Reflection Essay Rough Draft

Samuel Burgess

Major Branstetter

Rhetorical Traditions II

4/27/14

 

A Hitchhikers Guide To The World Of Rhetoric: How to Influence People

 

Martin Luther King Jr. stands in the center of a large wooden courthouse room. Warm bright lights jab around the room, delivering sharp flashes of light that reflect off of MLK’s poised and confident face. The courthouse is large and old, sound echoing from corner to corner and yet there is an undeniable buzz surrounding the chamber. The buzz that is amazing but puzzling as if something revolutionary is at hand, and all wait to celebrate its arrival. The symbolic speech that begins “I have a dream” is commanded unto the country and the eloquent and powerful sentiments propel the civil rights movement into an opportunity for real change. Before beginning Rhetorical Traditions II this semester, this speech was the quintessential example of what rhetoric meant to me. And while MLK’s speech was undoubtedly a great example of rhetoric, and he a rhetorician, I have come to learn that the word encompasses a much broader meaning.

As we have defined rhetoric over the course of this semester, I have come to realize that there is no one way of persuading an audience, nor is there one medium by which rhetoric can be expressed. In our early readings, Foucault showed me the darker side of rhetoric such as the ways it was used by kings (and perhaps dictators). In this mode of rhetoric, citizens of a kingdom were often persuaded not necessarily through speech, but by being shown examples. For instance public executions were performed in front of men, women, and children to show that no crime will go unpunished by the monarch.

The long informed research paper I posited this semester argues rhetorically for social reform from America’s Original Sin. Slavery in the United States comes from our forefather’s acceptance of immoral practices that follow the same theme of Foucalt’s punishment. In my paper I show the reverberations of slavery in America and how it has affected race and popular public opinion in major court cases such as The State of Florida v. George Zimmerman and the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson.

Kenneth Burke shows readers a much more democratic form of rhetoric through debate. He explains the virtues of democratic rhetoric and how to influence an audience who is able to decide for themselves. Additionally, the video project we completed this semester helped show me how humor can allure audiences and form connections.