What is Rhetoric?

Lec: 1 What is rhetoric? -Using language effectively to persuade, inform, educate, or entertain. - knowledge created and shared through communication practices that include reading, writing, and speaking. -also the study of persuasion: how we are persuaded to believe what we believe Ethos: Ethos appeals to ethics and credibility, relying on the speaker's reputation or authority to persuade an audience. It convinces by establishing the speaker's trustworthiness and expertise on the subject. Pathos: Pathos appeals to emotions, aiming to evoke feelings such as sympathy, compassion, or outrage in the audience. It persuades by connecting on a visceral level, tapping into the audience's emotions to sway their opinions or actions. Logos: Logos appeals to logic and reason, using evidence, facts, and logical arguments to persuade the audience. It convinces by presenting information in a clear, rational manner, appealing to the audience's intellect and sense of reason. Lec 2: What is society? - The culture and standards of people in where they live - The whole world in where we exist - Societal problems influence media - Media reflects society What is media? a way in where information can be conveyed - The means by which content is communicated between an origin and a destination - Media shapes society into what it is - Example: racist media can influence people’s beliefs and views on other races (that is a bad thing) - Media is mostly sex and violence dominant because of the society we live in, there are different dominating terms in other societies. - Media is ALWAYS biased - Example: a black protest would be called a “riot” and an actual riot let by white people would be called “a party gone awry” Does violent media promote violence? - No not really - I play valorant and I do not think I can hit head taps irl like I don’t even like hurting people that sucks - I listen to songs that talk about violent themes and I do not want to do tho se things - Conclusion: it doesn't make people violent Car Advertising - The Supra conveys the car is like the star of a show and it is super fancy, fast and luxurious, kinda look like the batmobile - The Smart Car shows that it is tiny, durable and safe (the elephant standing on it) - The Volvo conveys that this car is old-fashioned and classy - Kia Optima and the aztec theme is a bit weird but there are some ideas (representing immortality, it’s original) Stuart Hall - “Representation is a very different notion from reflection. It implies the active work of selecting and presenting, of structuring and shaping” - Examples - Depending on the news sources that the 2020 election was robbed and corrupt, (that's an insane claim) - Comet Ping Pong: Conspiracy that someone with a gun went in to save “trapped children” in the sex basement? - The anti-vax people are like actually the most braindead people ever, same level as creationists, zionists and flat earthers - We select media representations that influence and backup our beliefs - The article talks about how communication in mass media isn't just about sending messages to audiences. It's more like a cycle involving different stages like creating content, sending it out, people watching or listening, and then reacting to it. - The 'object' of this communication is the meanings and messages that are organized through codes in what's being said or shown. This process involves both making the content and how people understand and react to it. - Sometimes, people might not get the message as the makers intended. This happens because what's made might not match how people see things. So, effective communication involves making sure the message matches how people understand it. Encoding: Encoding is the process of creating a message or content. It involves the selection of information, its organization into a particular format or structure, and its presentation to an audience. In the context of television, encoding happens when content producers create programs, deciding what to include, how to frame it, and how to present it to viewers. Decoding: Decoding is the process of interpreting or understanding the message that has been encoded. It involves the reception of the message by an audience, their interpretation of its meaning, and their response to it. 1. Dominant Reading 2. Negotiated Reading 3. Oppositional Reading DOMINANT Viewer or reader shares meanings that are encoded in a text, accepts the Preferred reading, which generally naturalizes and reinforces dominant ideologies. NEGOTIATE Viewer generally shares the codes and preferred meaning of the text but also may resist and modify the encoded meaning based on her social location, interests, history and experiences. Results in a contradictory reading of the text. OPPOSITIONAL Social position of the reader (gender, race, class, ideology) places them in opposition to the dominant code and preferred reading of the text. Reader understands the dominant code but brings an alternative frame of reference, which leads them to resist the encoded message. Lasswell’s Communication Model The Situation Who Says What In What Channel To Whom With What Effect? Blank Communica tor Message Medium Receiver Effect - probably increases sales for everything below Scotties kleenex Scotties You need kleenex probably if you aint feeling well Subway Poster ad You, sick people, single women, people who enjoy relatable humor, mothers Man, I really should get some kleenex !!! (ESPECIALLY from Scotties)!! McDonalds vs Wendy’s Wendy’s Their burgers are fresh unlock McMids Twitter, social media Everyday consumers who want to eat a burger MCDONALDS SUCKS !!!! HAHAHA!!!! BUY WENDY’S !!! McDonalds vs Starbucks McDonalds Dissing Starmids that their coffees are too expensive Billboard on the street Everyday consumers, baristas and starbucks fans STARBUCKS SUCKS !!!! HAHAHAHAHA BUY MCDONMIDS!!! Gillette Gillette: The Best A Man Can Get Believing the best in men and they can do better! broadcast ad MEN and BOYS and MASCULINE PEOPLE! DO BETTER AND DON'T BE WEIRDOS!!! Also Click on the link!!! Amazon Amazon Alexa It will do what you want it to do and be helpful but not full on read your mind, making your life easier. Broadcast ad People who are interested in an assistant THANK GOD SHE CAN’T READ MY MIND!!!! Critiques of the Laswell model: - Useful for seeing the full process - Oversimplistic - Technical efficiency - Linear process: sender ⇒ receiver - One way flow of info - Passive receiver - Doesn't tell us how info can be meaningful! - Assumes the tech is neutral when it’s not The Hypodermic Needle Theory - Very passive between the sends and the receivers Informative != Persuasive Process of Communication !!! This could be on the quiz The Rhetorical Situation - The circumstances in which you communicate - “While each piece will express your thoughts and ideas on the subject, the rhetorical situations are very different.” Every Rhetorical situation includes choices about: - Genre: what type of text you are writing - Purpose: what you are trying to accomplish - Audience: whom you are writing for - Voice: how you want to sound - Media and Design: how you want your writing to look The writer, the purpose, the audience and the topic are all in their own bubbles, the context in which you write envelops all 4 of those bubbles and is within a bubble of the culture in which you write. Writing to persuade - To think something - To buy something - To feel something - To do something - To click something - To “like” something Rhetorical Appeals - Aristotle, 350 BCE What makes speech persuasive and memorable? The 3 strategies - Logos (rational appeal) - Strategies of logic - Appeal to reason - Ex: facts, statistics, arguments, concrete evidence - Pathos (emotional appeal) - Strategies of emotional manipulation (in a good or bad way) Persuasion by moving audience to feel something Attempt to appeal to an audience’s sense of identity, self-interest and emotions - Ex: interviews, imagery, individual stories - Ethos (credibility) - Ethical appeal - Appeal to a source’s credibility - “What does this person know about this topic?” and “Why should I trust this person?” - Convey trustworthiness in style and tone - Establish credentials - Ex: “9 out of 10 dentists...” ⇐key word dentists - They can lie Essay Writing and Ethos - Use only credible, reliable sources - Cite those sources properly - State the opposing position accurately - Establish common ground with your audience - State your interest (if appropriate) - Organize your argument in a logical, easy to follow manner - Use Logos, Pathos and Ethos together to get an epic win!!! The Writing Process - Be brief, cut clutter - Clear and concise - Cluttered writing hides good ideas - Every word should tell (tell something and be cohesive) - “Never use a long word where a short one will do” Limit Jargon, euphemism, cliche - Avoid cliches like the plague - At the end of the day - Nowadays Back on track The fact of the matter Few and far between A level playing field In this day and age To all intents and purposes When all’s said and done In the full analysis Come full circle “Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print” Be Active - Use the active vs. the passive voice - Passive - The ball was fielded by the baseball player - Active: - The baseball player fielded the ball - “Never use the passive when you can use the active” Public Relations - Temples and tombs were meant to impress the public Agustus was a master communicator with the public, one side of his coin had his head and on the other he had images of public triumphs and victories. His ideas spread throughout the lands and sending out a message. Political Spin - Political spin, in politics, the attempt to control of influence communication in order to deliver one’s preferred message - The leak - Leaking information and than waiting bit to see how people react - The freeze - Punishing journalists for negative reporting - Pivoting - I want to convey a certain corporate message and im just gonna do it lol - The vomit principle - Repeat something often enough, than thats what the public will see - Playing a dead bad - When you don't respond to a public inquiry - The truth, but not the whole truth - - - - - Being selective with details Throwing out the bodies / taking out the garbage - Talk about damaging information when no one is paying attention like during events or holidays Fire-breaking - Creating a diversion so we don't focus on the negatives Kite-flying - Floating out ideas, not the ones saying it directly but have others say that they say that Flying under the radar - Not going to publicize things Dog whistling - Throwing out a subliminal message that targets a specific part of the audience that KNOWS what you said but everyone else is oblivious Edging - Driving a wedge into something, trying to split the audience with “wedge issues” like vaccines Propaganda - The intentional influence of attitudes and opinions - Deliberate, influences on manipulation - WW1 propaganda - Encouraging enlistment - Justifying the rationale on why they are in a war - BUY VICTORY BONDS The Propaganda Model: Filters - Used to FILTER out things said by high established people and companies - Ownership - Dominant media firms are quite large businesses and are controlled by RICH people or by managers who are subject to sharp constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces; and they are closely inter tangled, and have important common interests with other corporations and governments. This is the first powerful filter that will affect new choices - Apple gets 30% of spotify’s sales from the app store while they get all the revenue from their own competing brand (Apple Music [mid]) - Advertising - Have to be careful where they spend their ad-dollars - Make sure they get seen as good products - “The power of advertisers over television programming stems from the simple fact that they buy and pay for the programs - they are the “patrons” who provide the media subsidy.” - - - - Kanye West tweeting bad takes makes advertisers be like “we are not associated with this guy” Sourcing - Another reason for the heavy weight given to official sources is that the mass media claim to be "objective" dispensers of the news Partly to maintain the image of objectivity, but also to protect themselves from criticisms of bias and the threat of libel suits, the need material that can be portrayed as presumptively accurate. Flak - “The producers of flak add to one another’s strength and reinforce the command of political authority in its news-management activities. The government is a major producer of flak, usually threatening and correcting the media” Anti-Communism and Fear - “The anti-Communist control mechanism reaches through the system to exercise a profound influence on mass media. Edward Bernays - Founding father of PR and advertising - Learned the techniques of the government and put it into advertising - Nephew of Sigmund Freud - Persuaded woman that cigarettes are a symbol of independence and than boom they all got addicted and het got rich Advertising - Communication that is paid for and is usually persuasive in nature - Hard sell: persuasive techniques and “reason why” philosophy - Soft sell: enticing and entertaining images; appeal to pathos (emotions) - We see hundreds of ads everyday and most of them are passive an unnoticeable Advertising and Rhetoric - Language powerful, creates meaning (encoding and decoding) (Stuart Hall) Language and imagery make meaning Advertising makes use of symbolic value: associates things (products) with particular values Meaning making in the service of profit-making and corporate influence Advertising and Ideology - Ideology: A coherent set of social values, beliefs, meanings Taken for granted value commitments, assumptions, that are neutralized - Consumer Ideology - Promote consumer culture - iPhones are advertised as an extension of your knowledge and your capabilities, a handy (that's what it is called in German) device that assists you whenever and the last gadget you’d need. - Symbolic Value: associated things (products) with certain values Connotation: the range of subjective meanings that may be drawn from a representation Historical Seeing - Kim Kardashian and Saartjie Baartman (i'm not gonna say the line) - Very tragic and horrible things were done to Saartije Baartman - Photographic truth? - It is historically constructed belief that reproduction copies reality - Positivism: early 19th century belief that empirical truths can be established through visual evidence - Machines came to be viewed as more reliable (no subjectivity) - In the context of positivism, cameras were seen as a scientific tool for registering reality - Do I agree with this? Can we register reality? - In my opinion to some extent yes, we can take photos of REAL things that you see but also now as time goes on we can alter more and more things. Cameras register reality seen through the human eye and in its frame. What is in frame is an important part because you can cut things out of the frame and a random onlooker will never realize the omissions that were made. Pseudo-sciences (quasi-sciences) - Phrenology: cataloging body parts, more specifically the brain and measuring parts to determine different traits, e.g. physiological - Physiognomy: Interpreting the outward appearance and configuration of the body and the face in particular. You can learn about “types” by doing this. Example given of Sherlock Holmes: You have less frontal development than I should have expected (A.C. Doyle, Memories of Sherlock Holmes, 1894) - Eugenics: practice of studying and controlling human reproduction as means of improving the human race. Founded by Sir Francis Galton, Hereditary Genius (1896)* - *Linked to race, later used by Nazis and Hitler in WWII WHAT we are “seeing” - So we’re talking about the 19th century, over 125 years ago - We’re so much better at “SEEING”... aren’t we? - Let’s think about “WHAT” we are seeing today - How is it encoded and how do we decode it, and why? - How is rhetoric built into what we see? - What about photographic truth today? - What about family albums? - What about my passport? - What about evidence in court? - Points to Consider!!! - The subjectivity of the picture - - Who took the photo? - How did they choose to take it? - What and who is in the image? Ideologies inform our images - Our ideologies are diverse and ever-present - Ideology has manifested in widely shared social assumptions - Ideologies change over time - Like women’s roles, sex and gender Cultural Codes and Visual Rhetoric - We rely on cultural codes in life like to make judgements of aesthetics - Taste is informed by experiences relating to one’s class, cultural background, education etc. - What “codes” are at work here to help distinguish beauty from ugliness? - What makes us think 1 of these women are beautiful and the other is ugly? - She can be ugly with the idea of glasses, braces and questionable clothing options being in that ideological standpoint (norm) - The other can be beautiful as being blonde, showing specific parts of the body and angle of image - What is Culture? - A shared way we live - Culture originally denoted the cultivation of nature. It was a process like cultivating plants and animals. - Material: the outcome of this cultivation: artwork, poems, philosophical texts, literature - Mental: the idea of culture as a process of cultivation - So now culture becomes an “evaluative concept”