Skip to main content

Home/ ENC1102-706F08/ Discussion: Your rhetorical life
Ryan Meehan

Discussion: Your rhetorical life - 53 views

started by Ryan Meehan on 17 Nov 08
  • Ryan Meehan
    #1 Ryan Meehan on 17 Nov 08
     
    Now that you have spent the past few months thinking in terms of rhetoric, consider the following: How have you applied the principles of rhetoric to your own life? Give an example or two of a time when you were consciously making "rhetorical" decisions with the purpose of influencing or directing (or manipulating -- gasp!) an outcome.
  • Vincent DiDomenico
    #2 Vincent DiDomenico on 17 Nov 08
     
    Just the other week I was in a discussion with my friend about old and new Marvel comic characters. I convinced him that the Golden age gave birth to the most well known characters by using his nostalgia for Spiderman and the X-men as an example. I suppose I could say that I used Pathos to appeal to his fond memories of those characters. That is the only example I can remember saying to myself," what do you know, I think I just used Rhetoric," but I'm sure there were others.
  • Angela Moneck
    #3 Angela Moneck on 18 Nov 08
     
    I know there are several times I have said something and thought to myself, "Wow, that's an example of rhetoric!" but right now I can only think of one example. I can't even count how many political conversations I've had since the beginning of the election. One that particularly stands out to me is a conversation I had with my friend who, a month before the election, had no idea who she was voting for. I wanted her to make an informed decision instead of just walking in on election day and picking whoever she felt like choosing, so I decided to inform her of the candidates. I used logos to explain to her which candidate would be better for the United States, especially the economy, right now. I explained, using logic, why their policies were better than the other candidate's. That is the only example I can think of at the moment, but if I think of any more, I will definitely post them!
  • Janice Perez Rivera
    #4 Janice Perez Rivera on 18 Nov 08
     
    The one example that I can think of that I used recently was in my Racism class the day after the election. We were having a class discussion about the candidates and whether this presidential election was a race election. People were arguing that black people voted for Obama just because he was black, and other people were stating that people voted for McCain because he was white and they were afraid of change. When I discussed this issue in class I wanted to prove that although some people did vote because of race, it was not the majority of the people so I use logos and pathos to explain my reasons on why I believe people voted on whom they wanted to vote for because they felt that, that particular candidate would be a better candidate for their country and not just because of color or race.
  • Meghan Winn
    #5 Meghan Winn on 19 Nov 08
     
    One example I can think of is when I was discussing with my friend who to vote for on election day. She hadn't researched much about either candidate so I used logos to inform her about each one and talked to her about who would do more for our country and help our economy more. Another example is when I was trying to convince my dad to let me get a dog. I used pathos, logos and ethos to convince him that it would be a great pet that we would both love, I would take good care of it and it would have a much better life if we adopted it than if we left it at the SPCA.
  • Garrett Granger
    #6 Garrett Granger on 19 Nov 08
     
    I too used rhetoric while having a discussion about the two candidates from the recent presidential election. I've never been particularly interested in politics, but when I was asked to vote in exchange for an all expense paid trip to Detroit, I gladly accepted the offer. Considering this was my first time voting and I knew very little about either candidate, I attempted to learn as much as possible about each campaign. A week or so before the day of the election, my roommates and I became engaged in a conversation about the presidential nominees. At the time, there were negative ads and rumors surrounding each campaign. Because my roommates had failed to do their research, I had to inform them of the full stories and truths behind these ads. My usage of logos allowed me to convince my roommates that they didn't exactly understand what they thought they knew.
  • Alex Gutierrez
    #7 Alex Gutierrez on 20 Nov 08
     
    I find myself using rhetoric all day every day. It is a part of life. Whether or not you want to do something that someone else doesn't necessarily want to do or your just trying to prove a point rhetoric plays into every aspect of life. I have thought about this discussion numerous times throughout the week and had many different examples I was going to discuss, but tonight I had a conversation with my dad that I want to use. I have a lot of school stuff going on, I want to go to medical school and classes are to say the least rigorous. This weekend is the first weekend of duck hunting season and it has been a family tradition to all go hunting this weekend. Well I cannot find the time to do that this year. My dad being a physician himself was explaining to me the dedication and hard work that it takes. Well I think that I have been doing that recently. He began with the facts. If you want to go to medical school you have to have at least an A or a B in organic chemistry. No matter how hard it is and unfair the grading is what matters is the final product of your grade. Those are the facts. So both ethos and logos were a part of our conversation. My dad being a doctor and going through the schooling has credibility in knowing what it takes. He understands the hard work and dedication that go hand in hand with medical school. That makes him credible. We also discussed the facts, the amount of time for me to get everything done leaves no time for duck hunting this weekend or the next and maybe even the next. In order to do well it takes a lot of time and that's all there is to it. So in that way we both used rhetoric in our dinner conversation, and we both met on common ground which is the purpose of rhetoric.
  • Brian Russo
    #8 Brian Russo on 20 Nov 08
     
    Before taking this class I still used rhetoric on a daily basis, I just may not have known it. Now I am somewhat more conscious when I'm using rhetoric, but I haven't necessarily changed. One example of using rhetoric is when talking politics with people. You want to convince them that you're right about your candidate being the best man for the job. I also used rhetoric just recently when I convinced my boss to let me have a week off at the end of December to go to New York. Even though we aren't supposed to be allowed any vacation time during the months of November or December I used pathos and ethos to convince him to let me go and he approved.
  • Amanda Flores
    #9 Amanda Flores on 20 Nov 08
     
    I actually used rhetoric today. On the news and in the newspaper today there was an article about dogs. There were about 30 dogs that were seized from a dog breeder in Riverview, Florida and they were put up for adoption at Hillsborough County Animal Services. I love dogs and I wanted one when I heard this. I went on the website for Hillsborough County Animal Service and there were over 300 dogs listed there. It broke my heart and I wanted so bad to help them out and give a home for a dog or two. I live with my parents so I had to try and convince my mom to get another dog. The rhetoric I used were logos and pathos. I had to research the type of dog so my mom would know the facts. I also used emotion because there were so many dogs that needed a home.
  • Charlotte Randolph
    #10 Charlotte Randolph on 20 Nov 08
     
    Before this class I never really understood exactly what rhetoric was and the many ways we all actually use it on a daily basis. Now that I understand what it is I see that I use it everyday. Like many people in this class the biggest way recently that I have used rhetoric is when talking to my friends about the election. I was talking to my best friend just before the election because she was still confused who to vote for. I used logos to explain to her the differences between the two candidates and why one would be a better president than the other. I guess it worked because by the end of our discussion she had made her own decision based upon now knowing different things about each one.
  • Sean McMillan
    #11 Sean McMillan on 20 Nov 08
     
    Just today I had to rely on my recently obtained knowledge of rhetoric to convince my girlfriend to go see the movie "Rocknrolla" instead of "Changeling." Even during the talk I found myself thinking "wow, nice use of pathos" or "better think about my target audience." For example, I knew "Rocknrolla" wasn't her type of movie so I had to use the appeal pathos by stating that Guy Ritchie is one of my favorite directors and that he's made some of my favorite movies. Needless to say my use of rhetoric was successful and I got to see my movie. Which was worth the work.
  • Ashlee Duckworth
    #12 Ashlee Duckworth on 20 Nov 08
     
    I use rhetoric everyday. Even before this class I used rhetoric everyday and just didn't know it. Even if I don't think about it when I use it, I still realize that I use it everyday. Just the other day I used rhetoric when I had to take an online test. My computer was being temperamental and after I had entered the test, my computer would not go forth with the test. So I clicked cancel, hoping that it would let me re-enter. Just my luck it did not let me enter the test once again and it was showing that I had a zero for the grade of the test! So I had to use rhetoric in every way to convince my instructor that I should have another chance at taking the test. I used ethos because I had to prove myself to him saying I was a good person and would never give him false information. I had to prove my moral stance. I used pathos by stating that I was having a hard time with my computer and just made him have a little compassion for the things I was dealing with. I used logos to describe all the logic of what happened with my computer and why I deserved another chance to take the test.
  • Natassia Watson
    #13 Natassia Watson on 22 Nov 08
     
    Im sure that there are many times that I've used the different forms of rhetoric since learning about them but I can only recall a few incidents where i have used rhetoric since then.

    I volunteer as a tutor with underpriveliged children on a weekly basis, and I often have other students accompany me there so that they do the same. When we are finished I usually take a few minutes and reflect on the significance of our work and i find that I use a pathos is explaining how our work makes a difference in the lives of the kids, especially when i mention how attached they are to us and the fact that they don't have anybody else to do what we do for them. I do this with the hope that the other volunteers will continue to come on a regular basis.
  • Michael Gutierrez
    #14 Michael Gutierrez on 23 Nov 08
     
    Especially in the past few weeks I have found myself using Rhetoric. This is mainly due to the Presidential election. I remember having numerous conversations about who I think the next President should be. I tryed to convince everybody I spoke with to vote for McCain. I used words like experience, patriotic, and dedication. It is amazing how you use rhetoric in allmost all of your conversations, and you dont even realize that you are doing it. In some circunstances I convinced many people towards McCains side and in many other instances I did not.
    Ryan Meehan wrote:
    > Now that you have spent the past few months thinking in terms of rhetoric, consider the following: How have you applied the principles of rhetoric to your own life? Give an example or two of a time when you were consciously making "rhetorical" decisions with the purpose of influencing or directing (or manipulating -- gasp!) an outcome.
  • Angel Aramayo
    #15 Angel Aramayo on 06 Dec 08
     
    Recently with the election and certain events that have happened in my life i have found myself using rhetoric almost all the time. I used rhetoric alot when it came to the election and trying to convince my friends who i thought they should have voted for. Recently i just moved into a new place and i thought i had enough room to get a pet. I talked to my parents about it and i had to convince them to let me get a dog, rather than some sort of other animal because a dog is the only animal i have ever had. I used all three aspects ethos, logos and pathos to try and get my point across. When i talk to my parents i do not stop and say hey i just used rhetoric but re-thinking the conversation made me realize how much that i do use rhetoric.
  • Brandon Cruz
    #16 Brandon Cruz on 06 Dec 08
     
    I think the past couple of months have been the most rhetorical months of my entire life, if you will. With the presidential elections in full swing I found myself right in the middle of the action. I never dreamed that I would care so much about any single election in my entire life. I found myself talking to anyone and everyone that I could trying to persuade them as to why they should vote one way or another. I caught myself on several occasions trying to pry information out of people to learn about how I could rhetorically persuade them one way or another by judging their personal character (determining what kind of audience I was trying to appeal to in that certain person). After a while, I was getting frustrated with how bad I was getting and was actually relieved when the elections were over! This class definitely helped me to better see how to look at these things and how appeal to them more efficiently.

To Top

Start a New Topic » « Back to the ENC1102-706F08 group