What is Rhetoric?

Welcome to The Matrix The Matrix “Whether you sense it or not, argument surrounds you. It plays with your emotions, changes your attitude, talks you into a decision, and goads you to buy things. Argument lies behind political labeling, advertising, jargon, voices, gestures, and guilt trips; it forms a real-life Matrix, the supreme software that drives our social lives. And rhetoric serves as argument’s decoder. By teaching the tricks we use to persuade one another, the art of persuasion reveals the Matrix in all its manipulative glory.” From Heinrichs, Jay. Thank Your For Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.

The Matrix Are you ready to be unplugged?

Argument versus fight What’s the difference?

The Power of Rhetoric

Phan Thi Kim Phuc burned after napalm attack in Vietnam; photo by Nick Ut, 1972

The mission of East Carteret High School is to promote an environment that inspires all students to achieve their potentials and to become responsible, honorable citizens and life-long learners. ~ ECHS School Mission Statement

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”

…the hands-and-knees approach is a definite selling point for corporate services like The Maids. “We clean floors the old-fashioned way—on our hands and knees” (emphasis added), the brochure for a competing firm boasts. … A mop and a bucket of hot soapy water would not only get a floor cleaner but would be a lot more dignified for the person who does the cleaning. But it is this primal posture of submission… that seems to gratify the consumers of maid services. ~ Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel & Dimed

We're now at that point where we're making that kind of decision for the next 30 or 40 years, and it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again. That we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us. ~ Vice President Dick Cheney, September 7, 2004

Margaret Bourke-White, "At the Time of the Louisville Flood," 1937

“Preamble” by Mike Wilkens, 1987

Definition of Rhetoric The tools a writer or speaker uses to communicate his or her purpose to an audience Not just speeches and essays Anything with a purpose (to entertain, persuade, inform, express) and an audience can be considered rhetoric Speeches, essays, photos, cartoons, art, even fashion and architecture

Definitions of rhetoric To Aristotle: Rhetoric is the proper use of language and logic to lay out a case persuasively or to refute a position convincingly. Quintillian: "Rhetoric is the art of speaking well." Francis Bacon: “The duty and office of rhetoric is to apply reason to imagination for the better moving of the will.” George Campbell: “[Rhetoric] is that art or talent by which discourse is adapted to its end. The four ends of discourse are to enlighten the understanding, please the imagination, move the passion, and influence the will.”

Definitions continued… I. A. Richards: “Rhetoric is the study of misunderstandings and their remedies.” Richard Weaver: Rhetoric is that "which creates an informed appetite for the good." Philip Johnson: "Rhetoric is the art of framing an argument so that it can be appreciated by an audience." Andrea Lunsford: "Rhetoric is the art, practice, and study of human communication."

Final thought… “If you cannot write well, you cannot think well, and if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.” ~George Orwell