Weekly Blog #12, Rhetoric

 My understanding of rhetoric is probably not 100% correct, but I would say I have a pretty good idea of what it is considering my English 103 class was all rhetoric. Rhetoric is a way of presenting oneself to maybe persuade a certain audience of your beliefs or simply let them know what you think. There's three parts to it: logos, pathos, and ethos. 

Logos are the information you're presenting, such as, facts, quotes, statistics, and specific details. It also involves the organization of your information. A bunch of facts thrown at someone is not going to go well for the audience because they won't know what you're trying to get across. 

With pathos, you are trying to capture your readers' emotions, pulling their heartstrings. You should write with your personality, varying your tone, telling stories, maybe put in a little humor (which is very difficult), and show that you know what you're talking about.  

Finally, you have ethos, at least you hope so, or not many people will take you seriously. This is your credibility as a speaker, and writer. Your research should come from a wide variety of sources, which shows that as a presenter you have done your homework. Since there is most likely at least some opposition to your opinions, you need to know what that is, and address that in your writing with RESPECT. If you're presenting something, the way you dress may have an impact on your credibility as well as your behavior.  People are quick to judge, and it is easier to judge someone on their clothing style and behavior instead of their thoughts and opinions.  

Those three things are what constitutes rhetoric. I normally hear the word rhetoric in the English class. During this years elections though, many political analysts commented on Obama's rhetoric as well as McCain too, but not as much. Rhetoric always seems to be in a negative context mainly because it is used in the English class, where most students do not want to learn,  and also in politics, which always seems to have bad blood all around it. Most political analysts seem to attack any politician's rhetoric, and when they find one piece of evidence that a politician's rhetoric is flawed, they really attack at it. 

My subculture, Cru, definitely has certain beliefs. The most important being the Gospel, Jesus Christ dying on the cross so that anyone who accepts him as Savior may have a relationship with God, and one day go to heaven. I plan on using rhetoric in my mini-ethnography and portfolio so that I can get out my opinions of Cru, and what they are, instead of them being judged on the spot for being Christians.