In English last week, we were discussing rhetoric, namely, how rhetoric can influence people through definitions. When it came to the subject of texts and how they can pose as sites of struggle (i.e. different groups fighting for their own definitions of a term), our professor brought up the term ‘Islamofascism’ and how President Bush has come under fire for that term. Specifically, how some have criticized him (and rightly so, according to our prof) for applying such a negative term to “Islamic groups that are politically opposed to us.” (exact quote)

I’m sorry, but I don’t see how “political opposition” means “flying airplanes into buildings, beheading journalists, and blowing up buses” (to name but a few examples). (more…)