Tonight we will get to know each other and find out the course goals and requirements. I will go over the syllabus and highlight some important dates and assignments to come. Then, we\u2019ll get to know our classmates and go over the texts for tonight (possibly in a different order than what’s below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want us to get to know one another briefly. I hope you were able to put this up before tonight, but, if you haven’t, no worries. Just make sure you do this soon. Below are the questions from Canvas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019d think that with such a rich history, rhetoric would be introduced to students long before college. Well, it is, but not necessarily as a pillar of Western Civilization. The term comes up when politicians or their critics denounce an opponent\u2019s speech as empty; therefore, \u201crhetoric\u201d is often associated popularly with \u201cempty speech,\u201d non-contributing verbiage, or fluff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the study of rhetoric is much more complicated. Just as each discipline has its own epistemology\u2013the study of knowledge, its foundations and validity\u2013 each discipline\u2019s communication has a rhetoric. And rhetoric isn\u2019t limited simply to disciplines: Movements, Social Norms, Technology, Science, Religion, etc. have a rhetoric. I often define such analyses into \u201crhetorics of\u2026\u201d as common factors surrounding the power or belief in a particular area.<\/strong> In other words, beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices are rhetorics of prevailing social ideology: One\u2019s acceptance of cultural \u201ctruth\u201d is based largely on one\u2019s immersion into the culture\u2019s myths and beliefs. Therefore, this definition of rhetoric requires us to recognize the relationship among sender-receiver-mediator. Of course, for our discussion, the “mediator” is culture. There is no concrete, definitive transmission of rhetorically pure communication. Sender and receiver filter the message(s) based on their experiences. Lucky for us, we can locate prevailing patterns in messages because culture mediates them. When doing a rhetorical analysis, you have to ask what are common ways particular ideas are conveyed in a culture. There are plenty of examples in new media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, what\u2019s the rhetoric behind Hollywood movies that end in marriage and\/or babies? Well, getting married and having children is a major cultural practice, so that gets \u201cplayed out\u201d in films. Additionally, women are often consider babymakers in search of a man to donate the necessary ingredient, so female characters in Hollywood films have traditionally not been *complete* until they marry and have children or somehow fulfill a woman\u2019s socially constructed \u201cproper\u201d role according to prevailing attitudes. Because our culture (remember, this is a generalization) favors families as opposed to singles, the rhetoric of our entertainment\u2014<\/strong>the power behind acceptance or enjoyment of a film\u2014<\/strong>conforms to the cultural value of privileging families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brief Introduction of Rhetoric.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s discuss the article you read for today. I use this in nearly every class I teach and have notes and questions for further thought on this 43-year-old article that’s still relevant today. Please head over to the “Cult of Ignorance” webpage<\/a><\/strong> for the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I haven’t already discussed the goals and vision for this course, let me do that now. This class is related to my current book project, but it’s not identical. The book is much more narrowly focused on politics, but I want this class to be more expansive. Let’s discuss Slovic and Withey a bit more formally; then, we’ll discuss the video and painting. I’m interested in your impressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know what you’re thinking: how can such an old article be valuable for us? It’s not that old…only about 36 years old. Although this article assumes more sociological expertise, Science<\/em> is a bit more general and aims for a variety of scientific audiences. We’ll just gloss over the statistical jargon (multidimensional scaling, multivariate analysis, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Withey, Michael. Mastering Logical Fallacies \u201cForeword,\u201d \u201cIntroduction,\u201d & \u201cKey Terms,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> pp. 7-13 Although I don’t want you to assume rhetoric is always about nefarious stuff, try to be on the lookout for examples of rhetorical chicanery. Throughout the semester, I’ll try to provide examples of the rhetoric of fear or rhetoric in general. I happened across these two articles today:<\/p>\n\n\n\nAsimov\u2019s \u201cA Cult of Ignorance\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Other Texts for This Evening<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Slovic, Paul. \u201cPerception of Risk\u201d<\/strong> (on Canvas)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Red Hot Chili Peppers. \u201cOtherside.\u201d {Video<\/a><\/strong> and Lyrics<\/a><\/strong>}
Antonello da Messina. Vergine Annunciata<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, c. 1476. A 21st Century text: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z37ulRPTmfE<\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\nFind Examples of Rhetoric<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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