Rhetoric and Public Culture

No One Is Safe from the Parodist (Part 3) by Barbara Ardinger

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Vader has lost the helmet and is now old and fat and speaks in a tenor voice. He’s obviously the smartest guy in the... more Vader has lost the helmet and is now old and fat and speaks in a tenor voice. He’s obviously the smartest guy in the room.

I am not the first to mess with Shakespeare. In 1680, a hack named Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear to give it a happy ending (Cordelia marries Edgar and they assume the throne), and in 1699, Colley Cibber “adapted” Richard III. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Shakespeare’s plays were operacized, balletized, and Broadwayized (The Boys from Syracuse, West Side Story) In 1868, French operatic composer Ambroise Thomas wrote a Hamlet in which Ophelia sings a long aria and dies. After wild applause, she gets up and sings some more. I’ve seen this opera.

WOMEN ARE NOT SLUTS, RUSH, DOUCHE-BAG IS NOT FUNNY, JON, AND SEXISM IS MORE THAN “INAPPROPRIATE,” MR. WHITEHOUSE SPOKESPERSON! by Carol P. Christ

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

Why is it OK to insult women, our bodies, and our sexuality in ways that it is no longer OK to insult other groups?more Why is it OK to insult women, our bodies, and our sexuality in ways that it is no longer OK to insult other groups?

The recent controversy over Rush Limbaugh’s rant about Sandra Fluke would not be so important if Limbaugh were not the “voice” allowed to say things that Republican politicians cannot say in public. Republican politicians wish to appeal to men who would say exactly what Rush said, while watching Fox News or over a beer with their buddies.

The Virgin-Whore split is alive and well in our culture. Sandra Fluke  finally did get to testify in a hearing called by Nancy Pelosi.  She  assumed a woman’s right to choose when and with whom we have sex and whether and when we will have children, but she did not focus on sexual freedom. One of her examples was a married woman who could not afford birth control and another was a woman who needed birth control pills for reasons having nothing to do with sex or sexual activity. She did not appear in Congress in a mini-skirt (though she should have had every right to do so) but in a business suit. Yet she was called a slut and a prostitute and asked to post porno films of herself on the internet.

New Media Texts of WWII: Kenneth Burke’s Intersection with Computer Culture

by Jason C. Thompson

Catholicism, Contraception, and Conscience: Church Imposed Teaching, God’s Gift of Free Will, and Political Rhetoric by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

ertainly one cannot turn on the news without seeing a story about the feud over the Catholic Church’s stance on... more ertainly one cannot turn on the news without seeing a story about the feud over the Catholic Church’s stance on forbidding the use of contraception and Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that mandates free contraception to women.  In preparing this article, I took the time to review many articles from liberal and conservative news outlets, law professors who are experts on constitutional law, and statements from the USCCB and Bishops.  Before asking questions, I want to outline the following points:

    *In the literature reviewed, only two women, Sr. Carol Keehan and Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, made a statement against this policy stating that the government is interfering with the working of the Church.  Most voices heard and shouting the loudest are members of the clergy.

    *Hospitals considered “Catholic” hire people of all faiths and various beliefs.  They also treat patients of all faiths.  They are not exclusively “Catholic.”

    *Catholic identified Colleges hire professors and staff that are not Catholic.  Moreover, their student body is not totally Catholic.

    *Catholic Charities, once again, hire non-Catholics.

  * Insurance plans currently in place often offer contraception prescriptions at a zero to low co-pay price.  These plans are in-force at many Catholic Institutions.

    *Under HIPAA, healthcare of employees are protected and the Employer, even the Catholic Church cannot violate the privacy of the patient, even if it is an employee.

    *Birth Control Pills are often prescribed for women with endometriosis or other “female” reproductive disorders and not birth control.

    Women pregnant, carrying a dead baby, cannot have surgery due to risks are given medication to induce abortion are given

Plain Speaking : Judging an Oratory Contest

by Thorold (Thor) May

Although first published in 1989, this paper retains relevance, especially for the "speech competitions" which are run (usually poorly) in countries where English is taught as a second language.

Abstract: This paper attempts to explain the criteria which judges are likely to apply in the Fiji National Oratory... more Abstract: This paper attempts to explain the criteria which judges are likely to apply in the Fiji National Oratory Contest. It comments upon some features of the 1989 contest, and suggests factors which may have underlain the performance of contestants. However, the analysis is not merely local to an historical time or place. Oratory contests are a special case of the “speaking competitions” which are widespread in countries where English is learned as a second language. The cultural beliefs and traditions which come into play in public speaking are especially important in cross-cultural situations. The solutions discussed here have universal relevance for speakers and judges.

Break Off the Shackles From the Poor Black Man: Joseph Smith’s Abolitionist Rhetoric in the 1844 Presidential Campaign

by Tyler Andersen

Draft only. Term paper for Comm 5542, "American Rhetoric and Public Address." Advisor, Dr. Bruce Loebs.

The presidential campaign of 1844 is a fascinating, but somewhat neglected chapter in American history. The concerted... more The presidential campaign of 1844 is a fascinating, but somewhat neglected chapter in American history. The concerted effort among conspicuous historical figures to gain collective support and ascend to public office has captivated historians and scholars for centuries. Yet as academics have endeavored to provide historical analyses of these campaigns, the tendency to overlook and even ignore minor characters has proven to be problematic. One such bypassed character is Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, whose campaign was cut short by his assassination less than five months before the general election. While several historians, apologists, and polemicists have examined Smith’s life as a religious leader, relatively few have tackled Smith’s political ambitions at length, particularly his goal to end slavery. If such an analysis is to be made, it is necessary to appraise Smith’s abolitionist rhetoric, the development of his antislavery views, the reactions of his contemporaries, and the role Smith’s campaign played in the subsequent months and years following it.

'We Are All Customers Now...'Rhetorical Strategy and Ideological Control in Marketing Management Texts*

by Chris Hackley

"We Are All Customers Now": Rhetorical Strategy and Ideological Control in Marketing Management Texts. / Hackley, C..

In: Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 40, No. 5, 2003, p. 1325-1352.

ABSTRACT This paper critically appraises the rhetoric of marketing management texts. Its interpretive frame is... more ABSTRACT This paper critically appraises the rhetoric of marketing management texts. Its interpretive frame is informed respectively by critical management and discourse analytic theoretical traditions. Its main data set is drawn from popular
textbooks written for taught university courses but it also draws attention to similar rhetorical strategies in leading academic marketing journals. In addition, parallels are drawn with other popular management and consulting fields. In this way the paper
attempts to mark out an initial topology of the ideological influence that is enabled and mobilized by marketing's rhetorical strategies. Marketing rhetoric often escapes critical attention precisely because it is platitudinous. Marketing management axioms have become slogans and the slogans have become cliches regularly employed in organizational, educational and political settings. But the prevalence of platitudinous rhetoric in management consulting schemes does not necessarily hinder their popularity or inhibit the deployment of their rhetorical/ideological strategies in other settings. Popular marketing management rhetoric is a special case because it positions itself not only as a prescriptive management-consulting framework but also as a legitimate academic fleld. It is in the latter guise that the success of managerial marketing's rhetorical/ideological strategies has proved most striking.

Gandhi’s rhetoric

by Mark Lindley

Published in “Journal of Literature and Aesthetics” (1999).

Science Fiction, Cultural Knowledge and Rationality: How Stem Cell Researchers Talk about Reproductive Cloning

by Nicola Marks

2012
in Ferber, S and Wilde, S (eds.) The Body Divided: Human Beings and Human 'Material' in the History of Medical Science, London, Ashgate.

Summary:

The aim of this chapter is to explore reproductive cloning by examining the futures that... more Summary:

The aim of this chapter is to explore reproductive cloning by examining the futures that scientists imagine for this technology. I analyse whether they attempt to locate these imagined futures within the realms of fact or fantasy, and what discursive strategies they employ to do this.

I argue that fears and concerns, be they expressed by scientists or members of the public, should not be dismissed simply because they draw on fictional cultural tropes. Instead fiction – including science fiction and speculative fiction, utopian and dystopian visions – should be seen as an important vehicle to express our unease and excitement about the future of science and medicine. In particular, it highlights a common concern about the integrity of human bodies and what should/not be done to them

Rhetoric as a window to the leader's mind

by Drazen Pehar

A slightly different version of this essay was published in Croatian language, in journal “Status” no. 7, 2005, pp. 89-98, Mostar

Leader's rhetoric and preventive diplomacy: issues we are ignorant about

by Drazen Pehar

from 'Knowledge and Diplomacy' (ed. J. Kurbalija) (Malta, DiploFoundation 2002)

[2011] Asymmetric Labeling of Terrorist Violence as a Matter of Statecraft Propaganda: Or, Why the United States Does Not Feel the Need to Explain the Assassination of …

by Michael Loadenthal

published in "Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies," special topics issue, "Ten Years After 9/11: An Anarchist Evaluation"

“Terrorism” is fundamentally the same, whether it is carried out by States or non-State actors. Difference arises as... more “Terrorism” is fundamentally the same, whether it is carried out by States or non-State actors. Difference arises as one identifies the processes wherein labels are applied which identify select acts of political violence as "terrorism," while terming others "legitimate defense" within the national interest. The subjective labeling of “terrorism” which obscures the systemic violence of State terrorism has accelerated in the post-9/11 "Global War On Terror/Terrorism," as wars advanced by the US and its allies have further expanded into the Middle East, Asia and Africa with numerous proxy wars. This construction of terrorism can be seen as a rhetorical tool utilized by the State, as well as non-State actors that challenge State authority. Throughout these arenas of violence, authoritative language is used by the State within a process of “othering,” and intentional language is adopted to demonize anti-State opponents and legitimize State-crafted actions

i-everything: Mapping Ryerson’s Neoliberal University

by Andrew Iliadis

Published in The York University Free Press on April 24, 2010.

Speech, script, and performance: Towards a public poetics of the political speechwriter’s role

by Tom Clark

Published in PRism 8 (1), 19/12/2011

This article brings together and contextualises some ostensibly disparate ‘readings’ of political speeches from... more This article brings together and contextualises some ostensibly disparate ‘readings’ of political speeches from Australia and the United States, both good examples and not-so-good examples, to examine a characteristic that prevails in all public communication, and which is especially noticeable in politics.  That characteristic is the nexus between the poetic and the political in all public language.  In this case, it is grounded in a distinction between political speakers-as-performers and the advisors who script many of their performances for them.  The dynamics of this relationship are critical influences on the more publicly explicit relationship between speakers and their audiences.  Consequently, these dynamics are critical to our understanding of political discourse, and of public communication more broadly.

A Gay-Themed Young Adult Novel as Alternative Rhetoric

by Karen Whitley

This literature review is part of a larger research project for ENGL 5363: Research Methods in TC and Composition. I am taking my second doctoral course. Even though I am a gay person, I knew very little about queer theory going into this project. Additionally, I am brand new to the field of TCR. My biggest challenges were trying to read, understand, and synthesize Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's Epistemology of the Closet, and David L. Wallace's new book Compelled to Write: Alternative Rhetoric in Theory and Practice. After developing a working understanding of those texts, I then had to situate what I wanted to do, which was perform a rhetorical analysis on a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel called Miguel's Secret Journal by A.V. Zeppa, within the field of composition and rhetoric.

In this literature review, I will define the larger cultural problem using my own knowledge and experience as a gay... more In this literature review, I will define the larger cultural problem using my own knowledge and experience as a gay person, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet, and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble. Understanding the larger cultural problem is critical because it is the real-life backdrop against which I pose all of my questions. Next, I will explain how a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel is a rhetorical act and how analyzing that text is also a rhetorical act by providing a broad definition of rhetoric as well as a recently proposed definition of alternative rhetoric by David L. Wallace in Compelled to Write: Alternative Rhetoric in Theory and Practice. I intend to conclude with a discussion about what questions are important for a rhetor to ask when analyzing a gay-themed, young adult diary-novel, and which frameworks might best serve the rhetor in exploring answers to those questions.

The Year the Enlightenment Ended: "The Uses of Argument" and "La Nouvelle Rhétorique" 1958 - 2008

by Richard Mohr

Paper given at the 7th International Roundtable for the Semiotics of Law, Boulogne-sur-mer, 1-4 July 2008, published in Working Papers du Centre Perelman de philosophie du droit

The fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Uses of Argument and La Nouvelle Rhétorique provides an opportunity... more The fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Uses of Argument and La Nouvelle Rhétorique provides an opportunity to consider their place at the intellectual watershed of the twentieth century. Both called on methods from law and jurisprudence to rediscover forms of discourse and decision making that had been eclipsed since the Enlightenment. 

In The Uses of Argument the philosopher Stephen Toulmin set out to overcome the grip of analytic logic on English philosophy, seeking instead a model of argument that would be useful in real life situations of probable warrants for uncertain claims. He went so far as to call logic itself ‘generalised jurisprudence’. The Belgians Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca sought to renew the tradition of rhetoric as a foundation for argument in La Nouvelle Rhétorique. Both these works looked to unfashionable traditions to guide decision-making in situations of conflict and uncertainty.

Methods of the interpretation of meaning are central to these two approaches to argument. The contributions these two works have made to legal semiotics will be explored in the context of other intellectual developments in the fifty years since their publication. My thesis is that the Enlightenment ended in 1958, with the publication of these two books.

Communicative Informatics: An Active and Creative Audience Framework of Social Media

by Linda Gallant

Communicative informatics reflects the interactive complexity of web-based communication and a paradigm shift away... more Communicative informatics reflects the interactive complexity of web-based communication and a paradigm shift away from mass communication. Three discursive spheres (database and information systems, human computer interaction, and active audiences) work together to control online communication openness and its consequences for post-mass media society’s public common. This has implications for communication freedom, creativity, and constraints in an information-based society. Four propositions shed light on how online audience activity is encouraged by and imperative to corporate interests; how audience creativity can create, accept, or reject messages; how the online audience is monitored; and how online rhetoric can produce or inhibit public commons. Evidence shows that social media’s corporate interests can be at odds with online privacy and citizen communication. This tension is explored with a unique focus on rhetoric, argument, and the communication between audience members and Internet-based corporate media by way of digitized communication feedback loops.

The low-level radioactive waste siting controversy in North Carolina: Toward a rhetorical model of risk communication

by Carolyn R. Miller

Irrationalities in political interpretation of the Dayton structure for Bosnia-Herzegovina

by Drazen Pehar

a Croatian language version published in Status (Journal of Social Issues, 05/2004, pp. 81-91, Mostar); the version available from CEEOL

Rhetoric and Risk

by Derek Ross