On the heels of the release of a summary of the Senate Committee Report on Torture, President Barack Obama held a press briefing where he admits the CIA used torture after the events of 9/11. It was significant that Obama used the word torture because that word has legal connotations. He pairs informal language with this severe topic — including the infamous phrase “we tortured some folks” — that leaves an unsettling impression on the audience. Obama avoids blaming any specific people, and instead uses the word ‘we’ to imply that the audience is the one that is responsible and needs to be accountable. Part of what makes his answer so unsettling is the type of speech he gave. Typically when discussing the legality of something, the speaker would use a forensic speech. However, Obama used rhetorical tactics that are more consistent with deliberative and apologia type of speeches. A Deliberative speech persuades their audience to a particular course of action for the future; it also assumes that the audience has a stake in the decision. An apologia is used when a scandal has occurred, and the speech aims to justify an action, so it viewed more favorably. It can also be used when the speaker is attempting to diminish the situation (Keith and Lundberg). By combining these two types of speeches, Obama leaves his audience feeling perplexed from this unexpected use of rhetorical devices.
Sources
Keith, William M., and Lundberg, Christian O. The Essential Guide to Rhetoric. , 2008. Print.
It is 1854, the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska act ignites new tensions between the North and the South. People are rushing to settle in these territories because there will be a vote on whether this will be a free or slave state. This came as a shock to the people in the North because they did not expect the Missouri compromise of 1820, an agreement that there would not be any slave territories above the latitude 36°30, would be repealed. With Kansas being voted as a Pro-slavery state with the first election held, and then voted a free state with the second election, violence ensued [1].
A lithograph by John L. Magee portraying Preston Brooks’ caning of Charles Sumner.
Violent clashes broke out between pro-slavery and antislavery forces, hence the nickname of Bleeding Kansas during this period. The violence over this issue spread to the United States Senate in 1856 when Senator Charles Sumner was beaten with a cane by Representative Preston Brooks. Sumner earlier gave an impassioned speech as to why Kansas should be a free state, even calling out democrats by name for “crimes against Kansas.” A few days later, when Sumner was at his desk, Brooks beat him into an unconscious, bloody mess [2].
In Kansas, the violent raids reached its boiling point. In 1856, a group of pro-slavery men raided Lawrence, an abolitionist stronghold, and burned the Free State Hotel and destroyed printing presses and homes. Four of John Brown’s sons were going to retaliate and asked their father to join them. Initially, he declined – he was 56 years old with a family to provide for – but was eventually persuaded when he received a note from his sons asking for weapons [3]. Brown believed he was chosen by God to end slavery and wanted to “strike terror in the hearts of the pro-slavery people” [4]. He was also deeply upset that no one in Lawrence had fought back against the pro-slavery raiders and about the attack on Sumner.
By John Steuart Curry. A mural currently in the Kansas State Capitol building. It is titled The Tragic Prelude and depicts Brown during Bleeding Kansas.
But just three days after the raid on Lawrence Brown and his small army rode into the small town of Pottawatomie Creek. In the middle of the night, the band, armed with broad swords, crept up to the pro-slavery cabins and executed five men for their involvement in threatening abolitionist and being slave hunters. While there are conflicting sources on this, it seems Brown did not kill anyone he just ordered who should be killed. They also did not kill indiscriminately. They interrogated the men to see if they had participated in any pro-slavery raids, and if they were satisfied with their answers they let them go [5].
The controversy of this event has extended into today. People raise moral objections to murder, and whether or not Brown was in his right to execute people. The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre was also the first massacre that occurred as a result of slavery and free state politics. Even in the raid on Lawrence, no one died. But, as I will talk about in my next blog, this was only the beginning of the death and destruction for Kansas — and for John Brown — as the country is pushed closer to civil war.
First, I would give the relevant context of my video such as explaining why Barack Obama held this press briefing in order for everyone to understand why it was an important event
I would play sections of this video of the parts I want to highlight since it is a long video. I will also put the quotes within a slide show when I am analyzing them.
“Even before I came into office I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values…”
“When we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques, techniques that I believe and I think any fair-minded person would believe were torture, we crossed a line. And that needs to be — that needs to be understood and accepted. And we have to, as a country, take responsibility for that so that, hopefully, we don’t do it again in the future…”
We Tortured some folks
Logos/ethos
Talk about the juxtaposition of a serious topic and informal language
It makes it have a comedic effect, while also downplaying how serious and extensive the torture program was
Common places of the word ‘Folks’
Folks is a very broad term, and offers no specifics as to who was tortured. It also lessens the seriousness of the subject when the informal language is used.
Folks is typically used in a positive or light hearted situation
Kairos
He gave this press briefing right before the senate was releasing the declassified report on torture to the public for the first time.
He’s using this time to not place specific blame on anyone or any groups of people, but it does beg the question, what does he mean by “we”? Obama did not torture anyone, nor was his administration apart of the program.
What’s the significance of ‘we’ then?
Commonplace of what it means when he says ‘We’
By using the word We many times within his answer he is not putting the blame on anyone specific. He never mentions anything about legal action, seems his response is to admit to wrongdoing and then move on, but he proposes no actionable steps for making amends or trying to rectify past mistakes, just to not commit future torture events
Also he is trying to invoke the ethos that we all had some part in this. This reinforces how he is trying to use this kairos moment to
“we have to, as a country, take responsibility for that so that, hopefully, we don’t do it again in the future”
common places
as a democracy, we all are responsible for what the government has done but also what will happen in the future
Civic engagement
The message of this artifact is that “we” made a mistake, we must recognize that, and then move on and try to be better.
I This message is not a new thing to hear. I heard teachers and administrators say this many times just at my time here at Penn State. This is a unique situation because people are being asked to take responsibility for something they did not do. However, Obama is speaking about the future and not letting this happen again, and he believes it is crucial for people to feel a responsibility to make the right decisions when electing leaders.
Often times people use the excuse of “oh well, it was just different back then” or “times were different” to excuse behavior that we deem now to be unacceptable. However, I believe John Brown challenges that notion. He lived in times when Black people were viewed as lower to White people, even people who thought slavery was wrong! For example, White abolitionists thought Black people were not ready to be citizens and believed in segregation. Yet despite these constant racist ideas around him, Brown also held the belief of equality between all people, regardless of race. He wrote a provisonal constitution for a new state where citizenship would be open to all persons, regardless of race, and both men and women of all races could carry arms [1]. At the time these were radical ideas, not just in for racial equality but also gender equality.
I do not want to paint Brown as a saint, he did hold racist beliefs which I will discuss in depth in later blogs. However, my point in highlighting this is to say that people always have a choice, and can choose to act in favor of equality or to act in a way that makes them comfortable. This applies to people in the 1800s, 1900s, and today. I think Brown did everything in his power, including sacrificing the lives of his family and himself, to end slavery and to create a more just world.
Source: National Portrait Gallery. 1847 daguerreotype taken by Augustus Washington.
Not only did Brown preach equality, he practiced it too. The picture to the left depicts Brown holding a flag and raising his right hand, but what makes this daguerreotype significant was the person who took it. Augustus Washington was the son of a former slave, who was attending Dartmouth College when he took this daguerreotype in 1847. He was one of the few prominent Black photographers in the 1800s and produce the first and most famous image of John Brown [2].
This image is famous for how it portrays Browns intensity and passion for the abolition of slavery. The raising of the hand implies he is pledging his life to end slavery. He is also holding onto a flag that represents the militant Underground Railroad Brown was trying to establish called the “Subterranean Pass Way” [3]. In essence, Brown was planning to build a pathway through the Appalachian Mountains into the south, for the purpose of allowing Slaves to flee to the North. However, this plan never came to fruition or does show the amount of planning Brown was undertaking for his raid on Harpers Ferry [4]. In my next blog, I will discuss the start of Brown’s violent assault against slavery.
This phrase is arguably one of the most famous lines ever spoken in American history. These words are so memorable because it marks the moment when Joseph Welch stands up to bully, Joseph McCarthy. Joseph McCarthy became famous during the Cold War with Russia for accusing people in the State Department for having ties to communism or being communist spies, most of the time without any sufficient evidence for his claims. He used the public fears of communism and nuclear war with Russia to gain notoriety. Many politicians even feared to criticize him because they did not want to suffer political ramifications. However, during the televised Army-McCarthy hearing, McCarthy was losing his popularity among the public. He looked like a bully and came off as disrespectful to the viewers watching at home. McCarthy tried to assassinate the character of Fred Fisher, a lawyer employed by Welch’s firm, by calling out his past connection with the supposedly communist National Lawyer Guild. Welch decided he had enough of McCarthy reckless antics and to stood up to him. This was the perfect time to do so because support for McCarthy was declining: He was portraying himself as a bully on national television, and this instance showed McCarthy had a lack of respect for the proper etiquette for a hearing. Welch used the commonplace that there is a certain level of respect and dignity you conduct yourself with as a state official. He pointed out that by McCarthy exposing Fisher on national television without Fisher even being there to defend himself, or even mentioning beforehand he was going to do this, he violated common decency. People broke out into applause after Welch called out McCarthy. Had Welch done this at any other time, it is doubtful it would have been as memorable or celebrated; he used Kairos to his utmost advantage. He also used the commonplace that the person who stands up to a bully has the moral high ground to his advantage.
The figure of John Brown has been wrapped in controversy since the early 1800s, with some calling him a traitor and others an American Hero. However, before jumping straight into that, we have to first cover some background information on John Brown. He was born in Torrington, Connecticut on May 9th, 1800. I could go on about all his siblings and parents, but the most important thing you understand about John Brown and his upbringing is how deeply religious he and his family was. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you do not separate John Brown from his religious points of view. He left home at 16 years old to go to a preparatory school to become a minister, but the money dried up and he claimed that he had eyes sores, so he could not read. A classic trope in John Brown’s life is the fact there was never enough money to go around.
John Brown Farm, Tannery Museum. Source: By Nyttend
Like many religious people in the North, John Brown held deep contempt for slavery since he was a boy. His father Owen Brown moved them to Hudson, Ohio and used their family home and farm as a place to help fugitive slaves in the early 1800s. John Brown followed his father footsteps and in 1825, with his wife and first son, moved to Guy Mills, PA in 1825. He bought a nearly 200-acre farm and built a tannery there as well, but this also became a key spot in the underground railroad. John Brown and his family helped nearly 2,500 fugitive slaves on this site over the course of the ten years that his family was there. Unfortunately, John Brown and his family took a turn for the worst in the 1830s. John Brown’s 4-year-old son, Frederick, died in 1831, with his first wife and newborn son following nearly a year after. John Brown also became ill and his financials suffered greatly. With his first wife, Dianthe Lusk, they had seven children with three dying in infancy. In 1833, John Brown married 16-year-old Mary Ann Day and together they had 13 more children. However, nine of their children died before John Brown’s death in 1859. Their deaths ranged from dysentery, accidental scalding, and gunshot wounds. John Brown was described as a very caring father. His first wife battled with mental illness her whole life and John Brown would care for her throughout her battles.
Mary Ann Brown with Annie (left) and Sarah (right) about 1851. Source: Library of Congress
John Brown also had to move his family across many states to start a variety of businesses in agriculture and tannery, but most of them failed and ended John Brown in more debt. He had to declare bankruptcy in 1849, had over 20 lawsuits against him and was even jailed for occupying property that was seized from him. I tell you all about his personal loss and financial ruin because you need to understand that John Brown had almost nothing. If you do not understand this, then you will not be able to understand why he committed his entire life, and his family lives, to the abolition of slavery. He was so depressed that the only thing he had to live for was this cause.
For more information about John Brown’s early life check out the links below.
For the past two years, I have to admit I have been obsessed with the radical abolitionist John Brown. If you do not believe me, I will be happy to show you my dorm room with all of my John Brown merch. If you are unfamiliar with him, have no fear! Over the next ten weeks, I will write extensively about his life, impact on the abolition of slavery, and his legacy. John Brown interacted with many other historical figures, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, that there is no shortage of information I can write about. To make this retelling of John Brown’s life unique, I will connect his activism with activism today, and focus on telling the often forgotten stories of history. John Brown and I share a lot of the same ideologies, and the most prominent example would be our shared disdain with the influence of money in our political system. Also, I will entitle this blog ‘1000 Spears’ in reference to the 1000 spears John Brown ordered for his planned slave revolt. I have an outline prepared for ideas for the next ten blogs (this is not definitive, but I wanted to show that I will have plenty of material to write about!):
Introduction to John Brown and his early life
An overview of John Brown’s family, religious belief, and his multiple failed businesses
The Turning point in John Browns life
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre and the freeing of 11 slaves
John Brown interactions with his roommate Frederick Douglass and his attempt to recruit Harriet Tubman
The Raid on Harpers Ferry and how it kick-started the civil war
John Browns hanging
The controversial legacy of John Brown
John Brown influence on Pop culture
Has anything changed?
Political expediency- From Abe Lincoln to Donald Trump
The Trials and Tribulations of a Dysgraphic College Freshman
My second idea of for my passion blog is not as riveting, but something I am interested in. It would be a blog about how college is like for students with learning disabilities. I have dysgraphia, which means I struggle with written expression, grammar, spelling, I have illegible handwriting, and I read slower than the average student. In the first couple of blog posts, I will explain what dysgraphia is and how it has affected me. Then I would focus on what it is like to be in college with a learning disability. I also want to focus on how our educational system as a whole can improve on becoming more aware, equitable, inclusive to people with learning disabilities.
During a press briefing in August of 2014, President Barack Obama answered a question on the United States’ role in torture after the events of 9/11. The attached video below is an excerpt from the end of that briefing.
In summary, President Obama admits that the CIA used torture as an interrogation technique after 9/11, but he also emphasizes that US citizens need to take collective responsibility for the CIA use of torture. At the time, it was significant that the President admitted that the CIA used torture techniques, as opposed to saying enhanced interrogation methods. Torture is a war crime and is illegal, so it opened up the avenue for potential legal action. However, he used peculiar phrasing when he admitted that the CIA used torture: ” …even before I came into office I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks” (We Tortured Some Folks). The word ‘folks’ has a disarming connotation associated with it, and it is nonspecific. By using the word “folks” as a substitute, for example, ‘innocent people’ he makes it seem like a far less severe crime then it is. He also uses it multiple times again to refer to unnamed officials in the government who committed these crimes, but at the same time are “real patriots” (We Tortured Some Folks). Still, this makes it seem like these were regular people committing these crimes and that it was an honest mistake. His use of ‘we’ throughout his answer imparts the idea that the blame does not lie with one group of people. Since we live in a democracy and everyone participates in electing officials, every person is in some way responsible for every action that takes place. This collective responsibility imparts importance to the people to make sure they are electing the right leaders so we can avoid any future instances of torture. By employing the commonplace that democracy requires shared responsibility, the best way to move forward is to admit that we all made a mistake.
Citations
RT. “‘We tortured some folks’ – Obama on CIA tactics after 9/11”, YouTube, 1 Aug. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIiyDiyUZ2w.
“We Tortured Some Folks.” C-span, National Cable Satellite Corporation, www.c-span.org/video/?c4537127/tortured-folks, 9 May 2015, www.c-span.org/video/?c4537127/tortured-folks. Accessed 3 Sept. 2019
