Bear In Heaven

Here are four terms I found interesting in the exhaustive list of figures of speech. I can proudly pronunce a handful of words.

Apoxidis- Proving a statement by referring to common knowledge or general experience.
-We can see a lot of this in each of the candidates attempt to convince us that they are experienced and know what they are doing. Ad's i've seen talk about poor budjet cuts, medicare, defense cuts, seems like they are telling the audience its an obvious mistakes and the opponents fault, and we should do out part to correct it. Like the "...its just simple math..." phrase referring to Romney's plan for something or other that didn't add up.


Protrope- A call to action, often by using threats or promises.
-Perhaps not threats, but the candidates are always making promises and commitments to the audience that they will change the way things are. Romney criticizes the defense cuts and promises stop making military cuts. The call to for the candidates is getting them into the poll booths and electing them as president.

Sorites- Concatenated enthymemes. That is, a chain of claims and reasons which build upon one another.
So pretty much every presidential speech and ad in one convenient word?

Inter se pugnantia-Using direct address to reprove someone before an audience, pointing out the contradictions in that person's character, often between what a person does and says.
 This figure of speech seems relevant to the upcoming presidential debates I have been hearing so much about. NPS released has an interesting article on "secrets to win a presidential debate." Heres the article

It talks about everything from makeup, to hair style, to how they dress. It's pretty interesting.

radical face

What to write about...so many elements in presidential rhetoric, i think it would be advantageous to narrow my focus on something specific. this would be a lot easier if I had a concrete understanding of rhetoric and actually cared about politics...

I was thinking about analyzing the way they dress, what color their tie is, but then i realized most of them usual sport the same, white, and blue accents in their wardrobe.

Subliminal messages seemed interesting when it was brought up in class. But as we pointed out, subliminal messaging isnt really necessary with the proper use of rhetoric. Hmmm....where to next.

It might be interesting to look at the different forms of rhetoric in the photographs we see of the candidates, what's in the background, foreground, what message is the photo trying to convey?

What is it that I'm interested in....

it might be interesting to compare the differences and similarities in presidential rhetoric throughout the history of US presidents. How has it changed, what has remained that same? Although I think his paper should focus on current politics.

It might be interesting to focus on the subject matter and arguments presented in each presidents campaign in different states. Why did he choose to talk about military defense and not medicare. How does the audience influence the candidates behavior, dress, speech, subjects covered...

Too many ideas...now to narrow my focus.



I found an interesting article concerning the "Five Trends Of Presidential Rhetoric" that might help some of you narrow your focus or provide inspiration.

https://wesfiles.wesleyan.edu/home/elim/web/5Trends.pdf

After The Burial

"But after all they did for us, isn't that the least we can do?"
This is the phrase that caught my attention in the you tube viedo for Mitt Romney and medicare. This enthymeme assumes that the audience will  feel guilty if they were to vote for obama who would make medicare bankrupt. It instills a sense of moral responsibility in the audience.  The premesis assumes they WANT to help their parents. Could this phrase be a maxim too?

We also see the counter part of the enthymeme, the paradigm. How the speakers mother is 81 and depends on medicare for her health, this presents the argument of how the current medicare under obama will not suffice.

"It's not politics, its math." creates an argument from example and presents the hard facts to presuade people.
I found it interesting how he casts blame on the people who "want to leave medicare as it is" because anyone who wants to do that is also fine letting it go bankrupt.
What I'm a little confused by is why the the current younger crowd has to accept that medicare will be different thent their parents. Why can't it be the same?

There is no much more in the video, ive missed or over looked. And quite possibly that ive applied these concepts to all the wrong places in the video.

Presidential Campaign

Fist off i hate politics, I just don't care really. I probably should care, but I have a lot more important things in my life then keeping up with all the hype. With that said, I got this video right off Mitt Romney's website. This is a very recent video that aired in Virginia. Romney's first statement is a low blow to obama when he criticizes him for not doing anything since he took office. I was also curious about the specifics issues covered in the ad and the fact that it aired in virginia. There seems to be an emphasis on military strengthening, and less defense cuts.

Well i figure I should put some questions up here for ya'll to answer. But first I must warn you my mental process, words and syntax (or lack thereof) seem to still be in summer mode and my blog posts won't be nearly as eloquent as that my classmates blogs (you guys) for at least a couple weeks, or never, you guys are smart!

Has anyone seen the movie Thank You For Smoking? It's fantastic and really shows the power behind rhetoric, and what we talked about in class today, the moral issues behind rhetoric. Convincing an audience of something that isn't just or might even harm them.

Why did Socrates believe the ultimate goal of rhetoric was gaining power and not finding the truth? Is one better then the other according to him?

hello everyone my name is sam. i grew up in the northern suburbs of chicago, lake bluff to be exact. i quickly left the city to find comfort in the mountains. i moved to jackson hole, wy after school. afterwards i went to school in boulder colorado, transfered to a school in northern michigan to get my pilots license, and transferred again to bozeman where ill finish this spring with a degree in writing. i enjoy spending the majority of my time outside, spicy thai food and cold beer. looking forward to a fun semester.