Mission: BLOG

Pre-reading-----

How would I define rhetoric? I'm not sure at all what rhetoric is, but I'll give it a shot. I think someone told me that rhetoric had to do with persuasive speech/writing. Also, when i think of rhetoric, I think of 'rhetorical questions'. So maybe rhetoric has something to do with expressing yourself in a manner that does not need an immediate response but simply invokes thought. My friend is a Comm Arts major focusing on rhetoric, so rhetoric must have something to do with presenting ideas to audiences in order to get across a point or to make people aware of a piece of information. Now I'm going to research rhetoric and see what it actually is.



Post-reading-----

My perception and definition of rhetoric has definitely changed. I checked out Silva Rhetoricae and an article from the class reader, and they provided me with a lot of info on what rhetoric actually is. I would now say that, in general, rhetoric is the careful use of symbols (such as language or music) in everyday life during interaction with others. It does have to do with persuasion, but it's more about the use of language/symbols in order to persuade.

In specific, I learned some interesting things about rhetoric:
-Rhetoric is used each and every day. Whether you are telling an opinion or addressing an audience, rhetoric is a part of everyday interactions.
-Rhetoric has to do with persuasion as an idea goes from simply accepted to acted upon.
-More delicately, rhetoric is responsive communication. It deals with inviting responses and making responses to others as well.

I think possibly the most interesting thing i learned from researching rhetoric was that it is used to build communities. I never even thought of a communication as a way of creating community. It makes sense though, as there are many different communities that share common thoughts and beliefs. For example, College Democrats as UW-Madison is a community based on common beliefs in political issues. Which brings me to another point: I now understand how rhetoric is so vital in politics. Rhetoric involves addressing issues and communicating your opinions about issues, and politicians do that such thing during races for office.

Reading about rhetoric and what is really is has given me insight as to how important rhetoric is to everyone. It is used very often, and sometimes people don't even realize they are using it. I am going to be more aware of rhetoric now and be conscious of how I use it each and every day.