After hearing many speeches from President Obama I have come to these conclusions about his speech process
1-He does use insinuations, but rarely and rarely in a derogatory manner
2-He does use narratives
3-He also uses partitions and perorations
From these findings I have concluded that in order to be a good rhetor and orator it is necessary to use all of parts of discourse. While all of these are not used in all of Obama's speeches, many are used in all of them, and not a single one doesn't have atleast one example of atleast one of these types discourse. They are necessary in good speech giving, and while not all of them are necessary all of the time, they cannot be ignored.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Mapping Space p.233-241
For this exercise I chose to observe one of my friends with one of her classmates during one of their regular study sessions.
I was invited to a study session that my friend Nora has with one of her classmates a couple of times a week. I expected it to be a very serious situation in which they focused on specific topics integral to the course. I thought that there would be very little talk of anything outside of class, and that there would be some sort of study plan laid out for them to follow. I had these assumptions because my friend is 4.0 student who regularly talks about how much studying she has to do and how hard and stressful her classes are.
When I got there I saw that they were sitting at the kitchen table with their books piled around them, and their computers in front of them. Neither of them were speaking, although when I got there they both looked up to say hello.
They remained like that for about 20 minutes before I realized that neither of them was actually doing any studying. Nora was on Facebook and her friend was checking her email, although I suspect that that was not the only thing she had been doing for the past 20 minutes. They remained like that for about another 10 minutes then Nora mentioned something funny about what one of her friends had posted. After that they stopped messing around on the internet and began talking. They talked about boys, the weekend, the professors they didn't like, and a number of other things, none of which had anything to do with their poli. sci. class.
They discussed those things for about half an hour then Nora's friend got up to get some food. She went to the fridge but it was empty so she went to the store. After she left Nora picked up a notebook but quickly put it back down and began talking to me. We talked about pretty much the same things that she talked about with her friend. Then we went outside for a smoke break and her friend returned.
Once her friend returned they both decided that it was time to get to work. They went back inside and picked up their books. Once this happened there was alot of looking between their notes and their books, and sighs of frustration. Occasionally one of them would ask a question about what they were studying and the other would give an answer or a shrug then it would become silent again. There would also be an occasional remark about something that they were studying, and we would all laugh for a bit. It remained like this for a long time, I would say about an hour and a half. By that time it was around 11:30 and Nora's friend decided it was time to go home, so she left after saying goodbye. After she left Nora and I went outside for another smoke break then she went back inside and sat back down at the table. When she sat back down she immediately got back to work.
It appeared to me like Nora's friend, while sweet and obviously intelligent, was a distraction to her, and Nora was a distraction to her friend. The entire time that I had been there, which had been over two hours very little studying had gotten done.
I was invited to a study session that my friend Nora has with one of her classmates a couple of times a week. I expected it to be a very serious situation in which they focused on specific topics integral to the course. I thought that there would be very little talk of anything outside of class, and that there would be some sort of study plan laid out for them to follow. I had these assumptions because my friend is 4.0 student who regularly talks about how much studying she has to do and how hard and stressful her classes are.
When I got there I saw that they were sitting at the kitchen table with their books piled around them, and their computers in front of them. Neither of them were speaking, although when I got there they both looked up to say hello.
They remained like that for about 20 minutes before I realized that neither of them was actually doing any studying. Nora was on Facebook and her friend was checking her email, although I suspect that that was not the only thing she had been doing for the past 20 minutes. They remained like that for about another 10 minutes then Nora mentioned something funny about what one of her friends had posted. After that they stopped messing around on the internet and began talking. They talked about boys, the weekend, the professors they didn't like, and a number of other things, none of which had anything to do with their poli. sci. class.
They discussed those things for about half an hour then Nora's friend got up to get some food. She went to the fridge but it was empty so she went to the store. After she left Nora picked up a notebook but quickly put it back down and began talking to me. We talked about pretty much the same things that she talked about with her friend. Then we went outside for a smoke break and her friend returned.
Once her friend returned they both decided that it was time to get to work. They went back inside and picked up their books. Once this happened there was alot of looking between their notes and their books, and sighs of frustration. Occasionally one of them would ask a question about what they were studying and the other would give an answer or a shrug then it would become silent again. There would also be an occasional remark about something that they were studying, and we would all laugh for a bit. It remained like this for a long time, I would say about an hour and a half. By that time it was around 11:30 and Nora's friend decided it was time to go home, so she left after saying goodbye. After she left Nora and I went outside for another smoke break then she went back inside and sat back down at the table. When she sat back down she immediately got back to work.
It appeared to me like Nora's friend, while sweet and obviously intelligent, was a distraction to her, and Nora was a distraction to her friend. The entire time that I had been there, which had been over two hours very little studying had gotten done.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Imitation Exercise 2 pg.372
For this post I chose a passage from The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Believing this, he is still frightened. That is due to the fact that he cannot change. I can feel it. He adjusts things to his beliefs. If a thing is dark he believes it is light. If a thing is light he believes it is dark. He argues with everything that is said to him. He makes everyone feel as if they are the foolish ones. Then they must argue their point to know what to believe.
Anyway, once that confrontation ended, he was furious and could only lay in his chair going over that man's haunting comments. He reminded himself that that man would always be the one to make such callous comments. He was the one that didn't understand anything. Then, once he no longer wished to recall those comments, he searched for another topic to contradict. He went to a bookcase and drew out a book he bought at a second hand store, a secondhand book bought at a secondhand store.
Believing this, he is still frightened. That is due to the fact that he cannot change. I can feel it. He adjusts things to his beliefs. If a thing is dark he believes it is light. If a thing is light he believes it is dark. He argues with everything that is said to him. He makes everyone feel as if they are the foolish ones. Then they must argue their point to know what to believe.
Anyway, once that confrontation ended, he was furious and could only lay in his chair going over that man's haunting comments. He reminded himself that that man would always be the one to make such callous comments. He was the one that didn't understand anything. Then, once he no longer wished to recall those comments, he searched for another topic to contradict. He went to a bookcase and drew out a book he bought at a second hand store, a secondhand book bought at a secondhand store.
Rhetorical Activity 3 pg. 364-365
I chose to revise Rhetorical Activity 1 from page 186
In this blog I will discuss an article from the DA addressing Facebook, the complete lack of necessity involved in Facebook, and the misuse of information found on Facebook. In this article the writer discusses how the information one puts on Facebook can be used for profit because it, like a diary, holds secrets that you believe to be safe, but can be used once it has been attained. Furthermore, why even put up such trivial information about yourself? Such information does not reveal the person that you are; you cannot judge a book by it's cover, and you cannot truly understand a person by the few pictures and updates they put on their Facebook profile.
The writer uses examples and maxims in his article to make his point known, and they are used so well that they fully illustrate how ridiculous the Facebook community is becoming. Also used are enthymemes, which the writer uses to lead the reader through a series of postings put up by various users. The writer leads us through these postings, pointing out the unnecessary information, user indulgence in such information. By the end of the article the reader can see clear as day, through the writer's use of enthymemes, examples, and maxims, how Facebook has become a monster that feeds on that personal, useless information.
In this blog I will discuss an article from the DA addressing Facebook, the complete lack of necessity involved in Facebook, and the misuse of information found on Facebook. In this article the writer discusses how the information one puts on Facebook can be used for profit because it, like a diary, holds secrets that you believe to be safe, but can be used once it has been attained. Furthermore, why even put up such trivial information about yourself? Such information does not reveal the person that you are; you cannot judge a book by it's cover, and you cannot truly understand a person by the few pictures and updates they put on their Facebook profile.
The writer uses examples and maxims in his article to make his point known, and they are used so well that they fully illustrate how ridiculous the Facebook community is becoming. Also used are enthymemes, which the writer uses to lead the reader through a series of postings put up by various users. The writer leads us through these postings, pointing out the unnecessary information, user indulgence in such information. By the end of the article the reader can see clear as day, through the writer's use of enthymemes, examples, and maxims, how Facebook has become a monster that feeds on that personal, useless information.
Rhetorical Activity 3 pg.263
A situation in which an appeal to anger would be appropriate would be a speaker fighting for change in his community or country. First the speaker would have to get everyone on his side. He could do this by talking about issues such as state or government neglect, or any public issues that would rouse their anger. Then he would talk about how those circumstances have consequences that affect everyone, personally and communally. After that he would discuss changes that would ensure better community care which would rouse the anger of the people even more, and help them to see the speakers side of the issue.
An appeal to shame would be effective in a situation where a speaker is trying to get a person to help with a volunteer project, such as helping the homeless. The speaker would begin by telling the person everything he has that he takes for granted such as food or a bathroom. Then the speaker would explain the living conditions that homeless people have to endure, through winters and rainstorms, to try and make the person see that he's got many things that he doesn't even need, which would begin to make him feel ashamed. Finally the speaker would talk about how little effort this person would have to put forth in order to help a homeless person immensely. All of these arguments would help the speaker to make the person feel ashamed for not helping more which would make him want to help.
An appeal to shame would be effective in a situation where a speaker is trying to get a person to help with a volunteer project, such as helping the homeless. The speaker would begin by telling the person everything he has that he takes for granted such as food or a bathroom. Then the speaker would explain the living conditions that homeless people have to endure, through winters and rainstorms, to try and make the person see that he's got many things that he doesn't even need, which would begin to make him feel ashamed. Finally the speaker would talk about how little effort this person would have to put forth in order to help a homeless person immensely. All of these arguments would help the speaker to make the person feel ashamed for not helping more which would make him want to help.
Rhetorical Activity 1 pg.63
I read three articles concerning President Obama and the direction that our country is headed in. These three articles were from Time Magazine, Black Enterprise, and National Review and they were all from the month of March.
The article from Time Magazine was written by Barack Obama himself and the issue that he was discussing was a national expansion of community service. Little had to be said to explain the purpose behind his article; it was clear throughout that he was speaking to the American people about lending a hand in their country. He created his kairos mainly through epideictic rhetoric; by stating how people could change their own communities through their own work. There was a little deliberative rhetoric in which he discussed his own plans for change. This was when he tactfully changed the subject to the greater issue of how he plans to lead the country.
The article from Black Enterprise was written by Derek T. Dingle and it addressed the changes that the country has already gone through, and what to expect from the new administration. Dingle created kairos by talking about how the people were affected and moved by the inauguration of our first black president, and his promises of growth and change. Very little had to be done in this article to explain the articles relevance because it was more based on opinions about the new president than political facts. You either agree with this writer or you don't, on this particular issue.
The article from National Review, written by Mark Steyn, was about President Obama and the horrible consequences of his election. Steyn used deliberative and forensic rhetorics to create his kairos. He brought up other countries and the terrible state that they are in due to their choice of politics, and he voiced his opinion about the President and his changes in policy. There had to be alot of explanation in his article because he went back and forth between American policy and European policy, comparing the two and listing differences, but other than that, the point and relevance of the article was very clear.
The article from Time Magazine was written by Barack Obama himself and the issue that he was discussing was a national expansion of community service. Little had to be said to explain the purpose behind his article; it was clear throughout that he was speaking to the American people about lending a hand in their country. He created his kairos mainly through epideictic rhetoric; by stating how people could change their own communities through their own work. There was a little deliberative rhetoric in which he discussed his own plans for change. This was when he tactfully changed the subject to the greater issue of how he plans to lead the country.
The article from Black Enterprise was written by Derek T. Dingle and it addressed the changes that the country has already gone through, and what to expect from the new administration. Dingle created kairos by talking about how the people were affected and moved by the inauguration of our first black president, and his promises of growth and change. Very little had to be done in this article to explain the articles relevance because it was more based on opinions about the new president than political facts. You either agree with this writer or you don't, on this particular issue.
The article from National Review, written by Mark Steyn, was about President Obama and the horrible consequences of his election. Steyn used deliberative and forensic rhetorics to create his kairos. He brought up other countries and the terrible state that they are in due to their choice of politics, and he voiced his opinion about the President and his changes in policy. There had to be alot of explanation in his article because he went back and forth between American policy and European policy, comparing the two and listing differences, but other than that, the point and relevance of the article was very clear.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Activity3 p.303, WWD
The website that I went to was the American Association of People with Disabilities or AAPD, at http://www,aapd.com/.
I found that this site does a very good job of reaching its audiences and achieving its goals. It's audience is anyone who wants to help their cause, and their goal is to use that help to help Americans with disabilities.
First of all the site uses epideictic rhetoric to appeal to people's sympathetic and understanding sides. In this site there are articles concerning all manner of issues from hate crimes to convincing people to stop using the word retard. All of these writings are meant to influence people to help their cause. The site also tries to influence the public by offering rewards for donations, and assuring the public that those donations will be put to good use.
Overall the site is very well suited to its aims and its audience. It mentions its goals, and has many writings to influence people to help attain those goals.
I found that this site does a very good job of reaching its audiences and achieving its goals. It's audience is anyone who wants to help their cause, and their goal is to use that help to help Americans with disabilities.
First of all the site uses epideictic rhetoric to appeal to people's sympathetic and understanding sides. In this site there are articles concerning all manner of issues from hate crimes to convincing people to stop using the word retard. All of these writings are meant to influence people to help their cause. The site also tries to influence the public by offering rewards for donations, and assuring the public that those donations will be put to good use.
Overall the site is very well suited to its aims and its audience. It mentions its goals, and has many writings to influence people to help attain those goals.
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