The Power Of Pathos

Behold the power of Pathos with this commercial from a few years ago. It's pretty short just take a few notes about the different emotions you feel when watching it for discussion Friday.
~Sam and Tahanee

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bX5k_BV8y-0

Pathos and Art

Who said rhetoric is all about speech? Art is a powerful visual display of rhetoric. The UIC college of architecture and art is having an exhibition from now through June (!?) titled "Patho-geographies (or, other people's baggage)" - it's a series of lectures, gallery shows, screenings, etc. If you don't know where to go for your community happening, this is always a choice:
http://wall.aa.uic.edu:62730/pub/new/colNewsEvents.asp?pageParameters=colNewsEvents&storyID=922&focus=new
It's only a minute walk away from campus.

Helping People Persuade Themselves

In an interview titled, “ On the European conquest of most of the world” Noam Chomsky, a world-renowned political thinker and activist, shines some light on his great demand as a public speaker and his attributions to this persuasion: “ As you know from having heard me speak, I’m not a particularly charismatic speaker, and if I had the capacity to do so I wouldn’t use it. I’m really not interested in persuading people. I don’t want to and I try to make this point obvious. What I’d like to do is help people persuade themselves. I tell them what I think, and obviously I hope they’ll persuade themselves that that’s true. But I’d rather have them persuade themselves of what they think is true. I think there are a lot of analytical perspectives, just straight information that people are not presented with. The only thing I would like to be able to contribute is that. I think by and large audiences recognize that. I think the reason people come is because that’s what they want to hear. There are many people around the country, all sorts of people, who feel that they simply do not have access to an awful lot of information, analysis, interpretation, that is relevant to understanding the world, and I think it’s a very healthy reaction to try to gain such access.” Bravo Chomsky, you certainly are using your ethos to persuasive uses. Chomsky is arguably the most important intellectual alive, and therefore, anything he say's about anything requires the public to pay attention. The pic is none other than 'El Presidente of Venezuela' Hugo Chavez holding what the world should be reading, Chomsky's: "Hegemony Or Survival America's Quest For Global Dominance".

visit to see Chavez on Chomsky here on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6WX64O8S1U

The Fundamental Activist

I thought it would be a good idea to differentiate what we as a class think is the difference between fundamentalists and activists. I’ve been attempting to draw the line somewhere, and as a society we generally see activism in a positive light and fundamentalism in a negative light. Where can we draw the line? Is one better than the other, or “more right” than the other? How can we establish if a person is being a fundamentalist or an activist?

Wikipedia says that “fundamentalism is a movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles” while activism “can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversial argument”

However, when we talked about activism in class, we had a much broader description.

Do you guys agree with wikipedia? I understand that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive but then what makes them different? Can a fundamentalist be and activist or vice versa? Furthermore do you think that it is even important to make this distinction?

The Pursuit of Emptiness

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.
- Chuang-Tzu (350 B.C.)

"Chuang-Tzu had it right. No more need be said. But such is human nature that the more succinctly we state the truth, the better we become at ignoring it."

Full Article

Also, the obligatory GO BEARS!

ethical guidelines - how we'll behave.

this list will probably evolve somewhat but, for now, our classroom rules stand as follows:

1. no interrupting - let your classmates speak!

2. no hand raising necessary - once you're certain someone has gotten her or his idea out, feel free to respond. caroline will still moderate the conversation somewhat to ensure that everyone (even the shy folks) gets a chance to speak.

3. once a debate has hit an obvious impasse, agree to disagree. this does NOT mean that we won't engage in productive dialogue that gets us somewhere. it does mean that we won't waste half of class with two people saying, "YES!" "NO!" "YES!" "NO!" "YES!" "NO!"

4. remember that argument does not equal character. just because someone's ideas seem stupid, odd, whatever to you, you can (and should) still treat that person with respect.

5. when we see each other outside of class we will acknowledge each other in some kind way - a simple hello, secret sign, high five for justin, etc.

Banana RhePublic

Personally, I'm not much of an activist. I spend more time in a lab blowing things up than out in a public gathering, so this community happening thing is going to be pretty new to me.
This brings to me the question of what effectively count as Community Happening? If bible study is a rhetoric gathering, does going to buddhist temple on sundays to listen to sermons count (it's not necessarily an interactive experience, but the head monk talks about some interesting stuff)? What about a seminar about new technologies in Chemical Engineering? Do I have to speak up and debate in these events? Does this event have to pertain to specific interest groups (i.e. People Against Meat, UIC Anime Fan Club, Bible Studies) ?
I wish to clearify this issue early on so I don't have to 'force' myself to join .... let's say... People Against Meat.... when I'm going to go back home and grill myself a korean bbq for dinner. Is this a serious thing or is any voluntary gathering ok?

Extremist Rhetoric v Guerilla Rhetoric:

Not to long ago, Dr. Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture at UIC titled, “The Lure of Extreme Rhetoric”. Dr. Gutmann examined the increasing allure of extremist rhetoric in public discourse and its perils for democracy. She identified some of the features of extremist rhetoric and explored responses that are often avoided by the either/or polarization of our culture. Extreme rhetoric, according to Gutmann, is characterized by single-mindedness on any issue coupled with an expression of this attitude that does not submit itself to public debate, thereby creating the perception of a single-minded certainty. Extreme rhetoric exists in a vast array of secular and religious varieties, Gutmann said. The question of, “how to educate the use extremist rhetoric?” provided a glimpse of the transitional nature of the discourse. The fact that education reinforces a belief system and camaraderie through the use of language requires that extremist rhetoric seek comfort in those that eschew her beliefs. Gutmann attributed the alluring quality of extreme rhetoric to the ease with which one-dimensional beliefs are adopted. She also mentioned the tendency of most people to seek "comrades in rhetoric" and to find comfort in the like-minded or those that reinforce their beliefs. Extreme rhetoric presents potential dangers to constitutional democracy because it "blatantly disregards truthful understanding" of any other opinion, "demonizes political opponents and associates the like-minded in a way that degenerates and degrades all others," Gutmann said. In order to de-construct the construction of modern education we need to advocate for what Gutmann called, “engaged pluralism.” She emphasized the importance of "engaged pluralism," which she described as based on a set of practical standards, including mutual respect and a principled search for common ground.
There is a need for institutions to promote pluralism, especially by "catering to the complexities that people have in their lives," she said. Higher educational institutions in particular should "cultivate reasoned argument and openness," she added. A prospective future for a reformation in the educational institutions must promote pluralism on one hand and a demand for the reframing of single-minded certainty. How this affects gurilla-rhetoric is yet to be examined...nevertheless, you should vist my blog/web page at: www.findingfoucault.blogspot.com
I posted some cool stuff, feel free to leave your comments and thoughts.



Neptali

hi class!

it was a pleasure meeting you all in class today. thanks for sharing yourselves and your interests. feel free to post a comment to this post or to start your own post. also, don't miss tahanee's comment below.

see you friday!