Rhetorical Analysis of news articles about recent political events in Essay

Rhetorical Analysis of news articles about recent political events in tunisia, egypt, libya, and syria - Essay Example In particular, this paper shall study the use of the metaphor Arab Spring by the news media. This paper is being carried out in order to analyze the term and its application within the news media, including its current understanding in the Arab context. The term Arab Spring was first used by George Packer in his article ‘Dreaming of Democracy,’ published in the New York Times in March, 2003. This term is mostly a western media construct, one which is largely associated with the incidents of uprising and rebellion among various Arab nations. In the article by Packer, the author declares that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the US launched its War against Terror and labeled various countries in the Arab as primary supporters of terrorism, including countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. These countries were also dominated by dictatorial leaders who were bringing their people significant hardships. Many Arab countries, especially those in the Middle East, according to the Western media, were in conditions ripe for revolution and political change. In other words, a possible Arab spring was already in place. This implied a time where the people could ventilate their goals and push against the tight hold of their governm ents. As such, Arab spring became a term which represented change for Arabs who were suffering under dictatorial regimes. Most of the articles (McCann, Farrell, Kershner, MacIntyre, Fox News, Strauss) declare that countries like Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Egypt have long been under the influence of dictatorial leaders. Moreover, these leaders have built a reputation of prolonged leadership or dominance in their countries (McCann). They have amassed great wealth at the expense of the people, and as a result, the economic status of their people has generally been unfavorable. These countries have also suffered great poverty; moreover, various issues in human rights abuses have become apparent during the reign of their