Source: Everything Really is Political
Politics. In today’s society, this simple word is so commonly avoided, as political discussion is often considered rude and inappropriate at the dinner table, around new people, and in many different forms of social gatherings.
But why?
Well, a person’s political views are typically very personal, built upon their values, ideals, and experiences in life. Due to this, political beliefs are often deeply tied to emotion, and many people have lost relationships with others due to opposing political views. It can actually be extremely difficult to resolve any form of political debate, as people are very stubborn when it comes to these beliefs.
According to an interview from On the Media, Brendan Nyhan, a professor at Dartmouth College, discusses how even undeniable truth and facts can rarely change a person’s political opinion. Nyhan explains that it is challenging for people to admit they are wrong when these beliefs are so deeply rooted in their identity (Nyhan 2016).
While we can understand why political beliefs are controversial, it is even more important to explore how we can improve the current climate surrounding political discussion. After all, politics do pertain to almost every aspect of life, and productive discussion about them is absolutely necessary if we want to improve society and our future. One model we could look at is rhetoric, just in a different way than you may have expected.
Although many people think of rhetoric as the art of persuasion, it is actually so much more than that. According to Michele Kennerly’s chapter “Trust,” rhetoric refers to the trust we establish among friends, families, speakers, and our communities in almost any form of communication. One form of rhetoric, pathos, is typically viewed as the use of emotion to strengthen an argument (Kennerly). However, pathos is used in much more than just arguments, as it is the idea that shared human emotions and experiences can build trust between people.
Pathos is present in many different forms throughout daily life, often in more subtle ways than we may expect. For instance, pathos is when a professor gains trust from their students by sharing more about their personal life; as students start to see the professor as a person who experiences the same human emotions as themselves, students can build trust with that professor and buy into their class.
Since pathos is a form of building trust and empathy through shared emotions, maybe this could be applied in political situations. As previously discussed, facts are often not enough to change a person’s mind. However, maybe the focus of political discussions needs to shift; instead of trying to convince other people of our own political opinions, we should focus on sharing and hearing the experiences of other people. By learning about other people’s experiences and emotions dealing with certain policies, we can better create informed holistic views of policies and laws. In this way, pathos can be a tool to create a more inclusive and understanding political environment, encouraging political discussion rather than silencing it.
Sources:
Garfield, Bob, and Brooke Gladstone. “The Mechanism of Blind Belief.” On the Media, 8 July 2016,
https://doi.org/https://www.wnyc.org/story/mechanism-blind-belief1/.
Kennerly, Michele. “Trust.” , sites.psu.edu/caskeywords/2022/06/25/trust/.
Ter Burg, Sebastian. Everything Really is Political. . creativecommons.org/2017/05/19/everything-really-political/.