The Role of Rhetoric

Whether we realize it or not, rhetoric is involved in nearly every aspect of our lives. It plays a key role in job interviews and presentations, the success of sales representatives, in discipling children, working our differences with a spouse, persuading another of your opinion, and even just expressing ideas and concerns with another. Along with appearance, I believe it is one of the most important keys in influencing people, for it is one of the greatest things that people judge in others. Though mainly all of us look down upon judging someone off of one or two characteristics, this is in actuality done very frequently. For instance, though none would like to admit it, those that struggle with studdering automatically drop levels in reference to ethos, for many believe that they simply are not educated when more often than not, this isn't the case. Certainly, this is not fair is any sense of the word, but that's the way it is. It is important then for us recognize this so as to be able to present ourselves in a way that appeals to the audience we desire, especially for things like job interviews. It is unlikely that an employer will be able to even come close to understanding your level of work ethic and character within a few simple questions. Most often, these can only be discovered through observation and experience. Even so, being able to understand how to present youself to your audience in a way that will advocate a favorable reaction is huge. Perhaps it is time for us to begin to recognize the grand influence which rhetoric has on nearly every aspects of our lives so as to be able to utilize it to our advantage rather than allowing it to dictate us, and thereby, prove our downfall in relation to ethos.  

Dress to Impress

I got a job installing security systems as a technician for Pinnacle this summer. A couple of months ago I had a training which was meant to detail the installation process and help the technicians get some hands on experience. Without even thinking about it, when I woke up that morning and looked in my closet, I was sure to grab something that looked more like "work clothes." I decided on a regular t-shirt, work pants, and tennis shoes. I put my hair up in a pony tail. I certainly didn't wear earrings and even decided against applying my perfume. And all this I did subconsciously. I already knew that as a girl, I was lacking in the ethos department when it came to installing security systems as that job is mainly seen as a masculine one. Therefore, I recognized that wearing anything that made me appear like a "girly girl" would definitely be the wrong option. I needed to look like the strong, hard-nosed, and determined girl that I am who would have no problem adjusting to the work. This wasn't particularly difficult because I grew up with six brothers (and no sisters) and at heart, this is who I am (even though I do like to dress up in cute clothes). I laugh when I think about going to that training in a skirt and fancy top or even formal jeans, a cute top, and earrings with my hair curled. It simply would not appeal to my audience in a way that would promote the reaction I wanted from them, and even I couldn't imagine myself with a drill in my hand and a tool belt around my waist with that sort of appearance. On the other hand, this might exactly be the sort of outfit I would go for if I was going on a date. My point is that we, as humans, dress to impress, or rather that we exude the message about ourselves (which we want our audience to believe) through the way we dress. I find it particularly important and enabling then, for us to be able to pinpoint exactly what we want our audience in each case to believe about us so that we can choose an appearance that conforms to that desire. I don't think that doing this is cunning or deceptive in any way, but rather just keen in realizing the way that our culture reacts to appearance. We may trick ourselves into believing that this is not important, but at the end of the day, we cannot decide upon the message that are clothing/appearance displays. For instance, we cannot dress in dark, tight clothing with dyed black hair and thick, black makeup and tell those around us that we are exuding the message of a conservative choir girl and not a "gothic." (Please excuse my stereotyping). In other words, the messages that we send are able to be interpreted by others because they are widely accepted by the population--just saying that "this certain style does not say this about me" is not enough (because these messages are dictated by society). We must adhere to these societal codes if we are to understand the message we are sending with our appearance, and then be able to use this knowledge to send the message that we desire. As I ponder upon the importance of dress and appearance in this aspect, it is no wonder to me that the Church stresses modesty to the degree which it does. It is stressed so greatly because appearance exudes a message about the person as well as the church organization which they belong to. We see, as church members, that when one dresses modestly, they send the message that they respect their God-given body, they know that they are sons or daughters of God, and they desire to express that knowledge with their appearance by not even tiptoeing near the line of immodesty. Most often, it is the motivation behind the type of dress that is really important (whether we desire to send a positive message about the respect we have for our body or whether we are focusing on showing off our body). When viewed in this way, dress and appearance does not become something of a superficial nature, but rather a viable means of spreading a positive message and example about the Church to those outside of it. How important it is then, for us to utilize modest dress and appearance in a way that will spark this interest in the minds of non-members so as to spread the good news of the Gospel.

Meme

Sharing on Your Wall Was a Lot Harder Back Then

I saw this funny meme on facebook a week or so ago. (I couldn't actually find the original so I just made one by myself with the same words). The audience of this meme is definitely people with an LDS background. For one to understand the joke being displayed, they have to know who Samuel the Lamanite was; preferably, they will have also seen this painting of him. The audience also has to also be in touch with modern technology or rather facebook. More specifically then, the audience this meme is directed to is LDS people who are up-to-date with popular social networking. The appeal that this picture is making is definitely geared towards the audience's emotion as they react to the humorous context. By making this humorous appeal, the creator of this meme sets his/her audience up to react positively towards his/her underlying argument as they (the audience) are put at ease. By implying the ease of sharing on your facebook wall, I think that perhaps the creator of this meme is trying to express the concern of social networking completely taking over human interaction in its normal sense, or more specifically, sharing the gospel as experience in expressing ideas and beliefs to acutal people (even in the midst of possible rejection) becomes lacking if not nonexistent.

Analyzation of Favorite Quote

One of my favorite quotes is this: "Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, it means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections." For me, this makes an appeal to pathos as I connect with it through means of a personal trial that I endured. It was my junior year of high school during soccer districts when I hurt my knee, got an MRI, and discovered that for the second year in a row I had torn my ACL, a vital ligament in the knee that requires surgery and months of physical therapy and recovery. I was distraught when I realized that yet another soccer season would be cut short by the same injury that had severed it the year before, not to mention my perfect knowledge of the incredible pain involved with this injury and subsequent surgery. At first, it was very difficult for me to be happy despite the inner turmoil that I was struggling with. Soon however, I realized that circumstances do not or rather should not determine my happiness--I always had a choice in the matter. And why would I choose to be miserable? Once I made this discovery, things were so much better. Sure, nothing really changed with my physical situation, but everything had changed in regards to my attitude about it. I began to feel immense gratitude for things like the incredible ability for the human body to heal, for modern medicine which allowed me to curb some of the pain, and for the love and support of my family in helping me during a time where I couldn't hardly do anything by myself (including showering, going to the bathroom, and getting upright from a laying position). This experience I had and the lessons I learned is the reason why I am the perfect audience for this statement, and why I was impacted so. Whenever I ponder it, I think back to this difficult and rewarding time in my life as I was able to better myself through the lessons I learned. It thereby, became a self reflection as I recognized the truth that if I could, I wouldn't take back this trial of tearing my ACL twice because I wouldn't want to live without the knowledge I gained and the better person I became as a result. Being happy in spite of the imperfections in a way, then helped me to gain perfection, certainly not with implications of freedom from error, but rather as Elder Nelson put it, in achieving a distant objective (mentally in being happy no matter what and physically in  working to gain back the use and ability of my knee). The rhetorical impact that this quote has on me is clear  when I consider the elements at play.

Rhetorical Analysis: Advertisement About Following the Speed Limit

I saw this shocking advertisement the other day. What strong visual rhetoric is being displayed here. First of all, the fact that the person depicted in the advertisement is a child (of perhaps 6 or 7), already ellicits in the viewer either maternal or paternal feelings. The viewer immediately connects the child with any other children in their lives, whether it be a sister, brother, son, or daughter. This obviously engenders an emotional response as they subconsciously put this child that they know in the shoes of the child in the advertisement. As girls are usually seen as more vulnerable than boys, the gender of the child in the advertisement also plays a key role in evoking emotion. Perhaps the most shocking visual rhetoric being displayed however, is the huge impression in the little girl's head designed to look like that of a dent in a car. As humans, we respond to pain and suffering with a great degree of emotion. The designers of this advertisement know this. They use this knowledge to create a shockingly, almost horrifying image of a young girl in a serious, life-threatening condition to engender a strong emotional response. To top it all off, the little girl's warning eyes, on the verge of tears, are sad and pleading. The message in the bottom of the advertisement verifies the pain in her eyes and calls for action: "In town car accidents don't just happen to cars. Slow down." Certainly, all of these visual elements are crafted in order to appeal to the viewer sense of pathos, and thereby, prompt the viewer to action in heeding the advertisement's direction to slow down and go the speed limit, especially in town (because children are around and their lives are at stake). Despite the success that the advertisement has in elliciting emotion, it is always a risky move to use the fear factor to motivate a group of people to do something. However, in this case, I believe the move accomplished what they (the advertisement designers) desired. Whether or not it is ethical to use fear as a means of making someone do what you want them to do, it is effective, and that is why the designers of this advertisement chose this visual image.

The Paradox Involving Government "Restricting" Individual Freedoms

Let's be honest, government is invovled in many aspects of our lives and very much so involved when it comes to globalization. Many condemn government action in the name of "restriction" of individual liberties. These people would be shocked if I told them that their liberties rest in their own hands, not the governmnet. Let me explain. To begin, it is important to know that I believe government action acts as a harbor to freedoms and as a fundamental key in establishing and maintaining law and order within country. It is true that when a lack of regulation is prevalent, chaos reigns. Iraq provides a good example of this: because of a lack of consented, governmental regulation, competing forces resulted in wars fought and lives lost. Contrastingly, let's take for example a country whose stable regulation encourages their citizens to actively participate in legislation. The exercise of their speech then acts as an avenue to accurate representation, while its inactivity results in their being bound to laws for which they had no say in (because they chose not to). In other words, it is not government action which inhibits individual freedoms, but rather a citizen’s decision to not participate in this action. Ergo, individual liberties lie in the hands of citizens. Okay, well then how does government action act as a harbor to freedoms, you might ask? Simply put, governmnet action provides the necessary structure to exercise one's rights through the establishment of laws and consequences. Not only this, but it also provides protection to these rights through law enforcement. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that government's role in all of this has never been blown out of proportion; certainly, it has in other countries and in the United States as well. All I'm saying is that the next time you go to complain about how governmnet is restricting your liberties, you better not also admit to having not voted in the most recent election.

Fallacies are Among Us!

I was walking to campus with my friend a month or two ago and we were both explaining to eachother why neither of us ate breakfast. I gave her a rundown of my crazy morning and why I didn't have the time to eat. Jokingly, she replied, "Yea right. You are just still anorexic, aren't you?" I immediately thought, "Complex question fallacy... complex question fallacy!" Okay, not really though, because I couldn't remember the actual name of the fallacy. But, I did recognize it as a fallacy, and I told her straight up! Yes, that put her in her place. ha ha. My point of all of this though, is that fallacies are everywhere! They are in politicians' addresses, our friends' remarks, and yes, even our beloved toilet paper commercials. The important part then, is to be able to recognize them as such and thereby, make an informed decision about what toilet paper to by, for instance, without being inappropriately influenced save with our active consent (though knowledge of the fallacy and what it is trying to accomplish--and our decision in spite of it).