In America the Beautiful: What We're Fighting For, Dinesh D'Souza shares his insights about fundamentalist Islam and their desire to destroy American ideals. I did my rhetorical analysis on this piece and I really enjoyed D'Souza's insights about these extreme Islamic regimes. It was a different take on why these nations hate America, and I found it refreshing. D'Souza really relies on logos appeal in this essay and carefully and logically builds a strong case, which, by the end of the essay, is easy to believe.
I enjoyed that he not only discussed the problems with fundamental Islam, but also that he gave suggestions about how we, as a nation, can combat these regimes. "First, we need to destroy their terrorist training camps and networks;" then, "the U.S. also has to confront the fact that regimes allied with America, such as Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, are undemocratic, corrupt, and repressive;" finally, "America's goal is a large and difficult one: to turn Muslim fundamentalists into classical liberals" (pp. 774-775).
I also liked D'Souza's discussion about virtue. While discussing Islam and their forced morality, D'Souza suggests, "Compulsion cannot produce virtue; it can only produce the outward semblance of virtue" (p. 777). Then, he discusses America and the freedom we have to choose virtue or licentious living. While he recognizes that there are people who choose to live less than admirable lives, he also states, "the millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives deserve our highest admiration because they have opted for the good when the good is not the only available option" (p. 777). I agreed with much of what D'Souza asserts in this essay.
"I enjoyed that he not only discussed the problems with fundamental Islam, but also that he gave suggestions about how we, as a nation, can combat these regimes." I totally agree with you there. We hear a lot about he problems with the fundamentalists but rarely do we hear and idea of how to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteJust like you I liked how the author was able to acknowledge some of this country's faults. I mean even though we are on a mission to tear down despotic regimes we ally ourselves with the likes of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. If we truly want to succeed then we must cast off thoes who are such a detriment to our cause.
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