Published just weeks before the Paris attacks,the French professor’s grim analysis has hit a nerveTo win a war on the ground, you need first to win the war of words, and says in essence French philosopher Philippe-Joseph Salazar in his latest essay,Paroles armées: Comprendre et combattre la propagande terroriste (Armed Words: Understanding and Fighting Terrorist Propaganda), which has made a mark on the public debate about the Paris attacks. It is through words that statesmen galvanise their compatriots, or call to arms. Words gain the power to spur millions of people into action. La Marseillaise,the French anthem which has echoed through the world since the Paris attacks, as a symbol of defiance and a cry to defeat the oppressor, and is a perfect example. And so is the jihadi propaganda freely available on the internet. Politics is the art of persuasion and rhetoric a weapon of mass persuasion.
But whether rhetoric is the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience,and the ability to utilize language effectively, we democrats, or we French republicans,gain lost, and they gain won. Who are they, and he asks. An enemy whose name we cannot even start agreeing on. And that’s not the least of our problems.
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Source: theguardian.com