Dehumanize The Power Of Language

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and has been used for ages in order to help persuade people into doing things and to believe things that they would not normally. It is often used in everyday communication and normal human interaction. Furthermore, the rhetorical lens has been used in a lot of different famous speeches like the JFK Berlin Address, Obama’s first Inaugural Address and even Gale Sayer’s Acceptance Address. All these different speeches were filled with many different tools in order to help persuade the audience of their intended viewpoint. In Gale Sayer’s acceptance address he uses his platform and different forms of rhetoric through the traditional lens to move the significance from him

Persuasion is key when trying to compel your audience to do or believe something. Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.

When examining the use of language in persuasion, the words that are used and how these words are used provide crucial information in understanding the desired goal or telos of the orator. In order to understand what words in a speech or text or why they are worth noticing relies on certain principles for choosing and categorizing those words (Fahnestock, 2011). In fields of rhetorical style, contemporary theorists have developed categories of word choice for textual analyses. Among the most prominent category has been the theory of ultimate terms. The ultimate term is one that acts as the “unifying principle” or central value that determines a hierarchy of terms and develops a system of relationships among the terms observed - in other words,

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force” according to Adolf Hitler, a master in rhetoric, who was able to sway the people of Germany into electing him as chancellor, and who was able to brain wash an army into creating the biggest mass genocide on the planet. This type of strategy is mimicked by Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Mark Antony’s extensive knowledge of rhetorical strategies, such as appeal to the emotions of the commoners, knowledge of topic and reputation, and syntactical devices eclipse Brutus’ reasoning for killing Julius Caesar and wins over the Roman commoners.

If a writer wanted to appeal to the audience, what would he have to do? He is going to have to utilize some rhetorical devices of course! Rhetorical devices are key in writing persuasion papers and just any paper that is meant to be read to an audience. In the Inauguration Speech of 1961 given by President John F. Kennedy, he was able to really connect with his audience that day by using lots of different rhetorical devices. By using chiasmus, anaphoras, and metaphors, JFK was able to effectively reach and persuade people to have faith in him despite his age and religion.

While it is common to hear about ‘migrants and refugees’, it is important to recognise that the two terms refer to very different groups of people. While both groups have effectively moved from one country to another, the circumstances leading up to that move are markedly different for each group.

Many successful people politicians, salesmen, even lawyers have mastered this tool. Rhetoric has assisted in the development of laws, complex societies, and codes. “Everyone of America’s founders studied rhetoric, and they used its principles in writing the Constitution”(Heinrichs Pg 4). An example of rhetoric being used correctly is a presidential candidate trying to persuade voters to vote for him. The goal the candidate is to “seduce” the voters into thinking that voting for him is the best option for the country.

Rhetoric can push users farther than the normal argument, and past the habits of the natural human mind. When one comes to understand the theory of words, argument and how opposition thinks, then can the situation fully be revolved for their favor and their future. Rhetoric is a valuable skill that should be taught in schools in order to assist in high school environments, and help prepare for a future in the workplace.

How does one obtain anything one has ever desired? Rhetorical appeals and persuasion use language to help one get what one wants. The three rhetorical appeals are logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos is the persuasion of an audience through logic and reasoning. Ethos is persuading an audience through the credibility of the author. Finally, pathos is the persuasion of an audience through the emotions of the audience. This paper will focus on how the creative use of language can be used not only for one’s personal gain, but to protect one from deception. This essay will only use evidence from Animal Farm by George Orwell, which is an allegory of Stalin’s rule and based off the events that happened during his rule. Animal Farm is a satirical book about animals taking control over a farm, but Napoleon and the other pigs are the forceful leaders. Napoleon is a pig whose only wishes are to get what he wants. To convince the other animals into doing what the pigs want, the pigs have to use persuasion through logos, ethos, and pathos.

In my study into the way rhetoric is used by politicians, specifically, J.F Kennedy, my attention will be focused on how language is used to control, persuade and influence.

By skillfully using rhetoric a speaker can persuade an audience to follow their beliefs by using emotions, logic and ethics. In the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, a group of men create a conspiracy to kill Caesar on March fifteenth and take control of Rome. They succeeded in killing Caesar by stabbing him and to justify their treason they say Caesar was a threat to Rome. On the other hand a man named Marc Antony, who was a close friend of Caesar, needs to persuade the romans that the treason unjust. Antony succeeds by making a powerful speech at Caesar’s funeral. As a skilled speaker he used uses rhetorical devices such as ethos which shows credibility or character, logos which shows a logical approach to the

Since the dawn of man the use of speech has been used to make others feel the same way as the speaker. For example Patrick Henry wrote the speech “Speech To The Virginia Convention” before the the Colonies break away from great Britain. He talked about the injustices done to the colonists and gave several reasons why the Colonies should go to war with Britain. In an attempt to persuade the delegates to vote in his favor. Another similar situation was when George W. Bush wrote the speech “President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat” where he tried to persuade congress to go to war with Iraq. These two persuasive speeches use similar Pathos, Logos, and Ethos Rhetoric.

Rhetoric is a course in which students are taught the values of persuasion. And yet, behind this course is the utmost power to corrupt the world, changing it into a world of our own policies. This power, even though seldom discussed, has lead to many intriguing discoveries. One such discovery is how people are able to shape the world they live in simply by choosing the right words. Therefore those who would want the world to be a better place must protect this power. If in the wrong hands this power could cause serious damage. Several authors have striven to protect rhetoric and its power. Few agree on the matter of defining rhetoric, but they know that they must protect rhetoric from dark souls. A single definition of rhetoric must maintain a simplistic nature while incorporating every aspect of rhetoric. However, I argue that rhetoric is a means of persuading audiences of a situation and a particular reality through language and personal appeal. In order to prove this definition I will discuss how rhetoric creates a situation, the shaping of a different reality, the audience, the use of language, and the personal appeal. Finally, I will demonstrate the absolute need for rhetoric.

To some speakers and writers, propaganda is an evil instrument. The negative approaches make a part of the world think that propagandists hoodwink the population, use half-truths, lie, conceal and distort facts. Although there are many pessimistic perspectives, there are others who have a positive view and think especially of techniques, slogans, catchwords and other devices. They prefer effective language, the rhetoric way, to persuade the audience (Pan, 2012).