The Evolution of Rhetoric: What Does Rhetoric Mean to Us Today?

Change happens constantly in our society, whether we realize it or not. Changes in the way we think, the way we act, and modifications to our viewpoints can all occur over thousands of years or even in a matter of days. The same can be said about the concept of rhetoric; it is an ever-changing topic that has grown and transformed into what it is today.

Recently in class, we learned about the roots of rhetoric, the reasons for its formation, and how rhetoric is evident in our daily lives during the 21st century. 

One of the major, distinguishable differences between ancient rhetoric and modern rhetoric is the way that factual evidence is viewed. Back in Athens in the fifth century BCE, arguments were usually generated from beliefs that the community held. Contrastingly, today, facts are a staple of any strong claim, while opinions are often dismissed and glossed over. 

Think of politicians and how people fact-check their speeches constantly to ensure that the candidate's arguments are factual and true. Without these facts backing up their arguments, would you still believe them?  Their argument is certainly enhanced by the addition of facts to their claim, contributing positively to both their logos and ethos. 

Now envision a disagreement between you and your best friend over what ice cream flavor is the most popular at Ben & Jerry's. Your friend thinks that Vanilla Caramel Fudge is the best flavor, and they know many other people that like this flavor the best. They're taking the community beliefs of many to form them into an opinion about the most popular ice cream flavor. But you, on the other hand, look up the most popular flavor online and find it to be The Tonight Dough. You backed up your claim with the factual evidence that you have from Ben & Jerry's website. 

An outsider who doesn't know much about the topic would probably believe the person with factual evidence more. Whenever facts can be used, they should be used to enhance your argument and make it more trustworthy.

An additional aspect of rhetoric that was used back when rhetoric was first invented but has since fizzled out of practice is the use of proper listening skills. Today, discussions are frequently interrupted by impatient people that cannot wait their turn to speak and do not listen carefully to what their counterpart has to say. 

Congressman Joe Wilson is an excellent example of this when he yelled "you lie" during one of President Obama's speeches. He should have rhetorically engaged in Obama's speech better by listening and then responding with his opinions only when the time and place was appropriate. Similarly, we need to ensure that we hear all of the different perspectives that are being presented before we jump to a conclusion and interrupt another person.

Due to rhetoric's constantly changing nature, we need to adapt to the way our current society views rhetoric. This can be achieved by using factual evidence whenever we have the opportunity to do so and by listening attentively and only responding when the place and time are fitting. 

Often times we don't realize that we're practicing good rhetoric behaviors, but, over time, these behaviors will turn into habits. I believe that by adhering to these new ideas of what rhetoric is, we can become better rhetors and be more persuasive in our arguments. 

Bringing a Country Together: How J.J. Watt Helped Millions

J.J. Watt handing out supplies - Credit: USA Today

The last time a major hurricane (category three or higher) made landfall in the United States was all the way back in 2005 when hurricanes Dennis, Wilma, Katrina, and Rita all caused extensive damage to Florida and Louisiana. It has been a record setting 12-year break before the next major hurricane made landfall in the United States: Hurricane Harvey, just three weeks ago.

The extent of the flooding in Houston
Credit: Tri-State Weather

Hurricane Harvey developed in the western Gulf of Mexico in a matter of days, and set its sights on the United States' fourth largest city: Houston, Texas. Although Harvey made landfall about 150 miles southwest of Houston, some of the worst impacts of the storm were felt in the Houston metropolitan area, where places received upwards of 50 inches of rain in a matter of only five days. The flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey was catastrophic to the people of Houston, leaving millions without homes and stranded in shelters.

Any time that a natural disaster of this magnitude occurs, it is vital that others provide assistance to those impacted and help them to restore their lives back to normal. Often times you'll see national news stations give information as to how people can donate money to the Red Cross or other organizations that will provide aid for the victims of the natural disaster. 

Houston Texans' J.J. Watt
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

But after Hurricane Harvey, starting defensive end for the Houston Texans, J.J. Watt, wanted to make an impact in his own way.

J.J. Watt started a crowdfunding campaign on youcaring.com shortly after Hurricane Harvey devastated the coast of Texas, and its monetary amount and popularity grew exponentially. Famous actors and well-known athletes contributed to Watt's relief fund, helping to bring its total-to-date to over $32 million, obliterating Watt's initial goal of $200,000. To no surprise, Watt's relief fund is now the fastest growing, largest crowdfunding charitable fundraiser in the ten-year history of crowdfunding.

Therefore, I am selecting J.J. Watt's Hurricane Harvey relief fund as my artifact, and I would most likely use some of the above facts and talking points to form a hook for my speech. Some talking points that might emerge in my speech could be how J.J. Watt made this crowdfunding campaign go viral and why so many people gave money to this relief fund.

These talking points will allow me to discuss how J.J. Watt used the principles of rhetoric to convince famous athletes, celebrities, and the entire United States population to donate to his relief fund. These points will also allow me to talk about how Watt's crowdfunding campaign invited the general public to be civic and help those impacted by Hurricane Harvey by donating money. 

I believe that this artifact will allow me to develop a well-crafted speech that will be engaging for the audience to listen to.

A World of Weather vs. Sports News Now

Choosing a topic to write about for my passion blog has been difficult, but not in the way that you may think.

Many people struggle with coming up with ideas in the first place. But for me, it was the complete opposite.

A jumble of ideas wandered through my mind, and I could envision each one of these ideas turning into an amazing and successful passion blog. For me, the difficulty was narrowing down my ideas from dozens to just two. I don't know if that's because of my wide variety of interests or if it's just because I enjoy researching and writing about things that I like. In any case, here are the two passion blog topics that I'm most interested in writing about over the course of this semester:

Hurricane Isabel - Credit: NASA  

As a meteorology major, I obviously love the weather - some may call me a "weather weenie." I've wanted to become a meteorologist since I was seven, so I've been fascinated by severe weather events and about weather predictions for a long time.

Credit: NOAA Photo Library

It's also clear that the weather changes constantly. Everyone probably checks the weather at least once a day, for instance, to see what to wear that day, if it's a good idea to bring an umbrella with them, or if classes will be canceled because of snow. Weather impacts our daily lives, and something interesting is happening with the weather every day.

GOES Floater Rainbow IR (Irma) -
Credit: Wiki Commons

Take the past few weeks for example. We've seen the strongest hurricane to make landfall since 2005 destroy the Texas coast and we have another monster hurricane ready to strike Florida over the weekend. The weather headlines never stop, so I believe that "A World of Weather" would be a great passion blog for me to write about.

I'm also a huge sports fan in my free time, paying particular attention to baseball, football, college football, hockey, and college basketball. Similar to the weather, there's always some new major development in the sports world on a daily basis.

Credit: Annemarie Mountz

Whether it's players getting injured, an impressive performance by a particular athlete, or even an upset that no one saw coming, there will always be something new and interesting to talk about in the world of sports. This semester encompasses the MLB playoffs and a good majority of both the college football and NFL regular seasons, which would ensure that I would have plenty to write about in my blog "Sports News Now."

Now I must narrow my ideas down even further: from two to one. And this will be the most difficult decision yet.