3 down; 3 to go

It is a bit upsetting that we are now half way through Rhetoric, but think not of the what is lost. Look forward to the three remaining chapters (all 110 pages) and the mind blowing Ramage rhetoric left.

I have to agree that chapter three was a better read than the others. It was full of examples that helped clarify what he was talking about in the other chapters. I found the side bar to be a useful tool since it provided real life evidence of rhetoric. I wish Ramage would have been there, at the State of The Union Address, to expose Bush and all of his war propaganda. Maybe he could have saved us from taking the war out of Afghanistan and into Iraq. But I suppose that hindsight is 20/20 and it is easy to analyze an emotionally charged speech after the fact.

For my paper I would like to focus on one point brought up in chapter 3. I am going to research and write about the “continuum of persuasive practices”. (75) To do this I will try to find examples of each type of persuasion—propaganda, legal reasoning, literary texts—and compare them and their author’s intent. I am hoping to find specific traits in each so that they become easier to spot and understand. We are bombarded with a range of persuasive tactics on a daily basis, if we are able to differentiate them we will be better equipped to make more informed decisions.