On this and that...

First of all, I really wish that I could have gone to see the Guerilla Girls. If someone was able to go, I would love to hear what they had to say and what you thought about it.
Along with what someone already said, I find it interesting how almost everything involves rhetoric and what we have been learning in class. With the presentations we have seen in class so far (which have covered vast topics) and the other areas we have been looking at in class and out, makes me realize that rhetoric is really used in almost everything that we encounter. Listening to people argue over issues, whether formal or not, it is easy to see the different aspects and devices people use - maybe without them even realizing that they are doing it.
To revisit Weaver, I thought that he had interesting things to say (even though he may not have lived an interesting life). He brought up influences on rhetoric and rhetors mostly, that I had not even really thought of before reading about him. He brought in a sociological approach that could be applied in another way. His beleifs that people in a society create a universal standard and some form of ideal makes sense. We discussed a similar issue in class on Thursday when we addressed the "American dream." Because we each have our own idea of what that should be, it is easy to say that it is fairly attainable since we do not all measure success by the same means. The idea of people being shaped by this universal ideal and desire, made me start to think about how often I hear about the excuse that people are shaped by their environment. Many times the excuse it used that people (criminals) do things because of their surroundings and people they associate with. Are outside factors that influencial on us? This is kind of a tangent, but I thought it was an interesting idea after what we had discussed in class - from what we got from the reading.