The Language of Power: Analyzing a Politician's Forceful Communication

Soundbite of the week goes to mayor ahman butab. Talk about forceful language from a politician. This really caught my eye. The mayor of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, which is the second largest city in the Netherlands, excuse me, Rotterdam, Netherlands, second largest city there, had this to say to Islamic extremists in his own country. He basically said, if you don't like people criticizing you, you can F off. Only he didn't use the abbreviation. He spelled it out. Here's what else he said. If you don't like freedom, for heaven's sake, pack your bags and leave. If you do not like it here because some humorists don't like, you don't like our making a newspaper, then I say to you, f off. And then he said, he goes on and very, very forceful. Now, before you say, well, this sounds like a white xenophobic, far right political leader who is a bigot, here's what's interesting about the mayor. He is in fact Muslim. He was born in the Arab world and he emigrated there at 15. So you can't just write him off as some sort of anti Muslim bigot. He is a Muslim and that's what makes his language, his rhetoric, so forceful. I applaud his efforts. I do think you're either in favor of free speech or you aren't. It can't be. I'm in favor of free speech, but it can't offend anybody's religious sensibilities. Then you no longer have free speech. So much of political communication isn't just the message, it is the messenger. And in times like this, this particular mayor is turning out to be an excellent messenger.