Response to Presentations

I wanted to start off by saying that I think that everyone’s presentations have gone wonderfully up to this point. I really enjoy learning about rhetoric in every aspect of life. I guess that I really had not thought about how much of our lives are affected by rhetoric. I completely agree with what Dana had to say about how rhetoric could not not be part of our life. Whether we ever gave the idea a name or taught people how to perform the art, it would still exist in our lives. We would still have to use rhetoric in order to convey our thoughts, feelings, and ideas. This has really been shown in the presentations because even the scub of reality TV has to rely on rhetoric for their support. Now, I am not downing reality TV (I may watch a few of those shows); but they are not the most intellectual shows. At any rate, I really enjoyed what Kevin and Emily had to say about them and the way that rhetoric must be used to convey our feelings about the shows.
Also, I enjoyed the presentation on the rhetoric on news stations. I feel that it is very important for people to realize what sort of station they are tuned into. Many people are not aware of the biases that many stations carry and are apt to believe the way that their station portrays any situation. When people’s knowledge of the facts is biased, then it is absurd to believe that they can make an unbiased decision. I feel that in order to get the most information, one must watch several news stations and be open to the ideas expressed in each one, so that they may form their own opinions based on true facts.
I also really liked Melody and Dana’s presentation on the Holocaust. It was different from the others because I expect that there would be a great deal of rhetoric revolving around the Holocaust. I really enjoyed the clips of his actual speech and the way they showed his different types of rhetoric. All in all, I have really enjoyed the presentations and feel that I have learned a great deal about how rhetoric has entered into every aspect of our life.