Description: RCL Blog

Rhetoric & Civic Life Blog (RCL Blog)

This blog, titled “Rhetoric and Civic Life,” or “RCL,” will relate to our course content and demonstrate that you are thinking about and applying the lessons, principles, terms, and strategies we are learning in class. In this blog, you will be an observer of the rhetoric surrounding you, identifying how it is used (well, poorly, interestingly, etc.) and analyzing its impact on civic discourse.  I may assign you specific blog topics for some weeks, but you may also be asked to find your own topics for analysis. For instance, you might identify how pathos is used in a dog food commercial or discuss commonplaces you identify in the health reform debate (ex: government-run programs are inefficient). You might notice ironies in public discourse. Or you might comment on the rhetorical tactics or fallacious reasoning exposed on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. You might identify particular flaws or strengths in delivery for a speech. You might compare two news stories presented by different media outlets. Or you may analyze any number of letters, speeches, statements, and press releases published in the wake ofPennState’s recent scandal. Your blog entries need not be media driven. You might notice things on campus or in conversation with your friends and family. You could identify fallacies or consider how ideologies function. You might follow up a class conversation or discussion in our textbook, amplify a point with an additional example, or disagree with a particular premise. This blog will serve as a registry of rhetoric and how it is working in civic life. While your other two blogs might benefit from postings of video, images, and text, this blog particularly lends itself to a rich multi-media presentation and analysis.  While I will suggest possible topics for each week, I want you to be on the lookout for how rhetoric is practiced in civic life. After all, that is one of the major goals of the course!