Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Rhetoric?
In the previous class we were talking about what we thought the meaning of rhetoric was, and I just wanted to add some thoughts. Everyone was saying that rhetoric was planned, strategic, and persuasive. I agree with all of those things, but I believe that it can be some what misleading and sometimes even wrong in a sense. People using rhetoric tend to use their words in a way that makes the other person think differently than they normally would. The way a person ask questions and answers questions with a question causes the other to have to think more about the conversation, and when you have to think more about something your mind tends to jumble around, which then leads to you questioning your own self about your thoughts. That's why I think the main goal of rhetoric is to try and change the way people think, and ultimately get them to think in the way they do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I totally agree with you. I also think that rhetoric is taken in a wrong sense a majority of the time because sometimes I think that people will use it (even if they don't realize it) and make info up in regards to the topic that are talking about or arguing about. This in the end will mislead the person into thinking that what they've known all along is wrong because this person is persuading them with invalid information. i think this happens all the time and sometimes people are too afraid to stand up for what they know and they will just let that person walk away and continue to mislead over people too.
ReplyDeleteI sort of agree with you. Rhetoric can definitely be used for manipulating and deceiving others, but there are other ways it can be used to meet positive goals (see my blog post on rhetoric if you don't believe me!). Unfortunately I think rhetoric has developed a bad reputation because we most often associate it with lying politicians or misleading news stories.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, but I think that people can use rhetoric without even meaning to, but we see rhetoric planned in many cases such as lawyers trying to win a case, for example. I agree with Jessica too, and I think people need to stand up more to their own beliefs and not let people just walk around on them. Peer pressure, for example, can also be rhetorical, but it's usually not planned. I guess it just all depends on the situation and who is using it.
ReplyDelete