Rhetoric with the Political and Public Affairs Arena

For the Rhetoric in Response project, I chose to create a restaurant menu for an old western styled diner. I chose to create a restaurant menu to attract people to buy food and also because I prefer visualization over writings. In a restaurant, the menu is an important aspect for advertising the food that is being sold. The pictures and the design of the menu usually determines what the customer will purchase. Whenever I go to a restaurant that I have never been to, I look at the menu to determine what I would like to eat. The professionalism of the menu allows the audience (the customers) to determine the credibility of the menu. With this in mind, I started to look for a design, descriptions, and pictures that will fit together to create a credible, appealing restaurant menu.

Presidential speeches are a powerful tool for leaders to communicate their vision, persuade the public, and shape policy. Throughout history, presidents have utilized various rhetorical strategies to effectively convey their message and rally support for their initiatives. In this essay, we will analyze key elements of presidential speeches, focusing on the use of ethos, pathos, and logos to engage the audience and achieve their political goals. Ethos: One of the key rhetorical strategies employed by presidents in their speeches is the use of ethos, or credibility. By establishing their authority and expertise on a particular issue, presidents can gain the trust and confidence of the audience.

Many successful people politicians, salesmen, even lawyers have mastered this tool. Rhetoric has assisted in the development of laws, complex societies, and codes. “Everyone of America’s founders studied rhetoric, and they used its principles in writing the Constitution”(Heinrichs Pg 4). An example of rhetoric being used correctly is a presidential candidate trying to persuade voters to vote for him. The goal the candidate is to “seduce” the voters into thinking that voting for him is the best option for the country.

Thus, he draws the attention of readers by explaining how campaigns are not what precede the election results but a continuing mechanism through which the presidents continuously keep in touch with the public in order for their images to stay fresh and active among public. He challenges the views of other prominent social scientists who have expressed strong views on president’s power to change public opinion. Furthermore, he argues that even rhetorically skilled presidents have found it

The topics that I am most interested is God and health. I am extremely passionate about my faith as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It may seem like these two topics are on the opposite side of the planet, but they have more similarities than you may think. My favorite reading thus far in A Time Traveler's Guide to Rhetoric is “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato. This story reminds me of today’s society, as humans begin to see the significance of light we also discover the truth. Of course, this all relates to my Christian faith, in which we seek the truth of Jesus Christ, we become the light in a dull and dark world. The longest paper I ever had to write was last year in my AP English course in which I was required to do a semester long

In his State of the Union Address for 2016, Barack Obama uses logical and ethical arguments to emphasize shared ground rather than partisan disputes. He also taps into the audience’s desire to feel better about themselves and their country. By using humor and irony, Obama paints his opponents into corners, out of which it would require outrageous extremism to effectively squirm away. At its best, this approach demonstrates how much Americans actually have in common in a culture dominated by ideologically polarized cable-news channels, Facebook, and cultural tribes that increasingly live and socialize apart from one another. The president's technique throughout the speech is to frame issues through a rhetorical jujitsu to persuade his opponents,

In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.

Speechmakers understand the importance of using persuasive strategies to attract the attention of their listeners. Politicians especially, use communicative devices that are powerful enough to elicit interest from their audience. In his trial, Socrates understood the importance of using rhetorical appeal in his Apology speech, which over the years has been used by many public speakers when delivering speeches as well as in advertising. Communicators who understand the effects of ethos, pathos, and logos, also known as rhetoric devices, experience success in delivering speeches that are effective and well received, a good example is the "I have a Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King Jr.

In Part 1 of Rhetoric, Aristotle writes that “we must be able to employ persuasion… on opposite sides of a question… in order that we may see clearly what the facts are, and that, if another man argues unfairly, we on our part may be able to confute him.” (Aristotle) In the 2365 years since Aristotle wrote these words, many people have employed rhetoric to “confute” those who they see to “argue unfairly” on a wide range of issues. Although it has developed a negative connotation in recent times, rhetoric is essential to democratic deliberation and civic engagement. To understand the role rhetoric plays in civic discourse, consider two men who use it to further very different goals around the same central issue.

Within Obamas speech he focuses on the three perspectives of Rhetorical Criticisms. First he makes sure the speeches context or environment is appropriate with the topic, keeping in mind the question, “What is the relationship between the rhetoric and its context?” Second, Obama considers how does the message generates a particular worldview, reality, or perspective, questioning “How does the message construct a particular reality for the audience and the rhetor?” Rhetoric is not about what an artifact says, it’s about how it says it, with the use of the two methods, metaphors and narrative criticism. The third perspective of rhetorical criticism Obama displays in his speech is personal dimension of the artifact, what it indicates concerning the rhetor. What does the rhetorical artifact suggest about the rhetor?” All these are building blocks to creator a relatable speech allowing the audience to feel what the rhetor wants them to feel. Everything is strategically placed in a specific sequence to emphasize what needs to be and to reduce momentum on other

The use of rhetoric is prevalent in today’s society; especially in news articles and political statements. Rhetoric is useful to convince the audience of a particular fact, or convince others to see from a different perspective.

President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important pointes and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differ from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used sort sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.

Plato, a great philosopher, once said “rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men” (Plato). He accentuates the importance of rhetoric in persuading the audience to support a cause or take action. In his speech addressed at the 50th anniversary of Selma march, President Barack Obama uses rhetoric to persuade his audience, Americans as a whole, to discourage racism in the United States. President Obama appeals to the rhetorical strategies, uses rhetorical devices, and applies a presentation style; which make his speech effective in terms of rhetoric.

The definition of rhetoric is quite ambiguous, with different definitions applying to various situations. Similarly, power has multiple types. Rhetoric and power affect me in my daily life in numerous ways, one being the relationship between my twelve year old younger sister and me. One of the definitions of rhetoric that is applicable to the situation between my sister and me is identified by Wayne C. Booth, and is described as the art of removing misunderstanding but also producing misunderstanding (p. 9). James Jasinski describes many types of power, one type being the ability to get people to do the bidding of other people (p. 443).

Rhetoric is a significant part of our everyday lives. Whether it's convincing our friends to go to a concert on the weekend, to go to a certain place for lunch, or even convincing yourself to do something that you should but don't want to do. Rhetoric is all around us today. Billboard ads, television commercials, newspaper ads, political speeches, even news stories all try, to some degree, to sway our opinion or convince us to take some sort of action. If you take a step back to look and think about it, rhetoric, in all actuality, shapes our lives. Every day we have an array of options of things to do or things to buy. So every day, our opinion or actions are being influenced, however minutely, by rhetoric.