard to education. Educationin the Muslim world has increasingly regressed into an exercise ofrote learning, a mass of discrete knowledge, and a frenzied race towardwhat we deem “useful” skills. By showing the ground realityin private education in Karachi, Pakistan, this article strives to highlightthe cyclical and future-oriented trends in schools that are inimicalto the very spirit of education. In doing so, it emphasizes theneed to adopt thinking as the primary skill taught to students inschools, with everything else encompassed within its fold. WhileKarachi is a case study here, the importance of creating thinkingcultures within schools is a crucial and very relevant concept toschools everywhere in the world, including the United States.

Confluence: Water as an Analytic of Indigenous Feminisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Joanne Barker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
The World ◽  
Indigenous Sovereignty ◽  
Do So

This article intends an orientation of readers to critical Indigenous feminist politics through a theorizing of and engagement with water as an analytic. To do so, it focuses on two solidifications of Indigenous feminist politics in the United States and Canada. The first concerns theory and method: What informs and distinguishes the articulation of a critical Indigenous feminist politics, with/from other feminisms? What difference does water make within that articulation? The second involves the junctures of the Flint water crisis and the #NODAPL action at Standing Rock: How did water bring people together, not just there but around the world? How does the coming together matter? The article presumes that gender is a core, constitutive aspect of Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, and solidarity. It argues that water rests with women and women-identified individuals, and their social and cultural responsibilities to, and in, multiple kinds of relationships, which include other-than-human beings and involve other-than-seen realities.

Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Byman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Trade Center ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
The World ◽  
Osama Bin Laden

On the morning of September 11, 2001, the entire world was introduced to Al Qaeda and its enigmatic leader, Osama bin Laden. But the organization that changed the face of terrorism forever and unleashed a whirlwind of counterterrorism activity and two major wars had been on the scene long before that eventful morning. In Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement: What Everyone Needs to Know, Daniel L. Byman, an eminent scholar of Middle East terrorism and international security who served on the 9/11 Commission, provides a sharp and concise overview of Al Qaeda, from its humble origins in the mountains of Afghanistan to the present, explaining its perseverance and adaptation since 9/11 and the limits of U.S. and allied counterterrorism efforts. The organization that would come to be known as Al Qaeda traces its roots to the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Founded as the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, Al Qaeda achieved a degree of international notoriety with a series of spectacular attacks in the 1990s; however, it was the dramatic assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11 that truly launched Al Qaeda onto the global stage. The attacks endowed the organization with world-historical importance and provoked an overwhelming counterattack by the United States and other western countries. Within a year of 9/11, the core of Al Qaeda had been chased out of Afghanistan and into a variety of refuges across the Muslim world. Splinter groups and franchised offshoots were active in the 2000s in countries like Pakistan, Iraq, and Yemen, but by early 2011, after more than a decade of relentless counterterrorism efforts by the United States and other Western military and intelligence services, most felt that Al Qaeda's moment had passed. With the death of Osama bin Laden in May of that year, many predicted that Al Qaeda was in its death throes. Shockingly, Al Qaeda has staged a remarkable comeback in the last few years. In almost every conflict in the Muslim world, from portions of the Xanjing region in northwest China to the African subcontinent, Al Qaeda franchises or like-minded groups have played a role. Al Qaeda's extreme Salafist ideology continues to appeal to radicalized Sunni Muslims throughout the world, and it has successfully altered its organizational structure so that it can both weather America's enduring full-spectrum assault and tailor its message to specific audiences. Authoritative and highly readable, Byman's account offers readers insightful and penetrating answers to the fundamental questions about Al Qaeda: who they are, where they came from, where they're going-and, perhaps most critically-what we can do about it.

Responses to “An Ethical Analysis of the Barriers to Effective Pain Management” by Ben A. Rich (CQ Vol 9, No 1)

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-96
Author(s):  
Claire Brett
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pain Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Decent People ◽  
Serious Crime ◽  
The World ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
Definition Of

Ben Rich, J.D., Ph.D., presents a scholarly, passionate view of the ethics of the “barriers to effective pain management.” His manuscript is detailed, analytical, and compassionate. No reasonable sensitive person, especially a physician committed to caring for patients, can disagree with the proposal that human beings should have their physical, emotional, and spiritual pain tended to aggressively, meticulously, and compassionately. Similarly, the same individuals advocating for such pain management would agree that no one should go to jail unless he or she is guilty of a serious crime, that decent people should not be robbed or murdered, that children should not be hungry or homeless, and that all citizens of the United States deserve healthcare. Our society attempts to achieve these goals. Laws are written, discussed, and approved by state and federal congresses, voted on by citizens, and theoretically upheld by the courts, churches, and decent individuals. But, unless the world suddenly becomes inhabited by virtuous, ethical humans who can unfailingly differentiate “good” from “bad,” then, in spite of an abundance of laws and lawyers, doctors, and nurses, this world will continue to have pain and suffering. And, although we want to hold our doctors, politicians, educators, champion athletes, and others to “higher standards” than the average citizen, it is best to remind ourselves frequently that all humans can be weak and are bound to make imprecise judgments, that there is not a homogenous definition of “good,” that values and religious beliefs are variable.

scholarly journals Soyinka’s archetypal triad and the dialectics of terror

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-56
Author(s):  
Afolayan Kayode Niyi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
The United States ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Peace ◽  
Terrorist Acts

  There is doubt that the search for global peace in the world today is receiving attention unprecedented in history. Perhaps, the turning point, which opened up fresh security challenges, was the infamous 9/11 attacks on the United States of America by Al-Qaeda. Since this horrific incidence, similar carnage of the Al-Qaeda has continued with the activities of the ISIS in the Middle East, Al-Shabaab in the eastern corridors Africa, and other groups in the western part of Africa. Rightly or wrongly, ‘terrorism’ is always used as label for the activities of these groups. This paper examines the subjective nature of the term, using selected poems from Wole Soyinka’s Idanre and Other Poems (1967), A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972), Ogun Abibiman (1976), Mandela’s Earth and Other Poems (1989) and Samarkand and Other Markets I Have known (2002), as basis of analysis. The writer, drawing a compelling link between terrorist actions and the interventions of Ogun, Atunda, Shaka and Mandela in the selected poems, establishes, from the perspective of Soyinka, the causes of and antidote to terrorist acts. The conclusion of the paper emphasizes that the easiest route to the much needed global peace lies in mutual respect of boundaries by all.  

Freedom and Security

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Graham E. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
American Government ◽  
The World ◽  
Litmus Test

The DebateQuestion 1: Various commentators have frequently invoked the importance of moderate Muslims and the role that they can play in fighting extremism in the Muslim world. But it is not clear who is a moderate Muslim. The recent cancellation of Tariq Ramadan’s visa to the United States, the raids on several American Muslim organizations, and the near marginalization of mainstream American Muslims in North America pose the following question: If moderate Muslims are critical to an American victory in the war on terror, then why does the American government frequently take steps that undermine moderate Muslims? Perhaps there is a lack of clarity about who the moderate Muslims are. In your view, who are these moderate Muslims and what are their beliefs and politics? GEF: Who is a moderate Muslim? That depends on whom you ask and what that person’s (or government’s) agenda is. Moderate is also a quite relative term, understood differently by different people. For our purposes here, let’s examine two basically different approaches to this question: an American view and a Middle Eastern view of what characterizes a moderate Muslim. Most non-Muslims would probably define a moderate Muslim as anyone who believes in democracy, tolerance, a non-violent approach to politics, and equitable treatment of women at the legal and social levels. Today, the American government functionally adds several more criteria: Amoderate Muslim is one who does not oppose the country’s strategic and geopolitical ambitions in the world, who accepts American interests and preferences within the world order, who believes that Islam has no role in politics, and who avoids any confrontation – even political – with Israel. There are deep internal contradictions and warring priorities within the American approach to the Muslim world. While democratization and “freedom” is the Bush administration’s self-proclaimed global ideological goal, the reality is that American demands for security and the war against terror take priority over the democratization agenda every time. Democratization becomes a punishment visited upon American enemies rather than a gift bestowed upon friends. Friendly tyrants take priority over those less cooperative moderate and democratic Muslims who do not acquiesce to the American agenda in the Muslim world. Within the United States itself, the immense domestic power of hardline pro-Likud lobbies and the Israel-firsters set the agenda on virtually all discourse concerning the Muslim world and Israel. This group has generally succeeded in excluding from the public dialogue most Muslim (or even non-Muslim) voices that are at all critical of Israel’s policies. This de facto litmus test raises dramatically the threshold for those who might represent an acceptable moderate Muslim interlocutor. The reality is that there is hardly a single prominent figure in the Muslim world who has not at some point voiced anger at Israeli policies against the Palestinians and who has not expressed ambivalence toward armed resistance against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Thus, few Muslim leaders enjoying public legitimacy in the Muslim world can meet this criterion these days in order to gain entry to the United States to participate in policy discussions. In short, moderate Muslimis subject to an unrealistic litmus test regarding views on Israel that functionally excludes the great majority of serious voices representative of genuine Muslim thinkers in the Middle East who are potential interlocutors. There is no reason to believe that this political framework will change in the United States anytime soon. In my view, a moderate Muslim is one who is open to the idea of evolutionary change through history in the understanding and practice of Islam, one who shuns literalism and selectivism in the understanding of sacred texts. Amoderate would reject the idea that any one group or individual has a monopoly on defining Islam and would seek to emphasize common ground with other faiths, rather than accentuate the differences. Amoderate would try to seek within Islam the roots of those political and social values that are broadly consonant with most of the general values of the rest of the contemporary world. A moderate Muslim would not reject the validity of other faiths. Against the realities of the contemporary Middle East, a moderate Muslim would broadly eschew violence as a means of settling political issues, but still might not condemn all aspects of political violence against state authorities who occupy Muslim lands by force – such as Russia in Chechnya, the Israeli state in the Palestine, or even American occupation forces in Iraq. Yet even here, in principle, a moderate must reject attacks against civilians, women, and children in any struggle for national liberation. Moderates would be open to cooperation with the West and the United States, but not at the expense of their own independence and sovereignty. 

scholarly journals The Race Warfare and the United States Justice System

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 01-14
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Stober
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Population ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Criminal Justice Reform ◽  
The World ◽  
Big Picture

Let us think for a moment, the United State is home to 5% of the world population, but 28% of the world’s prisoners. That is more than one out of four human beings in the world, with their hands-on bars, shackled, and locked up in the land of the free. Ninety-seven percent of this incarcerated people never had a trial. So as public support for criminal justice reform continues to build, it is now more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture. With a much-needed clarity in crime rate and justice’s system, this empirical analysis will be digging deep into available data to offer some much-needed clarity by piecing together the United States’ disparate system of confinement. The study emphasizes the need to understand how 2.52 million people ended up in jails or prison and why the majority of those people are poor, and also brown and black.  In the end, the reform of the criminal justice system is not about whether or not black lives matters, but it is about changing the way United States understands human dignity.

scholarly journals Identity Crisis in Martin Amis's Money and London Fields

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-69
Author(s):  
Abdelrahman J. Othman ◽  
Rebwar Z. Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Psychological Pain ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pass Through

Martin Amis’s novels are known for their representation of the dilemma of human beings in facing the problems of their age. Problems that may lead them to the status of crisis and expose them to sever psychological pain. This paper deals with issues related to identity and the traumatic conditions of the characters in two of Martin Amis's outstanding novels which are Money and London Fields.  Using a descriptive analytic approach, I will be highlighting how these characters pass through a status of crisis while living in an era of material idolization and greed that results in death of love and human noble emotions which consequently lead them to the verge of apocalypses. Although the setting of these novels are United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), the author wants to present the case as an international problem that may affect human life in different places of the world. Through a harsh language and a realistic manifestation, Amis is disclosing the true face of modernity which apparently is very attractive but deep inside is full of atrocities and disaster. I will also indicate how some of the main characters overcome the challenges they face and are able to find out their lost identities after paying high prices both emotionally and psychologically.

scholarly journals The United States, the West and the Rest of the World

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Galtung
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Deep Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The West ◽  
State Terrorism ◽  
The World ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Military ◽  
Very High

The world will never be the same again after the terrible attack on the economic U.S., the military U.S., the foreign policy U.S., and on human beings like all of us. We embrace the victims of the violence, of all violence, in deep grief, and express our hope that perpetrators will be brought to justice. Violence at this level can only be explained by a very high level of dehumanisation of the victims in the minds of the aggressors, often due to a very deep level of unresolved, basic conflict. The word “terrorism” may describe the tactics, but like “state terrorism” only portrays the perpetrator as evil, satanic, and does not go to the roots of the conflict.

scholarly journals Layered Literacies: Booktubing: Reader Response Meets 21st Century Literacies

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Peggy Semingson ◽  
Raúl Alberto Mora ◽  
Tatiana Chiquito
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Reader Response ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Column Editor ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Interest

The theme of this issue of The ALAN Review is focused globally on the world of young adult literature. As with previous Layered Literacies columns, our aim is to share emerging and excit-ing ways that youth are meaningfully engaging with digital tools and young adult novels. In this column, two of us from Medellín, Colombia (Raúl and Ta-tiana) and one of us from Texas in the United States (Peggy, the Layered Literacies column editor) share our mutual interest in booktubing. We provide an overview of booktubing, describe the characteristics of this medium of video-based expression, illustrate several cases of booktubing in global contexts, and of-fer concrete ways in which educators, librarians, and youth themselves can get started with and engage in this practice.

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