Moments as a Writer

I think that it is interesting to learn about rhetoric, because a lot of what we do in our lives is rhetoric whether we realize it or not. Even those who are not aware of rhetoric participate in rhetoric to some degree, whether they realize it or not is the interesting question. I think that graffiti represents a form of rhetoric in the sense that anyone who is out in that public space sees it, but how they interpret it depends on a lot of factors, which makes the situation rhetorical. An example would be this graffiti of Russian President Putin cutting the R from evolution, which could be symbolic for many reasons. Because rhetoric is happening constantly, you can become a more effective student as well as have a better interpretation of society through its use. Using rhetoric you are more likely to weigh every part of a decision thoroughly, and you will have a better grasp on what is going on in your life as well as externally globally. Through the use of effective rhetoric you can determine what is actually important to you, things that maybe you did or did not see as vital may become more or less so through rhetorical discourse.

From an intellectual standpoint, you can see that rhetoric allows for discourse. The most effective use of this discourse, however, is constructive educational discourse. This style of discourse creates an effective learning community as well as prepares you as a writer and speaker for handling conflict in the future, where the consequences of merely getting poor feedback change to more drastic life changing scenarios. A good example of using a knowledge community effectively and creating effective discourse with rhetoric would be this blog. We use this as a means for discussion and to give feedback and reflect on our work and others ideas which we maybe did not think of. To this extent, writing and rhetoric is often called a prerequisite skill  because many other disciplines require a level of rhetorical analysis at some level. Consequently even if as a rhetor you are no longer in a writing class, you environment will still call for some level of rhetorical input. Being a good student involves rhetoric, yet it is something that a student is involved in from the beginning of their education at any level without knowing explicitly what rhetoric is.

Becoming an effective writer involves not only rhetorical discourse, but the use of arguments that will appeal directly to the ethical state, emotional state, or reason of a person’s thinking. Sometimes using just a sound argument that makes sense is not enough, even if they see why its morally wrong, they need to feel the story in order to understand what is happening. A good example would be how the Vietnam War was sensationalized by journalists, and created a horrible picture of both the soldiers fighting the war and the militants involved in the conflict. The atrocities were horrible, yet the same level of media exposure did not exist during World War II during a time when there were millions of casualties killed in equally as nightmarish ways. The difference in the way the veterans of each war were treated is astounding. Rhetoric should not be underplayed, it is very powerful situationally and those using it should know what is enough, and what is too little. Using it effectively will allow you to be an effective student, writer, and member of society.