Why couldn't it have been Rhetoric in fifty words or less?

Ahhhh!!! First of all, I'd like to say that this completely frustrated me. I had no idea that rhetoric was such a complex concept. Although the first page warned me that this chapter was not meant to tell "flat out what rhetoric is in fifty words or less," I was expecting a little better understanding than I am walking away with (Ramage 1). Don't get me wrong, I understand that rhetoric is used to persuade people in one way or another. People use it every day, but this is the only understanding I truly got out of the introduction, and I already new this about rhetoric. I truly felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again.

The Anti-Rhetoric Spokesperson, on the other hand, I enjoyed reading about. Although Ramage goes through great feats to try and explain anti-rhetoric, it seemed to me that it was just another attempt at explaining what rhetoric is. Ramage was just simply using rhetoric to convince us that there is an "Anti-Rhetoric Spokesperson." All that the Anti-Rhetoric Spokesperson was doing was trying to convince the reader that the people who practice rhetoric on a daily basis are wrong in doing so, when in fact he is doing just that. Trying to convince people that rhetoric is "immoral" is rhetoric in itself. It holds no truth, yet that does not matter as long as it has an "effect on an audience" which it obviously does, or this particular section of this book would have no purpose (Ramage 5). I believe this is why Ramage explains the Anti-Rhetoric Spokesperon before actually going into any detail about rhetoric itself. The section is meant to provoke thought.

Although I was not completely engaged in my reading throughout the entire introduction, I am hoping that the rest of the book, as well as class discussions, will help me to understand rhetoric more. Before I read this section, I looked up rhetoric in the Webster's Dictionary and this is what it said:

Main Entry: rhet·o·ricPronunciation:
're-t&-rikFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English rethorik, from
Anglo-French rethorique, from Latin rhetorica, from Greek rhEtorikE, literally,
art of oratory, from feminine of rhEtorikos of an orator, from rhEtOr orator,
rhetorician, from eirein to say, speak -- more at WORDDate:
14th century1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of
principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b :
the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion2 a :
skill in the effective use of speech b : a type or mode of language or speech;
also : insincere or grandiloquent language3 : verbal communication : DISCOURSE

By reading this entry, I was a little more open to the fact of reading a book on rhetoric and understood its purpose in an advanced compostion class. I hope that by studying this book, I can learn to speak and write more effectively.