Wajiha El Rabaa

Ms. Dania Adra

English 203

September 26, 2015

Perspectives in Grayson’s text     

           

              This blog post, dated October 6^th, 2013, raises awareness about the fact that what is shown does not always reflect reality, in this case concerning social justice and human rights. The author, Carol Anne Grayson, considering Malala’s story and celebrity, invites her readers to ask the right questions when something is reported to them, and highlights the fact that the media, along with politicians, operate a selection and have, in Malala’s case, shown as much as possible how they supported and helped her, while carefully ignoring the “thousands of other cases [that] are suppressed by government including by one of the same politicians so supportive to Malala” (Grayson, 5). The text is contemporary to Malala’s story. Today, and although Malala is no longer in the headlines, what the author says about how she was exploited as the only one, highly publicized, person that so called human rights defenders helped, may still be applied to the cases and stories reported today… So the author wants to change society’s look at the media, the politicians, and the way they defend human rights.

                The author is struck, disappointed as she says how much human rights are misrepresented by the media and the politicians… She was struck by the “stage management behind the scenes” (Grayson, 4) around Malala and even seemed angry when listing “Malala the book, Malala the film, Malala the award nominee, Malala the portrait” (Grayson, 4) before wondering “how many people can name the other girls injured when Malala was shot ? What quantity of care and support did they receive?”. (Grayson, 4) She clearly is revolted by the inequality and the injustice exerted in the name of human rights. By expressing what she personally feels through, for instance (in the quotes above) detailed and precise enumeration and punctilious questions, she may reach her readers’ emotions so that they at least understand her and see the importance of the cause by seeing how much she is implicated, at least emotionally.

                Regarding its structure, this text is argumentative and was written in impersonal mode, mainly using compare and contrast, between Malala and the thousands other people (women, children) who suffered at least as much as her, and still suffer. The author mentions migrants “coming to Britain that often end up being held in detention centers or virtually penniless in the community living on vouchers with limited access to health care” (Grayson, 3) before pointing that “one young lady [Malala] is flown in to the UK and provided with the best possible care […] appearing to bypass the hurdles faced by many” (Grayson, 3). The text is written in clear language thus allowing any reader to understand, and in a good organization of thought : we can expect readers to follow the author’s thought and then end up with the same conclusions as her… Also, the text describes Malala as a commodity, yet a “very marketable western commodity” (Grayson, 1) at the beginning of the text to talk later about her “commodification” (Grayson, 3)… The use of this word to talk about a human aims to show the extent of exploitation of Malala by western media and politicians…

                The idea debated in the text is that the fight for human rights, against injustice is not well lead, at least in Malala’s case. According to the text, most of the people who are not granted their rights are ignored, and the few that are helped, including Malala, are used to show that media and politicians are concerned about human rights. From the evidence given by the text, we can mention that Malala was chosen among thousands of people harmed in Pakistan and she was helped by the western politicians because she fitted in their objectives : she was used by the media and them to show their concern in women’s rights and gender justice. However, the same politicians (ex Gordon Brown) didn’t apply this gender justice in Britain, and the migrants coming from east fleeing torture and violence were not welcome to Britain, unlike Malala. Also, the Rigoberta Menchu case is mentioned. She was, 20 years ago, a celebrity like Malala. She wrote a book about the civil war in Guatemala. It was proven later that she had “repeatedly described experiences she never had herself” (Grayson, 5). Furthermore, many people wanting gender justice were ignored by the politicians who pretend supporting human rights and gender justice, simply because they “don’t fit in a popular narrative, especially if victims of the states” (Grayson, 5), and the ones who are helped are exploited. As the author bases her conclusions on evidence in the form of examples and real facts, she works in an inductive logic and all the evidence given and the logic behind the writing of the text helps the author to convince her readers.

                The text defends, takes the side of human rights against those who use them to appear good and well-meaning. In the conclusion of the text, the author says that injustice and inequality (regarding human rights and specially women rights) shouldn’t be hidden ; we should not let anyone distract us from them. They must be recognized at their full and real extent to then be fought in a just, unbiased way. Therefore, the author wants people to see the recognition of injustice as their duty, regardless who exercises it as long as there are victims to help. Grayson wrote “All violence must be condemned” (2). Also people have to not be distracted by what politicians and media show and tell them if it is not completely objective. As the author defends human rights, her conviction appears to be political. The ethical perspective, in this text, helps the author reach her readers’ sense of duty and thus convince them to act, and not be distracted from human rights.

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., Ward A. Beirut : (Eds.). Educart (Middle East),                     2015. Print.