Brand Malala Interpretation

Ali Shibli

Ms Dania Adra

English 203

September 26, 2015

Social Perspective

                  Carol Grayson seems to be seeing the story of “famous” Malala Yousafzai from the broader social perspective. Malala, the Pakistani schoolgirl who suffered from Taliban’s terrorism, and who was mentored by western human right’s campaigners became a new evidence of the “good west” verses the “bad east”. Why other Pakistani girls subjected to some terror did not receive such global attention is questionable. Why “western” women are still exploited on various levels is even more confusing. Gordon Brown, Malala’s avid supporter, let down the request of a dying man to protect his widow’s rights (Grayson 597). Gender justice is not achieved in the western countries, so how can they claim to protect it in other parts of the world? The Malala case should not divert attention to a selective group of women, gender justice is an issue that must be treated radically.

Emotional Perspective:

                  Although Grayson in her text sympathizes with Malala’s case, her tone resembles disappointment of how Malala has been used as a tool by the west and western media for their own political agenda and in turn this has subjected Malala to a form of exploitation.  The emotional perspective is further felt in Grayson’s writing when she criticizes on other victims not being taken care of, as well as on other gender rights being rejected in UK. We also feel emotionally raged by the man who died disappointed because his request was denied. We also feel disappointed by the “double standards” (as Grayson claims) that western governments apply in dealing with gender issues. Any way that Grayson endorses the emotional perspective in her writing is when she cites Fox news reports, which report on the increasing level of threats from the Taliban following the rise of Malala (Grayson, 590).

Rhetorical Perspective:

                  Grayson’s writing is relatively informal and she uses a very persuasive style in order to provide us with a different and more critical perspective one to why and how Malala has suddenly evolved into such an influential female figure. Grayson compares Malala with another Nobel nominee, Rigoberta Menchu (Grayson 595), who also was used as a commodity two decades as ago. Menchu wrote an autobiography which took her to fame, only later she was exposed by an anthropologist who wrote about how Menchu had fabricated many of the stories in her autobiography. Many experiences she tells in her story, she had not even gone through in reality. Hence, Menchu became a figure of controversy. This comparison is one way in which Grayson attempts to show us how icons like Malala can be easily used and exploited, and more importantly manipulated to believe that they are working for a genuine and global cause.

Logical Perspective:

                  Grayson’s approaches her topic via a logical approach as well. She uses inductive reasoning to illustrate and prove how Malala has been a subject of “commodification.” Grayson uses media outlets to tell of how Malala’s dad had “volunteered” her to the BBC prior to Malala’s accident. Malala’s father also owns for profit schools which were “high on the agenda” of Gordon Brown, global envoy for education at the UN (Grayson, p.595). Yet if they were worried about the Taliban, why then would they be so eager to publicize Malala in such a way? The other logical approach used to reveal commodification is when Grayson refers to the “Independent” and describes how Malala is managed by a PR firm, the same firm that works for Starbucks and Microsoft.

Ethical Perspective:

                  The final perspective this text upholds is the ethical perspective which links directly to our modern societies nowadays. Grayson emphasizes how terrorism is being performed whether in the east or in the west; how double standards play a major role in reporting terrorism around the world (Grayson 593). Notwithstanding, Malala’s case was no more than a part of the bigger game, where she quotes artist Jonathan Rao’s concerns about the case:

“I guess I was worried that she was probably a pawn in a bigger game and was being unduly influenced by the people around her” (Grayson, 595).

It’s not the case that the east is occupied by terrorism whilst the west is sumptuous with equality and freedom. As Grayson emphasizes,

“Taliban terrorism is used to propel the “good west versus the bad east” narrative in the media whilst US state terrorism is served up as “collateral damage” and is more likely to get buried along with its victims. All violence must be condemned” (Grayson, p. 594).

Grayson also points out to how many stories of girls who endured experiences as bad as Malala’s and worse often go unheard of and the voices of these victims are never heard, mainly because they do not fit the “proper narrative” (Grayson, 597). These kinds of statements that Grayson is making have an ethical perspective to them.




Work cited:

  

Grayson, Carole Anne, ““Brand Malala”: Western Exploitation of a Schoolgirl”, Shifting Narratives: A Reader for Academic Writing, Sinno Z., R., Bioghlu-Karkanawi L., Fleszar D., N. Jarkas, Moughabghab E., Nish J. M., Rantisi R., Ward A. (Eds.). Educart (Middle East) Publishing: Beirut, 2015.