Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Blog Post 3-28
What is satire?
Satire is using irony, sarcasm, wit or hyperbole to expose or deride actions or ideas of folly or vice. It can be humorous, serious, any number of things. It usually involves a certain degree of hyperbole to convey its sarcastic intent.
How is it different from humor or parody?
Satire can be humorous to people but it doesn’t need to be. Humor does seem to be a good identifier for satire though. But humor is a broader term. Parody can be satire as well and humorous but it is more of an imitation of an original work.
Why would an author choose to communicate through satire?
If an author has a very sarcastic voice, like Jonathon Swift, and want to show the ludicrousness of an idea. I think it works best when dealing with political issues and ideologies. It is a very limited genre, and difficult for many authors to pull off. I myself cannot communicate well through satire.
What are some possible problems with satire as a form of communication?
Some issues are people could take the satire as reality. A very good modern day example is Sarah Palin never said “I can see Russia from here.” It was Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live but somehow people whenever anyone says Sarah Palin they bring up the Russia comment. (which now that I think of it that could be more of a Parody example, but still taking satire as reality could be a danger…)
Also if the author doesn’t write the satire well it comes off offensive there is always a line for satire. You need hyperbole in satire but if it is too over the top or you choose a bad/offensive “consequence” it can have the opposite effect.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Blog Post 3-26
What do I find funny?
I find intelligent humor funny: things that you may have to think about for a second but in the end it is very “highbrow” humor. I don’t like movies like Bridesmaids or the Hangover, that is stupid humor but ironically those are my sisters’ favorite movies.
I absolutely love Big Bang Theory. Shelton is my favorite character.
Rene Descartes was on a plane and the flight attendant asks if he would like some orange juice. He replies, “I think not” and disappears.
Actor’s letter to Churchill “Here are two tickets to my opening night, invite a friend if you have one.”
Churchill’s Response: “Can’t possibly make it the first night but will attend the second if there is one.”
What is the rhetorical value of humor?
It can lighten the mood, and brain wise when your laugh your brain produces endorphins which helps you retain information better. Though according to Dorothy Markiewicz, humor doesn’t really have an effect on the audience’s attitude to the message. Though half the studies done said humorous messages were more interesting than serious ones.
Are there any drawbacks to using humor?
Humor can sometimes be insulting or people may not get it or think that it’s not funny as people have different views of what is humor. I didn’t find Cyclops funny I found it more sad and pitiable.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
ARCHIE!!!!!!!!!!! I was so obsessed as a kid my mom forced me to start trading them with my friends instead of buying new ones because I could read one a day and luckily they have been around long enough to supply that kind of appetite for a while. Occasionally when I’m at the checkout counter at Publix I’ll see one (I only buy the double-digests because they are more cost-effective) I’ll buy one for old times’ sake but they tried to revamp the Archie’s and make them more “realistic” but I thought it just made them look shaper-featured and dirty. . . I’m a bigger fan of the classic!!! I am also still a firm believer that Archie should want Betty more, but Betty deserves better than he has treated her so she should turn him down.
Specifics of the comic strip above:
The images are more realistic than iconic but not super realistic either. It gives them a relatable effect. They have enough features you feel you could recognize them if they walked down the street but not so featured you feel you are looking at a picture. They are smack in the middle of reality and language.
The gutter is clearly outlined in most of the panels except the middle one. The transition used is the moment-to – moment one. They are in the same place with the same characters and they are related to each other.
The images are cool but the text gives context and story to the images otherwise I would be quite lost. The text also adds quite a bit of humor in the comic because of it. It is a little ridiculous because his car has gone to zero for the second time that we know of.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Class Notes 2-6
Why use Stranger Day’s 1995 analogy? all about virtual reality, the wire is transparent immediacy.
Transparent (not aware of the medium at all) Immediacy- experience as with as little interference from the medium, thinking of the actual content not the screen or projector (e.g. realistic movies, paintings with linear perspective, eBooks,
Hypermediacy- not designed to forget about medium, eat to be decorated (medieval manuscripts, desktop, websites, iPod, pop up commentary, abstract/ modern Art)
Remediation- giving a new life to something, repurposing, reforming, media-medium, taking a text from one medium and putting it into another. (books into movie or vice versa, live performance into video, virtual tours, song into music video, essay into speech, Everybody’s free (to wear sunscreen)- Baz Lurhmann, tattoos)
Remix- mixing things up with in the same medium usually thought of with music (Amy Worhall, collages)
Authorship- how does remix and remediation affect our sense of authorship? Directors versus writers: the director is doing something that the original writer couldn’t so it is his work, but the original idea of it is the authors. Nothing is really original anymore.
How does it affect a text’s message?
It affects the message by the delivery, sometimes the method of remediation detracts from the message, other times it can enhance. If a written text could be more memorable by being made into an audio file with a corresponding video, then remediation enhances the message. However, if a video is remediated into a script to be produced for mass consumption; it has nowhere near the impact that the video has.
What is meant by remix and Remediation?
Remix and remediation means taking a text and putting into a different form of media. Such as taking a written text and turning it into a video, picture, or PowerPoint etc. Keep in mind, the remix or remediation should correspond to the text’ message. The remediation should enhance the message or at least complement it.
By remediating a text elements are lost and others added mostly the visual and auditory elements. This can be a good change or bad one.
Remixing can be defined as: to produce a new version of a text by altering something about it without changing the medium. Usually associated with music and club remixes to give it more of a beat.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Class Note 2-1
Visual Rhetoric- an image that portrays a message (persuasive)
Relaying- when the text gives you its own message other than what is in the picture (comics), provides an additional message on top of the visual message. (changing the text can completely change the way you look at it.)
(We looked at multiple ads and pictures and discussed what each portrayed)
On Photography Discussion-
Photography shows you more than you normally would see (but only show a partial truth) it is like the “Allegory of the Cave
(We looked at multiple ads and photos and discussed the partial truth of Photos)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Image Relation
This is an ad that is trying to promote natural ingredients and how there are no added preservatives. It has a ketchup bottle cut to remind the viewer of tomatoes. This is also a perfect example of how words and images work together to convey a certain message.
Blog Response 4
What is visual rhetoric?
Visual rhetoric is the use of an image to convey a message to persuade someone of something. The most blatant use of it would be propaganda. Certain people or nationalities depicted in the manner the artist wants people to see them. Characters or animals named after ideas or corporations. Visual rhetoric can be very compelling especially if introduced slowly and gradually. Look at how much Hitler got away with.
How can an image be a text?
We gather information through sight. The person who took or created the image saw something they wanted others to see. Pictures contain a message that someone wanted conveyed. As stated in On Photography “Photographs really are experience captured.” And that is what written texts are as well. “It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge- and, therefore, like power.” They are bought sold and valued much like written texts as well as most commonly put in book collections.
How can images and words work together?
Images and words complement each other. What one cannot express the other can or at least does a better job of it. Photographs can back up words when it comes to reports, descriptions and many other things. Sometimes images can point us in the direction of something important that we research through words.
Class Notes 1-30
Benjamin’s “Aura” discussion and debate
Mass production doesn’t create an aura for the object. His meaning of “aura” is this strange tissue of space and time. The piece is connected to the time when it is created. It ages, cracks, falls to pieces, fingerprints, and it can only exist in one place at any one time. You must go to the place to see it, but if you snap a picture of it, it doesn’t age and you can see it online.
Art used to be tied to ritual. The earliest cave paintings were done to try to bring the bison. Greek urns and statue made for ritual purposes.
Hollywood is fascias (didn’t get there with you, but he is a Marxist). The way he presents new mass produced art come off negative. We have a new way of relating to art (laughing in a movie is a release of mass psychosis).
Art that has been painted you see what the artist wants you to see but if you look at a picture you see it for yourself. There is something special about seeing something live but the recordings and movies are more easily accessible, and sometimes the aura can go either way (especially with concerts).
When it comes to computers and cars and phones, it is mass produced but we still develop a relationship with each of them.
Print made the pool of authors grow; anyone who had an opinion or knowledge on anything can get published. Literacy used to be exclusive. Now it is not. Consequences: There is more crap to shift through. Grammar and accuracy of English has declined because everyone can right and they have different dialects. Lack of originality (that has always been an issue), can be used for propaganda. Positive outcomes: you can find a group of people who like the same thing; things are more accessible and practical; democratizes art, art gets more exposure,
Our generation has not really known anything other than mass production, so we don’t really know any different.
Different mediums are made for different productions, paintings were meant to be original where as novels were made to be mass produced.
How has mass-production changed our outlook on art? It is more personal because we can manipulate it. Everything still has an aura even though it is mass produced because we have a connection with it. Manipulating originals decreased the distance to a work of art.
Key Word project notes- Start presenting Feb 20th, any medium you want, webpage, podcast, sock puppet play (what is appropriate for your word) create a definition or an explanation that makes sense. Then find examples (familiar and demonstration). Words will be given out on Wednesday.
(Audacity and Photoshop demos)
How has mass-production changed our outlook on art? It is more personal because we can manipulate it. Everything still has an aura even though it is mass produced because we have a connection with it. Manipulating originals decreased the distance to a work of art.
Key Word project notes- Start presenting Feb 20th, any medium you want, webpage, podcast, sock puppet play (what is appropriate for your word) create a definition or an explanation that makes sense. Then find examples (familiar and demonstration). Words will be given out on Wednesday.
(Audacity and Photoshop demos)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Blog Response 3
What does Benjamin mean by "aura"?
I think that Benjamin says it perfectly at the beginning of II “It’s presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be… the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes in its ownership.” “Aura is the missing element in an original work of art. The feeling that you get when you see the original is different than when you see a replica, whether it be change in size, age or medium, the “aura” is not the same.
Do you agree that mass-produced objects lack an aura?
I think that some do definitely, however; certain objects can mimic the aura of the original. If the machinery can do it right they can add the fading, cracks, and other indicators of age. However, the majority does lack that sense about them or else people would not spend so much time seeking out the originals in museums and spending millions on them. Talented forgeries come the closest to creating the original’s aura as I see so often in White Collar (one of the best USA Network series). Mass-produced products don’t have any originality to them and quantity reduces allure when it comes to art.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Class Notes 1-25
Pet Peeve grammar
Me and I, your and you’re, good and well, misused past verbs, txt language, I could care less when it is really I couldn’t care less. Affect vs. effect. It’s vs. its.
“Correct” Language
It’s language that is not incorrect. Grapholect- written form of a language, (the dialect chosen is the one used by the most powerful people). “Language is a dialect with an army and a navy.”
“How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
The use of Spanish made people feel left out; however, she pretty much translated it. It really reached those who do have the mix of language. It gave a sense of what she must have felt coming in. Spanish could be throw processes.
“Who is to say that robbing a people of their language is less violent than war?” Language is a reflection of culture. People lose their identity, it’s how they think and feel, language is how you express yourself. You can’t understand what it going on and you can’t ask anything and be understood. (In wars the first thing to be destroyed are libraries -- because that is where the knowledge is.)
Trying to change someone’s language is a violation of the first amendment. – if they’re keeping them from speaking yes, if they are making them learn and correcting the learning – no.
Argument? - Everyone has a different dialect, so let them speak whatever. “I have my language so whatever.”
“Mother Tongue”
Generational difficulties in learning a new language. The way they treat her mother who doesn’t seem to know but who is actually very knowledgeable.
It’s also somewhat about expectation. Stereotypes are assumed with accents as well.The appeal of accents is more of a drawl to the exotic.
Monday, January 23, 2012
What is "correct" language?
In Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” there is no real “correct” language. Her mother and her teachers told her the “correct” language was English and at the University tried to beat the accent out of them. But she goes on to show – in indirect manners – that it is not the “correct” one for her.
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan claims that “limited” “broken” and other such adjectives feel wrong to use to describe her mother’s English. For her both this intimate form of language and grammatically correct English are “correct” – natural.
I think the point of both these essays is that there is no such thing as “correct” language, just the different forms of language that you use with different people. There is something about language that ties people together; it is a commonality of communication. People may say that “correct” language is when it is grammatically correct. But many of us may write correctly, but when we speak it is incomplete sentences, slang, cultural phrases, and other variations. Others may say it is “politically correct” but that is a communist term and so I refuse to believe that is “correct” language.
How does audience affect the language you use?
Audience affects the language you use because you want to make sure that they understand you. You wouldn’t speak Mandarin to a bunch of Hispanics. But audience dictates more than just which language you speak, audience determines what kind of vocabulary and phrasing you use.
Do you use elevated highly-educated language, or do you use simple child-like vocabulary?
Do you reference certain animals, or technical terms?
Audience is a large part of the diction choices. What are you trying to convey to the audience? Are you trying to be personable, persuasive, or accusing?
Every aspect of language used is determined by audience.
Class Notes 1-23
What is literacy?
Reading, writing, visual, gym, computer, emotional, scientific, history
To be knowledgeable and have a practical understanding in a subject, competency, social (navigate the community, communicate it to others)
Receive and communicate ideas.
Douglass “Learning to Read and Write”
The importance of literacy, the drive Douglass had to learn to read and write, how he hated knowing part but never being able to finish (when the mistress taught him some letters), how the slaves were kept from literacy because it was dangerous to let them have knowledge.
A blessing and a curse- Deuteronomy 11:26- “I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” The law is a blessing (if they obey) and a curse (if they do not)
Liberal Arts- (grammar, rhetoric, logic) – liber- free, Slaves were kept from these because if they knew they would argue they are being mistreated.
Siegel “The World Is All That Is the Case”
Computers will make people more introverted, or self-centered, hackers, pedophiles, creates a need for more technology. Make everything economic. Changes our concept of what is real (reality TV, documentaries)
Everything is easy to get and if you don’t have the money right now there are credit cards.
The Starbucks idea- that everyone is secluded in their own little internet world
Has the internet blurred our vision of reality? Creating avatars, profiles, a virtual world. It’s more media, and people don’t double check the facts.
‘The world is all that is the case’ means that we can shape reality (which is the idea that the internet gives us) but there is still the true reality.
It also changes our perception of public vs. private.
The argument of the piece is…. We should have an awareness of the change and adapt accordingly.
Discussion of coding and track changes and editing courtesy.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
What is literacy?
Literacy itself is the ability to read and understand a written language. Literacy is a privilege, not a right. If you take literacy to a broader sense it can meant the knowledge of or competency in a subject. But literacy is most commonly understood as the ability to read or write at a proficient level.
But it also must be learned as Douglass makes clear in his essay “Learning to Read and Write.” Douglass fights to learn how to read and write as he is a slave and it technically outlawed. In his essay though he does more than talk about how to read and write, but he also shows his readers what it was like to be a slave and how the issue of slavery moved others – to be cold or to be sympathetic – and in his quest to understand a word we see how a person can pick up on the connotation of a word without knowing the denotation.
At first I was quite confused as to how Siegel’s “The World Is All That Is the Case” fit into literacy. But then I had the epiphany that literacy as changed since Douglass’ time. There is now such a thing as computer and internet literacy, which is the ability to navigate and successfully use the computer and the internet. With literacy comes responsibility, as Siegel makes a good point using a quote from Gates about the dangers of the internet.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Class Notes 1-18
Text- Anything that you can read, study and get a message from. Something that is deliberately composed.
Technology- artificial, uses tools to perform a task, it uses other technologies.
Why people have problems about the books? It was isolating, unresponsive, destroys memory, artificial manufactured product, inhuman.
Books connect you to the author and the other who have read them, you can respond to them, they are manufactured. And they may not make people remember things but they are a more reliable source.
People believe the same thing of new technology, such as internet and video games that it is artificial, isolating, making us lazy. But you can’t say it is unresponsive.
Oral vs. Written
Oral- contextual immediacy, tone, can be changed in repetition, less room for misinterpretation, spontaneous, stream of conscious, natural, auditory
Writing- constant but have no intonation, readers have more freedom of interpretation, solitary, room for editing, polish and fix things. Invented diaries, introspective questioning (can make us more thoughtful or more selfish) it is visual, objectified. (made us more analytical)
Everything is good and bad.
– depends on your personality and the way you were raised as well.
Video Post Reasoning
The post below is an example of how people believe technology is isolating. . . . .
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Blog Response 2
What is a text?
A text is any form of words, be it in writing or speaking. Written material or a transcript, the original wording of something, Bible passage, a book for study (we are most familiar with the textbook)anything on a computer screen, phone screen (here we are most familiar with a text- a written communication sent via cellular phone).
How is writing a technology?
To Plato it was an alien ideal therefore a ‘new technology’ using paper and ink. Today it is still a technology because other technology can be used or is needed because of writing. And writing must be fine-tuned, practiced, and learned. After all kids start in kindergarten learning their letters and how to spell, but writing is more than that you also have to learn grammar and …. Wait for it …. RHETORIC!
Writing is man-made “artificial” according to Ong. And as such it enhances human life. Therefore making writing a technology.
How do we experience oral vs. written texts differently?
Written text we add our own emphasis and tonnage to the piece; we hear our own voice telling us the story. But oral texts have their own passion and inflection and as some people are auditory learners so when they hear it they remember it better. Oral texts can sometimes be more spontaneous, less thought about than written texts. But then sometimes more thought can be put into oral texts.
When we experience oral text, we begin to associate ideas with a voice pattern. Written text is more of a visual association. Sometimes an emphasis is made in an oratory whereas that emphasis is lost in the written text.
With an oral text there is the chance to ask questions and have the answer explained, it a text there is rarely that opportunity. Also an oral text relies on memory while the written is external.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Class Notes 1-11
1. What is the exigence?
2. Who is the audience?
3. What are some of the constraints?
4. What appeal(s) were being used here?
5. Describe style, delivery, arrangement, arrangement, memory?
Salvation notes
1. Everyone is telling him about the “Jesus Experience” but he doesn’t feel it. (forced Spiritualism) It is wrong to make someone feel something or do something. Lying (hypocrisy)
2. Christians, those burned by Christianity, bullies (those who identify with forced spiritualism)
3. People exposed to religious background, or the revival. People who don’t understand the context of terminology. Genre ‘Memoir’ (not much research, informal)
4. Ethos- ethics of pressure. Pathos- crying in his room in the end.
5. Style- personal, child’s perspective with sophisticated language, intimate. Delivery- kind of the same, short essay. Memory- peer pressure relation and powerful end.
Toys notes (underlying political tone)
1. French toys are counter-intuitive to childhood. Children should have creative toys
2. Parents, Freudian believers, mainly to a French audience
3. Nationality, time period, family and academic audience.
4. Pathos- using the children, thrown into gender roles, forcing them out of childhood. Logos- the facts and how toys were made, language (elevated diction). Ethos- diction, a lot of thought and detail.
5. Style- formal, dense Memory- French culture, memory of your own toys.
Why We Crave Horror Movies
1. We all are insane; we need an outlet for our dark thoughts.
2. People who love or hate horror movies
3. He has to stay talking about horror movies. Location (leisure and ability to watch horror movies) Age constraints (baby boomers and younger)
4. Ethos- because of who he is, Pathos- the topic, humor and shocking, Logos- in language
5. Style- informal, editorial Delivery- gets your attention Arrangement- We are all mentally ill, and builds. Memory- horror movie, historical allegations. Feeding gators
Road Warrior (satirical)
1. Public Rage, media making road rage a huge deal, poking fun at society as a whole
2. 1st World citizens
3. People who can’t read, people who don’t get satire.
4. Pathos- humor, Ethos- he lived in Miami, Logos- theological (indirect)
5. Style- satirical, Delivery- bullets flying through the window, Memory- his topic we all know or have experience.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Warning
The Youtube post below contains horror scenes that may not be advisible for young impressionable minds, people who cannot stomach blood or those who hate horror movies. However if you are a Stephen King fan you will enjoy seeing memorable clips from most all of his Movies. Enjoy your human insanity.
"Why We Crave Horror Movies"
“Why We Crave Horror Movies” Stephen King
His audience could be anyone from his fan base to someone who just wonders why they need to see Saw IV even though they have seen Saw I-III already. His audience could also be someone in the psychological field. I don’t think it was intended for any one audience. I could just be Stephen King trying to figure out why one of his characters behaves the way he does, and then King stumbled upon a human truth. Or it could be he was curious as to why he was so famous for both his books and movies. Which ever way, he wrote it and I am his audience because I read it. (I can’t believe it have taken me four essays to figure out this answer, it seems so obvious)
His rhetorical appeals actually in the writing were more pathos and logos, but because of who he is and his name recognition I had a sense of ethos because who better to know why we are so fascinated by horror movies than the man who has writing some of the greatest horror books and screenplays? His ethos comes through in that he brings everyday little things like picking your nose on a bus and equates it with an outlet for your own insanity. His logos is most apparent in his statement “Some of the reasons are simple and obvious.” Then he goes on to enumerate the reasons and facts about why people are fascinated with nightmarish images. Though if he point was to convince you that all people are a little insane, I would have to agree with him. Simply because who can remain sane in the midst of life’s insanity?
"Road Warrior"
“Road Warrior” Dave Berry
The audience is the American people, pretty much everyone who drives, shops, businesses, and maybe especially the “Mister News Media Opinion-maker.”
Berry uses was initially seems logos appeal, but it is only logical to us because he describes the same thing most of us feel whenever we are on the road, which is more pathos. He is eliciting an emotional response from us because we all know those left lane hogs and those cart blockers and those wait for an hour after you get in your car kind of people. Of course not personally or else we would probably hurt them. . . . badly. But he also extracts a humor out of the situation by hyperbolizing the situation into a proportion we normally do when in that circumstance. This makes you want to read and share the piece and you completely agree with him on the fact that we only have road rage because of other annoying people and their bad habits. Through this ethos and hyperbolized logos, we come to really like and trust Berry’s opinion thus creating the ethos appeal. We trust him because he is one of us stuck in the slowest lane of traffic, circling around the parking lot and just trying to get one thing in the grocery store that just seems to take forever. The reader, or at least I, got so caught up in his essay that I kind of forgot what he was arguing in the first place but he had me agreeing with him on everything he said. Which is what I believe rhetoric is for. Plus if you are one of those people he was talking about, you are not aware of it and should improve your behavior.
"Salvation"
“Salvation” Langston Hughes
I can’t really figure out who the intended audience is, maybe anyone who was willing to listen to his story. Or maybe I will talk myself into who it is just as I did for “Toys”.
The rhetorical appeals used in this essay are more ethos and pathos. This is a story about peer pressure and how even though Langston tried to resist and wait for the real thing which he had heard about from everyone, he in the end just went along with everyone else even though he did not have the experience he felt he was supposed to have. When he feels the pressure the reader can feel the pressure because everyone has had a moment where they felt they should just go ahead and do what everyone else is telling them to even though they don’t feel it. The ethos is throughout as this is a personal experience so obviously he knows what he is talking about. The ethos develops when he resists until there is only one other. When the other leaves and yet Langston is still waiting for the light and for Jesus to come to him we give him more credibility because he is waiting for the real thing instead of just trying to get it over with like Wesley. However, ethos really comes out in the end when he is in his room crying because he lied to everyone we really trust him, even though he lied...Which is quite paradoxical if you think about it.
"Toys"
“Toys” by Roland Barthes
The audience for this essay could be anyone from toy-makers to parents to anyone who would be willing to listen and take up this position. There is also a slight against the French Bourgeois so it is probably intended for a political audience as well.
There is a mix of appeals as rhetorical appeals tend to blend together. There is a logos appeal in that he presents the facts of the toys. How the toys are imitations of real life and how when you want to introduce a child to something you let them play with it. The pathos appeal comes through when he talks about how the children are being stifled into a workers position in society and their creativity and individuality is being stifled by the imitative toys. The pathos appeal also comes out in his section about metal and plastic versus wood. He talks about how cold and temporal metal and plastic are and how manufactured the process in making it is. But the wooden toys they have a natural warmth and they bring you close to nature and nurture which is what people want to associate with children. The ethos is in his diction. He uses scholarly diction which establishes trust with the audience as we assume people who use the proper terminology for things actually know what they are talking about. He never actually mentions himself.
Part of me thinks that this is not an essay about French Bourgeois toys at all but allegorical essay about how they treat their citizens and their ruling style. They stifle creativity and style by keeping people in a box mentality, minting them through toys, school and job positions.
Monday, January 9, 2012
1-9-12 Class Notes
Aristotle:
Three modes of persuasion Ethos: author’s credibility or authority (trust). Pathos: emotional appeal. Logos: Logical appeal (intellect)
Kairos: time and place that calls for discourse (rhetoric), opportune moment to speak or write.
Not everyone can be educated or logical about things. So it is important to be ethical in our use of rhetoric.
Cicero:
Wrote when he was 21. (later on, he refuted this, but we still use it.)
5 Cannons: Invention; Arrangement; Elocution; Memory; Delivery
1. Invention, is the conceiving of topics either true or probable, which may make one's cause appear probable; (idea, the prompting)
2. Arrangement, is the distribution of the topics which have been thus conceived with regular order; (organize, put into order)
3. “Style” Elocution, is the adaptation of suitable words and sentences to the topics so conceived; (the way you say it and your diction)
4. Memory, is the lasting sense in the mind of the matters and words corresponding to the reception of these topics. (memorizing speeches, drawing on cultural memories, making it vivid and memorable)
5. Delivery, is a regulating of the voice and body in a manner suitable to the dignity of the subjects spoken of and of the language employed. (dignity of the situation, body language, tonnage, availably)
Bitzer:
Rhetorical situation- if you have rhetorical discourse, you have a rhetorical situation. However if there is no rhetorical discourse you can still have a rhetorical situation.
Three main things:
Exigence- a problem that can be solved by discourse
Audience- be influenced by the discourse and mediator of change
Constraints- limit or shape the situation (beliefs, time, events, place, culture, gender, religion, attitude,
documents and facts, interests, motives) anything that effects the rhetoric.
Rhetorical situation invite the fitting response.
Imagine a rhetorical situation: Ethos appeal
It’s the end of the semester and you realize that your final project is due the next day any you haven’t started it yet because you have been plying X-box all week.
Compose an email to Katherine requesting an extension.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Blog Response 1
What is Rhetoric?
After reading Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Cicero’s De Inventione I understand rhetoric to be a complicated yet simple art. In its simplest form Aristotle’s definition is “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” (Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 7, Book 1 section 2) but as I dove deeper into the study of rhetoric I found it is much more complicated than that. Rhetoric is general in the sense that the art is not confined to a specific subject. But rhetoric is specific in its purpose, persuasion.
What are some types of persuasive appeals?
The different types of persuasive appeals I learned in the past as ethos, logos and pathos, however; none of the material I just read mentioned them by name but I saw the idea of them. Aristotle writes “Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker;” [Ethos] “the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind;” [Pathos] “the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.” (pg 7) [Logos].
What is a rhetorical situation?
According to Bitzer rhetoric does not exist without a rhetorical situation which according to Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation, is “a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.”(pg 6) And “exigence is rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse.” (pg 7) A rhetorical situation can be simple or complex, organized or not, just as rhetoric can.
What is an audience?
An audience in Aristotle’s position is simply “the person addressed” or “the hearer” (pg 15) the only condition being “the hearer must be either a judge, with a decision to make about things past or future, or an observer” (pg 15) While Bitzer defines a rhetorical audience as one that “consists only of those persons who are capable of being influences by discourse and of being mediators of change.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 8)
Quoted Notes on Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation
“It is clear that situations are not always accompanied by discourse. Nor should we assume that a rhetorical address gives existence to the situation; on the contrary, it is the situation which calls the discourse into existence.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg2)
“Meaning-context is a general condition of human communication and is not synonymous with rhetorical situation. Nor do I mean merely that rhetoric occur in a setting which involves interaction of speaker, audience, subject and communicative purpose. This is too general, since many types of utterances- philosophical, scientific, poetic, and rhetorical- occur in such settings. Nor would I equate rhetorical situation with persuasive situation, which exists whenever an audience can be changed in belief or action by means of speech. Every audience at any moments is capable of beings changed in some way by speech; persuasive situation is altogether general.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 3)
“A work of rhetoric is pragmatic; it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task. In short, rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 4)
“Let us regard rhetorical situation as a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance; this invited utterance participates naturally in the situational activity, and by means of its participation with situation obtains its meaning and its rhetorical character.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 5)
“The verbal responses to the demands imposed by this situation are clearly as functional and necessary as the physical responses. Traditional theories of rhetoric have dealt with larger units of speech which come more readily under the guidance of artistic principle and method. … The leader of the fishermen finds himself obliged to speak at a given moment- to command, to supply information, to praise or blame- to respond appropriately to the situation. Clear instances of artistic rhetoric exhibit the same character: … So controlling is situation that we should consider it the very ground of rhetorical activity.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 5)
“Hence, to say that rhetoric is situational means: (1) rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to situation, in the same sense that an answer comes into existence in response to a question, or a solution in response to a problem; (2) a speech is given rhetorical significance as answer to as solution by the question or problem; (3) a rhetorical situation must exist as a necessary condition of rhetorical discourse, just as a question must exist as a necessary condition of an answer; (4) may questions go unanswered and many problems remain unsolved; similarly, many rhetorical situations mature and decay without giving birth to rhetorical utterance; (5)a situation is rhetorical insofar as it needs and invites discourse capable of participating with situation and thereby altering its reality;(6) discourse is rhetorical insofar as it functions (or seeks to function) as a fitting response to situation which needs and invites it. (7) Finally, the situation controls the rhetorical response in the same sense that the question controls the answer and the problem controls the solution. Not the rhetor and not persuasive intent, but the situation is the source and ground of rhetorical activity- and, I should add, of rhetorical criticism.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 6)
“Rhetorical situation may be defined as a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence. Prior to the creation and presentation of discourse there are three constituents of any rhetorical situation; the first is the exigence; the second and third are elements o the complex, namely the audience to be constrained in decision and action, and the constraints which influence the rhetor and can be brought to bear upon the audience.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 6)
“An exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 6)
“An exigence is rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 7)
“A rhetorical audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influences by discourse and of being mediators of change.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 8)
“There are two main classes of constraints: (1) those originated or managed y the rhetor and his method (Aristotle called these “artistic proofs”), and (2) those other constraints, in the situation, which may be operative (Aristotle’s “inartistic proofs”). Both classes must be divided so as to separate those constrains that are proper from those that are improper.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 8)
“These three constituents – exigence, audience, constraints – comprise everything relevant in a rhetorical situation.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 8)
“Although rhetorical situation invites response, it obviously does not invite just any response. Thus the second characteristic of rhetorical situation is that it invites a fitting response, a response that fits the situation. … If it makes sense to say that situation invites a “fitting” response, then situation must somehow prescribe the response which fits. ” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 10)
“Rhetorical situations exhibit structures which are simple or complex, and more or less organized.” Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation (pg 11)
Quoted Notes on Cicero’s De Inventione
“But Aristotle, who of all men has supplied the greatest number of aids and ornaments to this art, thought that the duty of the rhetorician was conversant with three kinds of subjects; with the demonstrative, and the deliberative, and the judicial.
The demonstrative is that which concerns itself with the praise or blame of some particular individual; the deliberative is that which, having its place in discussion and in political debate, comprises a deliberate statement of one's opinion; the judicial is that which, having its place in judicial proceedings, comprehends the topics of accusation and defence; or of demand and refusal.” Cicero’s De Inventione (Section 5)
“And these are the divisions of it, as numerous writers have laid them down: Invention; Arrangement; Elocution; Memory; Delivery. Invention, is the conceiving of topics either true or probable, which may make one's cause appear probable; Arrangement, is the distribution of the topics which have been thus conceived with regular order; Elocution, is the adaptation of suitable words and sentences to the topics so conceived; Memory, is the lasting sense in the mind of the matters and words corresponding to the reception of these topics. Delivery, is a regulating of the voice and body in a manner suitable to the dignity of the subjects spoken of and of the language employed.” Cicero’s De Inventione (section 7)
Quoted Notes on Aristotle’s Rhetoric
“A rhetorician may describe either the speaker’s knowledge of the art or his moral purpose. In dialectic it is different: a man is a ‘sophist’ because he has a certain kind of moral purpose, a ‘dialectician’ in respect, not of his moral purpose, but of his faculty.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 7 (End of Book 1 section 1)
“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. … But rhetoric we look upon as the power of observing the means of persuasion on almost any subject presented to us; and that is why we say that, in its technical character, it is not concerned with any special or definite class of subjects. “Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 7 (Book 1 section 2)
“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself. Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric (Book 1 section 2)
“There are then there three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of the must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions – that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited. It thus appears that rhetoric is an offshoot of dialectic and also of ethical studies.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 9 (Book 1 section 2)
“Neither rhetoric nor dialectic is the scientific study of any one subject: both are faculties for providing arguments. This is perhaps a sufficient account of their scope and of how they are related to each other.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 9 (Book 1 section 2)
“Everyone who effects persuasion through proof does in fact use either enthymemes or examples there is no other way.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 9 (Book 1 section 2)
“A statement is persuasive and credible either because it is directly self-evident or because it appears to be proved from other statements that are so.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 10 (Book 1 section 2)
“Of Signs, one kind bears the same relation to the statement it supports as the particular bears to the universal, the other the same as the universal bears to the particular. The infallible kind is a ’complete proof’ (tekmerhiou); the fallible kind has no specific name.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 12 (Book 1 section 2)
“Rhetoric falls into three divisions, determined by the three classes of listeners to speeches. For of the three elements in speech-making-speaker, subject and person addressed- it is the last one, the hearer, that determines the speech’s end and object. The hearer must be either a judge, with a decision to make about things past or future, or an observer.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 15 (Book 1 section 3)
“From this it follows that there are three division’s of oratory- (1) political (2) forensic, and (3) the ceremonial oratory of display. Political speaking urges us either to do or not to do something: … Forensic speaking either attacks of defends somebody: on or other of there two things must always be done by the parties in a case. The ceremonial oratory of display either praises or censures somebody. There three kinds of rhetoric refer to three different kinds of time.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 15 (Book 1 section 3) (Political future, Forensic past, and orator present)
“Rhetoric has three distinct ends in view, one for each of its three kinds. The political orator aims at establishing the expediency or the harmfulness of a proposed course of action; if he urges its acceptance, he does so on the ground that it will do good; if he urges its rejection, he does so on the ground that it will do harm; and all other points, such as whether the proposal is just or unjust, honourable or dishonourable, he brings in as subsidiary and relative to this main consideration. Parties in a law-case aim at establishing the justice or injustice of some action, and they too bring in all other points as subsidiary ad relative to this one. Those who praise or attack a man aim at proving him worthy of honour or the reverse, and they too treat all other considerations with reference to this one.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 16 (Book 1 section 3)
“Now the propositions of rhetoric are Complete Proofs, Probabilities, and Signs.” Aristotle’s Rhetoric Pg 16 (Book 1 section 3)
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