Rhetorical Form and Lies & Euphemisms
Chapters 5 -7 Hahn
Rhetorical Form,Lies & Euphemisms, andMyths &
Metaphors
Form Components
How the elements are combined, put together, the pattern, the
style of presentation, delivery
Speech auditors dont listen for form; they listen for content
(i.e., do they agree with the speaker?)
As students of political language, we must attempt to understand
how discourses work, how rhetors attempt to persuade us.
A sure index to a persons political position could be found in
the speakers characteristic way of thinking, inevitably expressed
in the type of argument presented. Richard Weaver
Perspective and Form
President Ronald Reagans characteristic way of thinking was in
SYNECDOCHES.
Synecdoche is the most common form of METONYMY.
Metonymy involves RELATIONSHIPS between what is said and what is
meant. The synecdoche form of metonymy invokes a part-to-whole (or
whole-to-part) relationship.
The function of Reagans anecdotesthe narratives about particular
instances, people, etc.was to stand for whole classes of people in
similar circumstances.
Problems with this? Does a single example prove anything?
See George W. Bush example on page 76.
Perspective and Form, continued
Presidential discourse is often designed more to REFLECT citizen
attitudes than to CHANGE them.
Deliberative, Epideictic, Forensic Speech FORMS
Even when a president does seem to be talking about
policy-making, presenting information for the consideration of the
citizenryfor example, in a crisisthe form of the address need not
be perceived as an example of deliberative oratory in the
Aristotelian sense, i.e., of a rhetor laying out the arguments of a
position in an attempt to win the audiences agreement. It may be
that the president just needed a pretext to appear
presidential.
Crisis is sometimes most profitably studied as an act of
presidential labeling.
Identification
Kenneth Burke and consubstantiation
Identification concerns ones ways of sharing vicariously in the
role of leader or spokesmanallegiance and change of allegianceones
way of seeing ones reflection in the social mirrorpositive and
negative responses to authority (77).
While the most obvious way for politicians to identify with
voters is through agreeing with them at the content level,
identification cal also be accomplished through form. [Wordles and
WE]
Independence Day
Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join
others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest
aerial battle in this history of mankind.
Mankind -- that word should have new meaning for all of us
today.
We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore.
We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps its fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will
once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny,
oppression, or persecution -- but from annihilation.
We're fighting for our right to live, to exist.
And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be
known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world
declared in one voice:
"We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight!
We're going to live on!
We're going to survive!"
Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechindependenceday.html
Form and Persuasion
Identification (77)
Action (79)
Emotional Involvement (80)
Logic/Rationality (82)
Strength (83)
Honesty (84)
Grandeur (85)
Ideological Correctness (88)
Euphemisms to Lies
Euphemisms & Disphemisms
Lies and not lies at all
Simplifications
Generalizations
The Art of Saying Nothing (memorable phrases, earnestness, grand
vision, jargon, nice words, etc.)
The Language Mechanisms in Combination
Myths and Metaphors
Kenneth Burke:
Water Metaphors
Terministic Compulsion
If you know the metaphors with which people describe a problem,
you may be able to predict the nature of their solution even before
they figure it out. (121).
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-republicans-hate-obamacare-2013-10
EXAMPLE:
Obamacare will destroy the country.
Obamacare will destroy the economy.
Obamacare violates the Constitution.
Edelman & American Mythology
All problems are caused by outgroups.
Our leaders are benevolent heroes who will lead us out of
danger.
The function of the citizen is to work hard to do the bidding of
the leader.
Parentian Approach
You cant fight city hall
Our leaders know best
You cannot legislate morality
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
It doesnt make any difference who we elect; theyre all the
same.
The five myths all encourage passivity and conformity in the
electorate (129).
Common Political Metaphors
(129)
Myths & American Ideology
Messianic Myth
The myth of Individualism & Hard Work
The myth of youth.
The myth of love and openness.
But, citizen passivity is dangerous (132).
