Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Conference Presentations
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 24th: Introduction to the Class
    • August 31st: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2022)
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 16th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • November 2nd: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • November 30th: Words and Word Classes
    • November 9th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 12th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 19th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 26th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 5th: Midterm Exam
    • September 14th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 21st: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 28th: Form and Function
    • September 7th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 12th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 19th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • April 26th:  Feminisms and Rhetorics
    • April 5th: Knoblauch. Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • February 15th: Isocrates (Part 2)
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 8th: Isocrates (Part 1)-2nd Half of Class
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 15th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • March 1st: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • March 22nd: Mary Wollstonecraft
    • March 29th: Second Wave Feminist Rhetoric
    • May 3rd: Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • April 13th: Virtually ‘Real’ Environments
    • April 20th: Rhetoric/Composition Defines New Media
    • April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency
    • April 6th: Capitalist Realism
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
    • March 16th: Identity Politics
    • March 23rd: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • March 2nd: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
    • March 30th: Hyperreality
    • March 9th: Globalization & Postmodernism
    • May 4th: Wrapping Up The Semester
      • Jodi Dean “The The Illusion of Democracy” & “Communicative Capitalism”
      • Social Construction of Sexuality
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127 » October 23rd: Social Aphasia

October 23rd: Social Aphasia

Plan for the Day

  • Consumer Spending rates
  • Today’s readings
  • Interesting Article on the Bias Against Science Fiction
  • Las Vegas: An Unconventional History (Atom Bomb scene)

Should we watch another 1980s video? How about Europe’s “Final Countdown.”

Consumer Spending Rates

Although today’s readings don’t have anything (directly) to do with consumer spending, other readings of ours do. As I’ve stated once or twice, the US economy is driven in large part by our consumption. Several stories have been about our need to consume, and the zombie genre is almost completely about consumption.

In late August, a report came out that revised the 4th Quarter Growth Rate from 2.5% to 2.9%. What’s important in this (and what I want to drive home) is that the article discusses consumer spending as a major component of economic activity:

  • “Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, surged at a 4.7% rate in the second quarter. That was the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2014 and was an upward revision from the 4.3% pace estimated last month. (“U.S. economy slowing, but consumers limiting downside” para. 21)
  • “The average of GDP and GDI, also referred to as gross domestic output and considered a better measure of economic activity, rose at a 2.1% rate last quarter, slowing from a 3.2% pace of growth in the first three months of the year” (para. 11)*

I bring this up because it mentions that more than two-thirds of economic activity is based on consumer spending (I’ve heard 70% commonly), and it mentions in the article’s 1st paragraph that economists believe “the strongest consumer spending in 4-1/2 years amid a solid labor market” is keeping the economy out of a recession.”

*Please note that this doesn’t indicate an economic contraction. The economy is growing, but the rate of growth isn’t as high as in the first Quarter of this year. As always, this information is not intended to be used for investment advice. Past (or even current) performance is no guarantee of future results. Consult a financial professional and not an English professor for credible investment advice.

Octavia Butler’s “Speech Sounds” (1983)

Another post-apocalyptic vision of Los Angeles. Like our other recent stories, this one isn’t about space exploration or hi-tech gadgets; instead, it’s about humans. Butler projects American anti-intellectualism into an imagined dystopic world where literacy is almost wiped out for humans, and people resent others with abilities and literacies they themselves don’t have (sound familiar?). Let’s look at the some key areas of the text before moving on to a historical-cultural reading.

  • Family
  • Status of Women
  • Education and Literacy
  • Absent fathers not considered a social ill
  • From the Anthology editors: Butler uses “speculative fiction to examine how the historical legacy of slavery haunts the present, and ho the African American experience can illuminate our present and near future.
    • Butler’s Dawn from late 1980s
    • Butler’s Dawn from today

In 1965, (future) Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote “The Negro Family: The Case For National Action” (aka. The Moynihan Report). One of its positions was that the Black family (and African American progress overall) was in jeopardy because black fathers weren’t sticking around to raise children. Moynihan even claimed that black men were being emasculated by black women and left to avoid the social stigma of not being the paterfamilias–male head of the household. There’s a lot to the report, but it is consider a main source of (white America’s) ideas concerning problems with Black families. Of course, that’s not the whole story…is it ever? The prevailing idea that exists in the minds of many (black and white) to this day is that fatherless, single-mother families are a detriment to a child’s success–meaning economic status. Ask your sociology professors for more detail, but this is the main legacy of the report, and it’s often criticized for not looking at poverty closer.

Feminist critique. It’s not that simple. The conclusion, viewed through a feminist lens, uncovers patriarchal bias, specifically, the notion that a man must be head of household. Thinking back to our critiques of heteronormativity, the two-parent imperative dominates American culture. Butler’s story actually refutes that myth. Read the following closer:

  • Neighbor across the street
  • Obsidian–savior who dies
  • Murdered mother teaching language
  • Rye “adopting” the children

Language Constructing Thought and Action

The Anthology editors claim that Butler’s story follows “the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis…one’s language determines how one thinks and acts in the world” (p. 567). There’s more to this, and I encourage you to take linguistics courses if you’re interested in the science of language and theories of language and language usage. For our purposes, we need to consider how having a name for something, being able to communicate an idea, limits or expands our communication abilities. Without words (language), we don’t have names for concepts or the ability to convey those concepts.

  • Language politics of Orwell’s 1984
  • No literal Italian word for “privacy”
    • privacy (this is not an Italian word)
    • vita privata = private life
    • le intimità = intimacy
    • il suo/la sua desiderio di stare solo = his/her desire to be alone
    • il suo /la sua desiderio di stare privacy = his/her desire of privacy

Language provides us with concepts that can be liberating: egalitarianism, equality, freedom, etc. Language also is limited in its ability to communicate specifics: egalitarianism, equality, freedom, etc. Notice the quandary of that contradiction? The word Liberalism is an important word to discuss. Its usage has changed over time, but it is important for Western Democracies because it espouses the belief that people aren’t just subjects of the State. Before this concept, the idea of civil rights and freedom weren’t consider; citizens were subject to the rule of the divinely ordained monarch. Isn’t it funny how both main political parties in America argue over definitions of freedom?

Language is also limiting when it comes to gender. The long-standing usage of ‘man’ to refer to ‘humanity’ is a patriarchal construction–male dominance. Using ‘he’ as the default is a symptom of patriarchal culture because it identifies men as the standard; therefore, women are the secondary sex. Let’s look at a word history that will help discuss gender. What word should we look up on the OED.com? (the searchable OED Online only opens up on campus or after you’ve logged on through Atkins Library’s remote logon)

Japanification of American Culture

I wanted to preview something before you read Misha Nogha’s “Chippoke Na Gomi” (1989) for Friday. The story was published during a period when American manufacturing (especially automobile manufacturing) was surpassed by Japanese automakers. In terms of entertainment, video games were dominated by Japanese companies. The growth of the Japanese economy led many Americans to believe that the Japanese would continue to dominate trade and, thus, become a hegemonic power. Pop culture was full of examples (especially sci fi texts that projected contemporary America into the future) where the Japanese were calling the shots and heavily influencing American politics, entertainment, and industry. Of course, just as Americans lump the peoples from countries in East Asia and refers to them as “Asian” and don’t take time to understand or just gloss over the differences among these cultures, the 1980s speculators about Japanese hegemony influencing America into the future were wrong…it’s actually the Chinese who carry more influence in America.*

*Disclaimer: In order to understand the ironic tone in the above statement, you have to have been in class listening carefully. I’m being facetious and calling out ALL of us who lump groups together and stereotype. Going along with the anti-intellectualism of America, there was a popular song that made it a virtue of not knowing “the difference between Iraq and Iran.” At least go to wikipedia and look it up! We must be really proud of our ignorance to celebrate it so often.

Next Class

Keep up with the syllabus. Ms. Rogers will lead the discussion on Nogha Misha’s “Chippoke Na Gomi.” Maybe you should review (just look at them) these links:

  • Congressional Approval Ratings (Gallup)
  • Incumbent Re-election rate in 2016 and since WWII (Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley, UVA Center for Politics)
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