Rhetoric Essay, Research Paper
Rhetoric as a communal making of meaning versus a platform for demonstrating intellectual prowess of an individual through victory over an opponent, or even as a means to put an existing point across seems to be at least one theme in these articles. For us, as educators, this seems a distinction to be reckoned with. How do we teach an art? I don’t think I’m too far from these articles when I say that teaching rhetoric as an art versus a skill is the problem we face. After all, what we are really talking about is negotiation, aren’t we? When we explore ideas in an open forum what we’re doing is accepting a democratic situation. Today’s metaphor is that of cooking. We pool our individual thoughts, ideas, bits of knowledge, as ingredients to be tossed into a big pot of mulligan stew. Maybe I bring a carrot, Sabrina brings some grated ginger, Maggie some cactus juice, etc. Together these ingredients may taste awful, but that’s a matter of negotiation and individual choice. Here’s a problem. Depending on the situation and individual tastes, we may decide that all three ingredients taste great. Some of us may want to have our cactus juice on the side. Of course, mulligan stew is usually made under circumstances in which the cooks can’t afford to be so picky; we take what each person brings to the pot, toss it in and be thankful that our bellies are full. And that’s the point. I brought a carrot because that’s what I came up with. Maybe a nice leg of lamb would have been better, but the carrot is what I had. Forget the leg of lamb. Maybe next ti
Bibliography
anderson, kurt. “the age of unreason.”