September 22, 2008

Rhetoric is a newly defined term for me; however, it is in so much of everyday life that I am unsure how I failed to assign a proper name to it until now. There are three types of rhetoric: ethos, pathos, and logos. Not having studied rhetoric and with the limited information I received in class, it is still somewhat easy to point out where rhetoric is used in virtually everything I see and hear. Whether an advertisement focuses on the "I,” "we", and "us" of ethos to build credibility and greatness for the company or product, appeals to emotions through pathos, or gives a laundry list of logical data with logos that advertisement is persuading you. Rhetoric is present in more than just the obvious advertisements as well. A simple conversation with a friend will contain rhetoric. "I really know what I am doing because I have done this before and have a lot of experience. I was very good and everyone loved me.” If someone says those two sentences, they are dripping with ethos. I think of the "Save the Children" commercials where children in need of food, clothes, education, and health care surround a celebrity when I think of ethos. Visuals like that can really pull on the heartstrings and invoke strong emotion. A=B and B=C so A=C is an example of how someone might use logic to persuade with logos rhetoric. I am fascinated with this new knowledge and cannot stop trying to determine what type of rhetoric I am seeing, hearing, and using all the time. Aside from persuading someone else using rhetoric, it is important to understand how manipulation of you can occur with rhetoric.