Rhetoric - What it means to me

Rhetoric is a vital and valuable tool, albeit some consider it a necessary evil. Rhetoric is the use of words to convince, cajole or otherwise influence an intended audience to adopt a point of view or perform some action. Rhetoric can elicit emotions (pathos), appeal to logic (logos), relate first-person experiences or qualities (Ethos), or use any combination of these three rhetoric styles.

To be effective, rhetoric must convey a particular message clearly, succinctly, and completely, without additional “clutter”. Of particular current interest are political ads. These ads rely significantly on emotion (Pathos) to convince voters of either the goodness of one party (or candidate) or to cast the opponent in a negative light. One ad currently portrays a candidate as opposing more stringent sentences on a particular class of criminals, thereby instigating fear in the target audience. What the ads don’t do is support their message with too many facts – that would diminish the emotional message and thereby reduce the effectiveness of the ad.

Without rhetoric, commerce would grind to a halt and mankind would essentially be thrown back to the stone ages. Without the ability to convey ideas, there can be no developing a consensus, and without a consensus, groups cannot act in concert. Commerce and society rely on likeminded people banding together and cooperating. While non-verbal interpersonal communication can function on a small scale, it cannot support the infrastructure of today’s modern society.

Therefore, while we may not always like the ways rhetoric is used, it is vital to our survival.