A Return to Rhetoric
Rhetoric.
Such a dirty word. It conjures up of pencil mustachioed villains; side-show hustlers, cigar crunching, baby kissing politicians; well groomed business suit bosses; old white-haired Greeks in togas from ancient history; fire and brimstone preachers; and many, more negative images, all of whom leave a bad taste of people who manipulate others, their audiences, into working against their own best interest, and all in favor of the person on the podium.
People who are rhetorically skillful seem like swindling magicians, able to lie, conive and manipulate our words and thoughts with mere linguistic gymnastics.
It's time to claim the word Rhetoric back for the people!
This NPR article: https://www.michiganradio.org/post/rhetoric-postive-negative-or-both, provides a less flamboyant, but still negatively biased historical perspective, saying:
"'By the 17th century, we start to see some use where people are using ‘rhetoric’ to talk about sort of overblown speech, speech that is big words, but maybe not backed up...from there it gets more and more negative, and I think now you’ll hear people use it to talk about words that seem empty to them. It’s just rhetoric,' explains [Anne] Curzan [Professor of English at the University of Michigan]"
Rhetoric, by itself, is just a word. As a concept, it's a social tool, a tool that can be use for good or for evil. It's a word that's been demonized by association because we, as humans, tend to keep negative experiences in our heads much more readily than positive ones. No one goes around thinking, "Wow, that Tony Robbins just performed some amazing rhetorical action; I feel jazzed to get out and do something awesome!"
You don't think that. If you hear Tony Robbins, you go straight to being jazzed up. You don't give it any conscious thought that he, too, like all inspirational speakers, just manipulated your attitude. With rhetoric.
Rhetoric is not unique to charismatics like Tony Robbins, or Zig Ziglar, or John F. Kennedy. It's built into you, as a social creature. You can only be persuaded by rhetoric if you're biologically and linguistically inclined to being persuaded. On the flip side, that means you too can be persuasive. You too can be a slick talker. You too can be witty.
And I think it's important that all of us gain proficiency in this skill. Why? Because by learning how and why you are persuaded, and how and why you would persuade others, you become more mentally alert and nimble and more open minded. You fear less. And when two rhetoricians with good intent and integrity argue or negotiate, shit gets done. And it gets done to the benefit of all.
Rhetoric is not a word just to describe sleazebag talkers. It's a powerful skill that we all need to learn so that sleazebag talkers can no longer take advantage of us, and to top it off, we can all communicate more fluidly and positively with each other.
Let's work to have a return to the rhetoric of Aristotle's time. Just with a little more diversity than a bunch of old, white, Ancient Greeks.
Links: