What I've Learned From Modern Rhetoric 692

What have I learned about rhetoric? Well, for starters, I learned what rhetoric is!!! I had heard the word used many times in my English classes, especially in my AP English class in high school, I think; but I never cared to figure out what it meant. I have learned that rhetoric is VERY political. For me, someone who knows NADA about politics, the class became a wealth of information concerning what was happening in the world today and how our leaders are conveying the information to us.

I’ve learned that rhetoric is not only what you say, but how you are saying it. Timing is everything! Audience should be considered every time you make a speech. If you aren’t speaking at a time when the issue at hand is being debated you aren’t going to make as much as an impression. Also, if you aren’t considering who your audience is, whether or not they are educated, whether or not they might agree or disagree with you to begin with, where they come from, how you might identify with them, how you can make them sympathize or even empathize with what you are speaking about, the speech will not be as effective.

While many of the readings, I have to say, were too philosophical for my taste (in other words, I couldn’t understand most of them) I did get the main points about organization and techniques to use in speeches to make them effective….(That’s what I was supposed to get out of them, correct? J)

How will I use what I learned from this class so far in the real world? I can most definitely say that I WILL CERTAINLY remember to include logos, pathos, and ethos in any formal speeches I give in my professional career. I will also, unavoidably, analyze our political leaders’ speeches in ways I never did before. I will certainly be aware of the rhetoric that comes in advertising and the media, thanks to many of the presentations. I think I will be able to apply what I learned about rhetoric to situations I never considered before, even through most of the beginning of the semester. When I came into the multimedia presentation project, I was searching for speeches, and only speeches. That’s what I though rhetoric was because of the way we learned about rhetoric in the beginning. Now I am aware that rhetoric, like people, comes in all shapes and sizes (and forms). It is out there everywhere, in commercials, in books, on billboards, in magazines, on the radio in songs….EVERYWHERE. Where before, I avoided learning what it meant, now it is impossible to avoid recognizing it every day.