I was really excited to read the Silva Rhetoricae website and see what it had to offer. I am currently doing my capstone on contemporary theories of rhetoric so it was cool how everything overlapped. One of the things we have discussed in the class that I found very interesting was the role persausion plays in rhetory. My professor continuously asks us it whether or not we think truth is behind anything we read. Is there absolute fact in the news articles, ads, signs, ect. that we read or is there always some sort of underlying message the author is trying to convey to us? The use of logos, pathos, and ethos of an atricle can easily sway a reader to feel more sympathy for one person over another. Or empasize on one aspect of a story and gloss over another. It is almost like the skill of speaking persuasivly can manipulate the general public if done well. Think about thoes guys on late night television selling useless crap that you know you'll never end up using. Yet, somehow with the use of their energetic voice, enthusiastic gestures, and all of their lame examples of when you just might need a stainless steel 20 piece knife set, thoes 5 easy payments of 59.99 don't look so bad now do they? They know who their audience is and they know how to entice the american public and persuade them to at the very least watch the 3 hour long ad if not purchase their product. Basically,if someone has the skill to speak well it doesn't even matter if they have any actual knowledge about anything. Because with the power of their words they can convice you to do anything!
2 comments:
We have that capstone class in common, then. How do you feel, given the discussion about "good" rhetoricians, this persuasion without meaning issue applies to the late night salesmen? I personally would like the ginsu knives, as well as those awesome baking pans and the magic bullet. I am, however, trying really hard to believe that they know what they're talking about, as opposed to just selling me a product for a gi-normous profit.
I completely agree, though, in that medium, that there's no way for the audience to ask questions... perhaps with other speakers, dialogue could draw out the lack of knowledge?
It's a little frightening in a way isn't it? The power they have to persuade others?
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