Nasrallah's Mind Numbing Repetition

In a previous post, I remarked on the propensity of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to literally and figuratively to talk people to death. His over-reliance on a figure of speech known as Anaphora, (beginning successive clauses, phrases, and sentences with the same word or words) earned him pretty low marks in my book. Still, since it was my first time analyzing his remarks, I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, i.e. I was prepared to believe that he might be a more skilful orator than his remarks suggested. After having read the transcript of his latest screed, I can say that my opinion of his oratory has changed- for the worse. This is in large part due to his over-reliance on an extremely narrow range of "repetitive" figures of speech, chief among them the figure "Anaphora". Here are some examples:

You have been present in battlefields for the defense of Lebanon's unity, Lebanon's dignity, Lebanon's Arabism, Lebanon's pride, Lebanon's land, Lebanon's freedom, Lebanon's independence and Lebanon's sovereignty.

You, who have met the calls from areas across the country, from all confessions and from all categories, today you determine the future of your country.

I urge you all to transcend every language, every term and every expression beholding an insult to men in this country.

To Syria we repeat what Syrian President Bashar Assad said: You do not have a materialistic military presence in Lebanon, you are present in the souls, in the hearts, in the minds, in the past, in the present and future, and no one can drive out Syria from Lebanon or Lebanon's mind, or Lebanon's heart or Lebanon's future.

I address U.S. President George W. Bush, Ms. Condoleezza Rice and the American - Lebanese field leader [David] Satterfield: Your plans aiming at dividing the country are wrong. Lebanon cannot be divided nor defeated. Lebanon will not change its name, or its history, or its identity. Lebanon will not throw its heart to your soldiers' dogs to eat it.

Lebanon will remain the country of Arabism, the country of nationalism, the country of resistance. Lebanon is the nation itself.

I thank you, the loyal, the devoted and the good. Long live the people, long live Lebanon, long live the resistance and long live Syria.

The examples above are only half the story. Nasrallah also used this device in several other places to emphasize two of his other favorite words, "we" and "you." Here's an example from four successive sentences in his remarks:

You have been present in battlefields... You, who have met the calls... You, in this mass demonstration...You reply to the world today...

This last phrase is the one that many media outlets incorporated in the titles for their articles on the speech and rally where these remarks were made.

And there are also eight consecutive paragraphs with "we" among the first words:

...we repeat what Syrian President Bashar Assad said...We here support ...We have come here...We agree with opposition ...We stress that the Taif Accord...We, the gathered here...We, who stand today ...We all consider that the family...

My conclusion: Nasrallah's over-reliance on one rhetorical device, Anaphora, suggests a real lack of imagination, a certain dullness of mind, a kind of cognitive rigidity that is frankly scary. The only thing scarier is the people who are moved by this kind of rhetoric. Flourish not!