Before this class I had a vague idea of what rhetoric was. I knew that it was the art of speaking in such a way that you would convince the argument of your point. But the actual application of it eluded me. In fact, one of the things I had hoped to gain from this class was better public speaking ability. I think one of the ways through which this class helped me do that was through our analysis of what rhetoric actually is. Once you understand what something is you can apply it much more effectively.
One of the things I never quite connected before this class was how similar rhetoric is to propaganda. It always seemed to me that propaganda was much more base while rhetoric was more sophisticated. While this may be true to some extent, I didn’t realize to what extent propaganda actually uses rhetoric. I think that approaching my speeches and arguments almost as if they were propaganda and trying to sell the listener/reader on my point makes them much stronger.
As far as civic life goes, I didn’t really even know it was a term before this class. At the start of the semester I didn’t even know what the “Civic Life” part of “Rhetoric and Civic life” really entailed. But it appears that you can’t really talk about one without talking about the other because of how connected they are. Most times it seems that rhetoric is actually being used to change how people approach civic life. For example, politicians use rhetoric to convince their constituents on how to vote. Prior to Rcl I did not grasp this connection, which in hindsight I realize is a very important one and is maybe the single most important thing I learned in the class. By realizing the connection between rhetoric and propaganda and then learning the connection between rhetoric and civic life, I am prompted to look much more critically at what public figures such as politicians tell me since it is now obvious that they are really just trying to sell us something. The skills gained in this class will allow me to glean far more from articles and speeches than I would ever have been able to prior.
I agree with your statement that rhetoric very similar to propaganda, I feel as though many corporations often utilize certain rhetorical techniques to further their propaganda. I am also glad that you are now able to delve deeper into politicians messages as this is probably going to be a very useful skill for the future.
After reading others’ RCL blogs, it seems to be a common theme that we weren’t sure what civic life really meant before this semester started. I really like the way you explain the relationship between civic life and rhetoric.
Also, I’m glad you were able to improve in your public speaking ability.
Hopefully we will continue to learn more next semester!
I like how you talked about how this class made you more aware of the rhetoric in politics because I found this to be the case for me too. It is always good to be aware of the type of information that we are being fed, and I agree that this class helped with this.