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

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Charlotte Debate
  • Conference Presentations
    • Critical Theory/MRG 2023 Presentation
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS 2024 Presentation
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SAMLA 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • SEACS 2022 Presentation
    • SEACS 2023 Presentation
    • SEACS 2024 Presentation
    • SEACS 2025 Presentation
    • SEWSA 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • April 10th: Analyzing Ethics
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Ethical Dilemmas to Ponder
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • April 12th: Writing Ethically
    • April 17th: Ethics Continued
    • April 19th: More on Ethics in Writing and Professional Contexts
    • April 24th: Mastering Oral Presentations
    • April 3rd: Research Fun
    • April 5th: More Research Fun
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Research
    • February 13th: Introduction to User Design
    • February 15th: Instructions for Users
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • February 20th: The Rhetoric of Technology
    • February 22nd: Social Constructions of Technology
    • February 6th: Plain Language
    • 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
    • March 13th: Introduction to Information Design
    • March 15th: More on Information Design
    • March 20th: Reporting Technical Information
    • March 27th: The Great I, Robot Analysis
    • May 1st: Final Portfolio Requirements
  • 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 23rd: Introduction to the Class
    • August 30th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 6th: Words and Word Classes
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2023)
    • November 15th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • November 1st: Stylistic Variations
    • November 29th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Rhetoric of Fear (prose example)
    • November 8th: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • October 11th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 18th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 4th: Form and Function
    • September 13th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 27th: Coordination and Subordination
      • Parallelism
    • September 6th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275/WRDS 4011: “Rhetoric of Technology”
    • April 23rd: Presentation Discussion
    • April 2nd: Artificial Intelligence Discussion, machine (super)learning
    • April 4th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • April 9th: Tom Wheeler’s The History of Our Future (Part I)
    • February 13th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 15th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 1st: Technology and Postmodernism
    • February 20th: Technology and Gender
    • February 22nd: Technology, Expediency, Racism
    • February 27th: Writing Workshop, etc.
    • February 6th: The Religion of Technology (Part 1 of 3)
    • February 8th: Religion of Technology (Part 2 of 3)
    • January 11th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 16th: Isaac Asimov’s “Cult of Ignorance”
    • January 18th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 23rd: Technology and Democracy
    • January 25th: The Politics of Technology
    • January 30th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • Major Assignments for Rhetoric of Technology
    • March 12th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 3
    • March 14th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 3
    • March 19th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 3 of 3
    • March 21st: Writing and Reflecting: Research and Synthesizing
    • March 26th: Artificial Intelligence and Risk
    • March 28th: Artificial Intelligence Book Reviews
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 11th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 18th: Feminisms, Rhetorics, Herstories
    • April 25th:  Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • April 4th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • February 15th: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • February 29th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • February 8th: Isocrates
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • March 14th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 21st: Feminist Rhetoric(s)
    • March 28th: Knoblauch’s Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • April 11th: McCarthyism Part 1
    • April 18th: McCarthyism Part 2
    • April 25th: The Satanic Panic
    • April 4th: Suspense/Horror/Fear in Film
    • February 14th: Fascism and Other Valentine’s Day Atrocities
    • February 21st: Fascism Part 2
    • February 7th: Fallacies Part 3 and American Politics Part 2
    • 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
    • March 28th: Nineteen Eighty-Four
    • March 7th: Fascism Part 3
    • May 2nd: The Satanic Panic Part II
      • Rhetoric of Fear and Job Losses
  • Intercultural Communication on the Amalfi Coast
    • Pedagogical Theory for Study Abroad
  • 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
    • August 19: Introduction to the Course
    • August 21: More Introduction
    • August 26th: Consider Media-ted Arguments
    • August 28th: Media & American Culture
    • November 13th: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 3
    • November 18th: Feminism’s Non-Monolithic Nature
    • November 20th: Compulsory Heterosexuality
    • November 25th: Presentation Discussion
    • November 4: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 1
    • November 6: Hank Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Part 2
    • October 16th: No Class Meeting
    • October 21: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 1
    • October 23: Misunderstanding the Internet, Part 2
    • October 28: The Internet, Part 3
    • October 2nd: Hauntology
    • October 30th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • October 7:  Myth in American Culture
    • September 11: Critical Theory
    • September 16th: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • September 18th: Postmodernism, Part 1
    • September 23rd: Postmodernism, Part 2
    • September 25th: Postmodernism, Part 3
    • September 30th: Capitalist Realism
    • September 4th: The Medium is the Message!
    • September 9: The Public Sphere
  • Science Fiction and American Culture
    • April 10th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts III and IV)
    • April 15th: The Dispossessed (Part I)
    • April 17th: The Dispossessed (Part II)
    • April 1st: Interstellar (2014)
    • April 22nd: In/Human Beauty
    • April 24: Witch Hunt Politics (Part I)
    • April 29th: Witch Hunt Politics (Part II)
    • April 3rd: Catch Up and Start Octavia Butler
    • April 8th: Octavia Butler’s Dawn (Parts I and II)
    • February 11: William Gibson, Part II
    • February 18: Use Your Illusion I
    • February 20: Use Your Illusion II
    • February 25th: Firefly and Black Mirror
    • February 4th: Writing Discussion: Ideas & Arguments
    • February 6th: William Gibson, Part I
    • January 14th: Introduction to to “Science Fiction and American Culture”
    • January 16th: More Introduction
    • January 21st: Robots and Zombies
    • January 23rd: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • January 28th: American Studies Introduction
    • January 30th: World’s Beyond
    • March 11th: All Systems Red
    • March 13th: Zone One (Part 1)
      • Zone One “Friday”
    • March 18th: Zone One, “Saturday”
    • March 20th: Zone One, “Sunday”
    • March 25th: Synthesizing Sources; Writing Gooder
      • Writing Discussion–Outlines
    • March 27th: Inception (2010)
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • How to Lie with Statistics
    • How to Make an Argument with Sources
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Judith Butler, an Introduction to Gender/Sexuality Studies
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • 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
Video Games & American Culture » April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism

April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism

Plan for the Evening

  • Last Official Class of the semester!!!
    • 4/28: Workshop in Fretwell 219 (not required but encouraged)
    • 4/28-5/09
      Final Exam (online)
      Multimodal Project (online)
      Final Presentation (Combined with above–see Major Assignments for more details)
  • Define Neoliberalism (didn’t we do this?)
  • Zombies!!!
  • Ch. 6 “Video Games and the Neoliberal Hero”
    • polemic: aggressive attack on principles of others.
  • Conclusion “Video Game Studies and Culture”
  • Correction on New York City dumping trash in the ocean
    • They stopped the practice of dumping their trash into the ocean in 1934
    • NYC appears to have continued dumping sewage until 1962
    • Apparently, they stopped dumping “sludge” into the ocean in 1992*
      *This is what I remember from high school, but I thought trash was still dumped. My mistake!

Define Neoliberalism

I know I’m sometimes loose with my definitions, but I blame that on Derrida. One thing I’ve done, inadvertently, is use capitalism and neoliberalism interchangeably. They are certainly related, but capitalism has a much longer history, so we should recognize that neoliberalism is a contemporary celebration of market capitalism.

Some Working Definitions

  • neoliberalism: the idea of a total (or nearly total) market-driven economy with little or no government regulations.
    • In America, we often label people who promote this philosophy conservatives, neoconservatives, libertarians, or Republicans. In American popular media, the term “neoliberal” would be confusing because a “liberal” is considered (these are generalizations, of course) having the opposite view of the term “neoliberal.” This term is more a European one and rarely heard outside of academic discussions in America. As a fun side note, check out the history of the usage of liberalism.
  • Jodi Dean: “neoliberalism is a philosophy viewing market exchange as a guide for all human action” (p. 48)
  • “Espousing the primacy of free market competition is a common neoliberal agenda” (Toscano, 2020, p. 113).
    • “Neoliberalism, which is an extension and modernist version of classical liberalism, promotes free markets, lower taxes, and deregulation to benefit the rich” (Toscano, 2020, p. 115).
    • “neoliberalism…is the govern­ing cultural logic of contemporary American life. The myth of individualism may even convince some that they are beyond neoliberal influence and can shop for themselves and their families while being immune to market forces” (Toscano, 2020, p. 116).
  • Mark Fisher: “neoliberal politics are not about the new, but a return of class power and privilege” (p. 28)
    • p. 33: Families produce labor power.
    • Modern Family…same as it ever was: Disneyland, Javier’s Fiancée, and Phil’s backing out of getting snipped (skip to 16:20 then 21:45). All support the view that families should raise children, thus, reinforcing the idea that the family (superstructure) supports capitalism.
    • To head further down this rabbit hole, please see a page from the class New Media: Gender, Culture, Ideology–Spring 2021.
  • Mark Fisher: “In the entrepreneurial fantasy society, the delusion is fostered that anyone can be Alan Sugar or Bill Gates” (James, qtd. in Fisher, p. 36).

Zombies!!!

One of my favorite topics. I even have a Zombies and Consumption Satire page. You’ll see the color photos from Chapter 6. I also have images below that didn’t make it into the Video Game book…

  • Biltmore Park Town Square
  • Twin Peaks Margarita Day
    • Compare to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag server
  • Dawn of the Dead Zombies (1978)
    • Aerial view

Finally, what does all this consumption lead to? The “Conclusion” asks “How does our unconscious acceptance of planned obsolescence contribute to the need to replace good technology for want of a newer model? And what of the environmental costs of more and more e-junk?” (p. 135). If you need a visual, here are two from Charlotte:

  • Trash 1
  • Trash 2

Ch. 6 “Video Games and the Neoliberal Hero”

  • p. 113: “The immersive worlds of video games often mimic closed, yet free-­market virtual economies.”
  • p. 114: “as herd animals, we conform (both consciously and unconsciously) to cultural norms: rarely can individuals subvert social mores and not be punished.”
  • p. 114: “No Supreme Court ruling captures the illusion of democracy better than Citizens United v. FEC: this ruling…complicates the idea of one person, one vote because of the vast wealth of corporations.”
    • Citizens United v. FEC also reflects American as opposed to democratic values. In theory, a democracy is equal voices, but, when corporations can purchase advertisements and have larger mouthpieces, it’s hard to say “free speech” is equal. An absolute libertarian might object, and I’d be happy to have that conversation…
    • “Even though inequality is systemic in the United States, the rhetoric of equality and freedom pervades American history. ‘The Star-Span­gled Banner’…”
    • The myth of the Marxist professor…we’re all part of the system and not “immune to market forces.”
  • pp. 115-116: “Video game algorithms continue to become more complex, but they cannot mimic real-world nuances, which reduces variability and allows gamers to better predict outcomes, simplifying the fantasy world.”
    • Let’s see Hitman: Codename 47 (2000) for an example.
  • p. 116: “…consumer spending is a major aspect driving America’s economy. Consumption is vital for capitalist economies, and companies have plenty of strategies to get con­sumers to part with their money.”
    • Not to throw shade, but most of us will only feel an increase in gas prices and very little disruption in goods because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…unless…
  • p. 117: “The individual in a lowered-tax economy is a neoliberal hero, free to choose to give money to corporations for goods; this is a victory over having the government take in more tax revenue.”
    • Did you file/pay your taxes last week?
    • The myth of cutting government spending.
  • p. 118: “Americans need these myths about self-made men in order to continue to espouse neoliberal assumptions surrounding the American Dream.”
    • I purposely chose “men” and not “person.” Care to comment?
  • “…the power the United States wields across the globe maintains its citizens’ consumptive way of life.”
  • p. 119: “The ability to consume a surrogate, for instance, binge watching the luxurious lives of the rich and famous, allows individuals to indulge, at least, in the unattainable illusion.”
    • Consider the status of certain goods from haute couture to nouveau riche to Golden Corral.
  • p. 120: “Americans’ lack of critical thinking and supposed individualism con­dition a myopic worldview much like fictionalized representations of zom­bies.”
  • p. 122: “These rags-to-riches narratives epitomize neoliberalism in video games, pro­viding a virtual world to model how prosperous one can be with little to no government regulation.”
  • p. 125: “CJ and Kenway, represent neoliberal heroes who individually bootstrap and build wealth for themselves.”
    • “Fancy a wee swim, do ya?” (AC4: BF)
    • I can’t resist: Abstergo “Devils of the Caribbean” Teaser
    • “Without the belief that anyone can become President of the United States or CEO of a multinational corporation, media would not reproduce these narratives.”
    • Anyone vs anyone from any walk of life…
  • p. 126: “Tracing the value of individual competition in a variety of media and recognizing how education and other institutions socialize members of a culture into accepting the values as intrinsic identifies prevailing ideology.”
  • p. 127: “…video games valorize individual outcomes, and, in a culture that celebrates, at least, the rhetoric of individualism, gamers already believe in the god-like qualities of the avatars.”
    • “All this prosperity is allowed because it has been ordained; one just has to work to accumulate it.”
  • p. 128: “…video games are one of the only media perfecting divine­ly inspired illusions where all actions are because the player is the god of the game.”

Environmental Concerns and Conclusion

  • p. 119: “When there is no price put on clean water or air, companies can pollute at will, disregarding and ignoring collective public risks.”
  • p. 124: “He has to hunt for these exotic items, and they allow Kenway to upgrade weapons and health. The whales, jungle cats, and other animals are not protected by endangered species acts, so Kenway is free to take what he wants…”
  • p. 132: “Cultural studies approaches attempt to identify assumptions we take as givens.”
  • p. 133: “Inadvertently, technical communication re-entrenches patriarchal bias and privileges instru­mentalist approaches to research that focus on technological mechanics, or, in the case of composition studies on gaming, it assumes that broader cultural forces do not influence digital environments.”
  • p. 133: “This book’s cultural stud­ies approach asks readers to scrutinize taken-for-granted everyday practices privileging the system. It also asks us to consider our culpability in the broader systems of control and reproductions of cultural ideology.”
  • p. 134: “Cultural logic is quite pervasive, so there might not be a way to resist, but we can choose to be aware.”
    • Some people don’t like the idea of just raising awareness and assume that only activism is appropriate for the types of radical critiques of society and culture I do.
  • p. 135: “Focusing on use and not conse­quences of our technological consumption allows us to ignore our culpability in a system that continues to reproduce inequality and environmental destruction.”

Next Class

That’s is, folks! We reach the end of the semester. We’ll be meeting in Fretwell 219 for any help you may need with your Multimodal Projects. I hope to open up the Final Exam on 4/28, but it will close promptly at 11:00 pm on Monday, 5/9. Your Multimodal Projects will also be due by 5/9. I haven’t graded all you Video Game essays, but you should be getting those soon.

Finally, if you want to really know what it means to be a deep critical thinker who’s outside the mainstream and intellectual, check out this recent interview with Noam Chomsky “Ukraine, Brexit, and ‘The Most Dangerous Time in World History'” (April 2022). You will be floored at the history he provides that complicates our perception of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. No one’s condoning the atrocity, but the story is bigger than most media are willing to provide. I also highly recommend the documentary Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992).


Works Cited

Dean, Jodi. Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics. Duke UP, 2009.

Fisher, Mark. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books, 2009.

Toscano, Aaron A. Video Games and American Culture: How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds. Lexington Books, 2020.

Skip to toolbar
  • Log In