Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, and everyone uses it. It’s not good or evil, but a tool people use to convince others. If I were having a discussion with my girlfriend about what movie we should go see, I could use any of the three parts of rhetoric to convince her to see what I wanted. I could use Ethos by telling her the movie recently got two thumbs up by movie critics. I could get her with Pathos and say it was a remake of a movie my father and I would watch together while I was growing up, and I so (tear) miss him sense he passed. I could also just use Logos, and remind her it’s my turn to pick the movie, convincing her with logic.
I believe rhetoric has gotten a bad rap in our society because all too often rhetoric is used a bit unethically, like in my example of Pathos. Marketing campaign managers will tell us something, implying that it’s in our best interest, like that cookies are healthy for us because they have vitamin b12, when really that tiny amount of vitamin doesn't balance against all the other stuff in that cookie that's horribly bad for you.
Rhetoric isn't good or evil, but is often used unethically by people to get what they want. People need to keep an eye out for what’s being implied, and the actual truth. Don't be a tool, there’s a world of difference.
*For some reason its not allowing me to increase the font size
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I've found, just like you, the usual references to rhetoric are always evil. It is used for good, but when it is nobody calls it rhetoric it just becomes a plea for help.
ReplyDeleteI like your example about marketers citing the heath effects of cookies. This illustrates an interesting point about the confusion of rhetorical techniques. You could almost call this pathos disguised as logos, as most rational people would know not to argue that cookies are healthful, but some spurious heath facts might make us feel better about giving in to our baser desires.
ReplyDelete