How these people changed my view of Rhetoric

"At first, I wasn't quite sure what rhetoric meant to me. I've thought about the concept of a rhetorical question, when you're asking a question that is more of an obvious answer, and causes you to think about what was said, even posing for the start of a discussion. I then thought about this great quote, my dad has carried a small piece of paper in his wallet for nearly 15 years with a quote from Fred Friendly [what a wonderful name, he sounds like a good guy] which says, 

"Our agenda... is not to make up people's minds but to open minds to make the agony of decision-making so intense that the only escape is thinking."

Rhetoric to me means using your words so eloquently that you may change someone else's point of view. Not to persuade, but to get another to think, to see another side.

I also googled rhetoric and came across education-portal.com's definitions of rhetoric, the site quoted Aristotle's view of the word which I really like as well,  

"Greek philosopher Aristotle, a student of Plato, argued that, 'Rhetoric is the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion.' Aristotle placed an importance on discovering the possible means of persuasion, not the actual effect of persuasion." 

The last sentence is my favorite part, writing with the means of persuasion, if you did or did not is not the point." - Lizzie D

She provided an eye-opening viewpoint of Rhetoric, which in doing so, she USED rhetoric to show me and all who saw it. I think it provides a longer progression for Rhetoric versus the "Now"

If I’m being honest here I’ll admit that I had absolutely no idea what rhetoric meant. But now that I think I have a better understanding of the word what I believe to be true is as follows: Thinking and acting rhetorically is doing your research, listening to the points being made about your topic, then thinking, acting, and writing critically and persuasively based on the knowledge you obtained. By thinking rhetorically you could say you’re acting like a lawyer. Paying close attention to every detail on file, listening closely to your clients story, and then once you have all the information then thinking speaking and acting critically about the things you have learned. Your trying to persuade the jury to believe what you believe and to find your client not guilty based on your case.

            Thinking rhetorically is something I think I struggle with in my daily life. I tend to jump the gun and speak before thinking. I often act like I know exactly what I’m talking about when I probably just over heard the information or saw it once somewhere but never had researched it before. A new goal for me in the life I have ahead of myself is to think, act, write, and speak rhetorically on a daily bases. I believe this will take me farther in life, and treat me with rewards on job day. 

 -Hollie M.

 

 Hollie's viewpoint took me by storm in how she considers the prior events before going into persuasion, as Rhetoric states. I think I will share her viewpoint in that I will research thorough topics and a good defense for my own viewpoints.

(No other classmates that I followed had made blog posts about this.)