The Rhetorical Triangle & Heffernan's Comment is King By Moses Shumow, rev. GP Dec. 2016

Rhetoric is about persuasion

"Rhetorical study. is concerned with the modes of persuasion“ "Rhetorical study...is concerned with the modes of persuasion“ Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1, Part 1 Tool kit for persuading people Critical for Greek democracy Originally for elites Sophists: for everyone, for $ Used for 2,300 years Ostracon, BBC

Rhetoric is even more important in a digital world

View the following through the lens of rhetorical analysis Select a Designated Team Clicker Determine the primary form of rhetoric used: a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos

1. A Presidential Tweet a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos

A photo: Migrant Mother, by Dorothea Lange a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos

A graph a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos

A speech a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos https://youtu.be/LVacMFi3Ddg?t=3486

A commercial a. Logos b. Pathos c. Ethos https://youtu.be/g2Y9abmNuRw

“Comment is King” Virginia Heffernan, NYT, April 26, 2009 Presents an analysis of comments made on the Op-Ed pieces of Anne Applebaum, columnist for the Washington Post Applebaum is pretty middle of the road, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, but you wouldn’t know that from the comments made on her articles: “liberal fool”; “a lapsed neo-con addict”; “Zionist stooge liar”; anti-Semitic Comments are not refereed; no “sustained or inventive analysis of Applebaum’s work” emerges from the commentary

“Comment is King” Virginia Heffernan, NYT, April 26, 2009 Then Now

“Comment is King” Virginia Heffernan, NYT, April 26, 2009 Heffernan argues that online commentary should become a “cogent part of online journalism” It is instead the “bête noire for journalists and readers alike”; journalists find it “stinging and distracting” while readers won’t take the time to dig through the comments unless they plan on making a comment themselves

“Comment is King” Virginia Heffernan, NYT, April 26, 2009 What’s the problem? Rhythms of the web: early assent, then dissent, early morning weirdness; then fact checking Never reaches the level of true analysis; instead, an echo-chamber develops Echo-chamber is “unpleasant, and it makes it hard to keep listening for the clearer, brighter, rarer voices nearly drowned out in the din.” Something should be done, but Heffernan seems at a loss as to what that “something” might be

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What to do? 2013, YouTube allowed users to block and filter comments; further ties to Google+ July, 2015, Ellen Pao, CEO of reddit, attempted to reign in sexist and racist boards and comments Both failed amid massive user backlash

The latest: Facebook, YouTube, Apple, Spotify ban Alex Jones Twitter suspends account 1 week 4th most downloaded app in Apple’s App Store Alex Jones a Free Speech martyr?

So, what to do about trolls, flame wars, and the echo chamber?

Back to “Comment is King” by Virginia Heffernan Since this article was published, the Times has come up with their own “troll solution”: Comment ranking by readers and Editors at the Times “Why Our Memory Fails Us (Chabris & Simons)” First blogging assignment in class