Rhetoric can be seen in many places, and can be about many topics. You can hear and see examples of it everyday. You can see it when it comes to topics such as climate change, food, animal rights, firearms, and so many others. The different ways that people talk about these different issues will shape your ideas and what you think of different problems.
For instance, when you are watching TV and see all of the sad dog commercials it makes you want to help all of those animals. That is part of pathos because it appeals to your emotions. Rhetoric can also appear in different ways such as when Rick Berman talks about his ideas on the food industry. He tries to persuade you that the fast food isn't the problem and that people know what they are doing when they are eating the food. He is on the side of the food industry because he is in it for the money, not necessarily for the well-being of the people.
Rhetoric can be used in good or bad ways, it just depends on the topics and how the rhetor is talking about different issues.
Rick Berman also tries to persuade people that your freedom of choice when it comes to food is being taken away. This evolves strong feeling in many people who do not like being told what to do. I am so glad I have learned about rhetoric this year, because I now can understand some politicians better, or simply decide my own opinion about something because I understand how people are arguing.
ReplyDeleteyes I agree with you, this class has been very enlightening about how the world uses rhetoric to persuade and manipulate others. Now when I hear a politician speaking or a sales clerk trying to sell me something, I can interpret what they are saying and be able to identify their use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
DeleteThere are so many different ways for rhetoric to be used. Some can be used for good and some can be used for bad, it just comes with the territory when talking about arguing with other people and how they are making their argument. Almost every argument being made someone or something will be benefiting from that argument and it is objective if whatever is being argued for is ethical or not.
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