RCL

Civic Artifact Speech Outline

Posted on by mpc5729

Introduction:

  • Explain situation
  • World War II, Hitler, communism, and its effects on the mindset of the rest of the world
  • Left most people in general fear
  • Could be attacked, couldn’t predict the future

Poster:

  • Point out clear comic effect the poster has initially
  • This piece of propaganda seems ridiculous at first, especially now, but the rhetoric situation was very different back in the early 1940s
  • Talk about the image of Hitler, and how having the almost ghost like figure of him sitting in the car has an immediate effect on how it is perceived and how successful it is

Purpose:

  • Government takes advantage of the fear US citizens have of Hitler
  • Government wants people to carpool rather than ride alone in order to save gas so it can be used by the military in the war efforts
  • Talk about purpose and effect of Hitler being a ghost like figure
  • Seems as if the man is not even aware that Hitler is in the car with him
  • Gives a slight chilling and frightening mood
  • Almost as if people that don’t choose to carpool are choosing to support Hitler

Comparison:

  • Compare this ad to another propaganda poster put out by the government
  • Either another poster about communism from World War II or from a different war
  • Find another poster that unites a group of people against a common enemy
  • Could also be a poster that has the purpose of making communism and Hitler seem evil and paint the worst possible picture of them for the American public

Conclusion:

  • Explore how far people will go to support their country in a time of need
  • Discuss how the commonplace of hating communism came to be
  • Maybe touch on the government’s effect, how they portrayed communism and germans in order to gain the average citizen’s support for their decisions and use of resources for war

Kairos

Posted on by mpc5729

This civic artifact uses kairos as an integral part in getting its message across to the targeted audience. The poster asks those that view it to “Join a car sharing club today.” It also states that “When you ride alone you ride with Hitler.” At first glance this seems ridiculous, but its purpose was actually for citizens to conserve gas so that it could be used for the war.

This uses kairos by taking advantage of the almost nationwide hatred for Hitler, Germany, Nazis, and communism in general. In the rhetorical situation surrounding World War II, the vast majority of United States citizens were united around the fact that they all had a common enemy: Hitler.

This created the perfect opportunity for this car sharing propaganda because it provides something for everyone to rally around. This creates a task that the average person can do, yet still help the entire country fight such an immense threat. People jumped at the idea of doing something bigger than themselves. If this ad or an ad similar to this one had been proposed at a different time, it almost certainly would’ve been far less successful. Yet, this newfound hatred for Hitler provided the opportunity for the government to take advantage with kairos in order to get what they wanted from the American public.

This piece of propaganda had the sole intention of preserving gas to be used by the military in the war, but the kairos for this particular time frame was very strong, and could be used to persuade people very well. Wars provide a very strong kairos because the whole country is fighting for one goal, even if they aren’t physically fighting, they all try to do their own part.

Commonplace

Posted on by mpc5729

This poster was created during World War II. It depicts what seems to be a very outlandish statement, but was actually created to serve a very specific purpose. The poster asks those that view it to “Join a car sharing club today.” It also states that “When you ride alone you ride with Hitler.” At first glance this seems ridiculous, but its purpose was actually for citizens to conserve gas so that it could be used for the war. By car sharing, people drove their own cars less often and therefore used less gasoline. If a substantial amount of people chose to listen to this poster and join a car sharing club, there would likely be a substantial difference in the abundance of gasoline in the United States. This would obviously be of much help to the United States armed forces, and give us a higher chance of winning the war. By using such a negative image as Hitler, it motivates people to do their civic duty by helping their country better fight the war essentially against Hitler. Even normal people that would normally never be able to have an affect on such important issues as a World War could now do their part to help their country. People had such a profound sense of hatred toward Hitler and communism that the government recognized this and cleverly chose to use this passion to get as much help from the American people as they could. The government didn’t have to convince citizens to dislike Hitler, that had already been done for them. They simply had to take advantage of that and use it in a positive way. I believe this was done successfully, and this propaganda poster was a good method of both uniting the United States citizens while also helping conserve resources for the war.