June 28, 2008
We are all Hussein now
So, earlier today I was eating terrible Chinese food and reading the papers online when I came across this New York Times article.
I find this an entirely interesting rhetorical response to the bigotry (both purposeful and unconscious) that leads to certain voters rejecting even mere consideration of the Obama option. But what I'm particularly interested in is what my professional rhetoric scholar friends have to say. Well?
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Thanks for posting this article CB. I think that its a simple troping (or turning) technique that we've seen practiced by marginalized groups since the nation's beginning.
The interesting thing here is that as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee Barak Obama is not really a member of a marginalized group, is he? And I'm not sure if those kids who've changed their names are very marginalized either.
In other words, as a rhetorical strategy how can this really change the minds of people who fear that the election of Obama will lead to further terrorist attacks, the U.S. being turned Muslim, and/or white slavery. You may think those irrational fears, but they are not your fears. Those kinds of fears cannot be mitigated by a bunch of people adopting the name that symbolizes all of those fears summed into one and flaunting that name in public spaces with a "we're here; we're Hussein; get used to it" attitude. That kind of thing would, in my opinion, only exasperate the perception that Obama has some kind of magical charm over the youth of America and will indeed succeed with his plans to change America into a Muslim, terrorist, white slavery nation. For how could such evidence as adopting that name not be read that way by those who have those fears?
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