Brand Malala

Jerome Joe Najem

Ms. Dania Adra

English 203

September 26, 2015

           The text written by Carol Anne Grayson portrays different perspectives: Social, Emotional, Rhetorical, Logical and Ethical.

- Social Perspective:

           This perspective is showcased throughout the text. First of all, Grayson states the facts that western communities have double standards in terms of violence: they cause damage first, then by making it seem like they are trying to fix it (i.e. Malala Yousafzai), they promote their "goodness" versus the east's "badness".

On a broader note, Grayson also uses this blog post to emphasize society’s bigger problem, gender justice: “Exploitation of women whether emotionally, physically, financially is so ingrained in our society” (594).

- Emotional Perspective:

           Right from the beginning of the blog post, one can spot Grayson’s emotional perspective, through the words “marketable western commodity” (593). These words show her disdain towards the communities for viewing victims as assets, for exploiting them. This idea is accentuated throughout the text, as Grayson continues to highlight the materialization of western society. She says “write her diary for public consumption” (595) and most importantly “Brand Malala” (596). Moreover, Grayson displays a kind of sarcasm when quoting “alliance” and “rescuing”, as the true motives of the western communities differ from these.

- Rhetorical Perspective:

           The blog post is argumentative. The author wants to enlighten the reader’s mind, illustrating media manipulation and corrupt leaders’ hidden motives, arriving to the fact that Malala is just a distraction. The rhetorical mode is impersonal: Grayson uses techniques such as compare and contrast (Malala with the other girls on the bus, Malala with Rigoberta Menchu…), description and illustration.

Moreover, Grayson makes use of grammatical techniques: the metaphor “brand Malala” (596) and the parallelism “Malala the book, Malala the film, Malala the portrait…” (596) being the most notable.

- Logical Perspective:

           The whole text builds up to the final conclusion that Malala is kind of a distraction from other important cases of gender justice and an asset to media and other people. The author first links Malala’s father to “misogynist” Gordon Brown (595) as to point out the illegitimacy of the incident. He then asks the rhetorical questions of why is Malala the only girl from the shooting that is being taken care of and compares Malala to fraud Rigoberta Menchu. These three ideas points at Grayson’s inductive reasoning.

- Ethical Perspective:

           The phrase “All violence must me condemned” (594) tells us a lot about Grayson’s ethical perspective. She believes that violence is wrong no matter who commits it and where it is committed. Furthermore, the author is convinced that every woman, not only Malala, should be “surrounded by [the same] care” and “given [the same] opportunities” (597).

Works cited:

Grayson, Carol Anne, “Brand Malala”: “Western exploitation of a school girl”, Shifting Narratives: A Reader for Academic Writing Sinno Z., R., Bioghlu-Karkanawi L., Fleszar D., N. Jarkas, Moughabghab E., Nish J. M., Rantisi R.