Political Speech: The Functions Of Politics And Politics

Demonstrative rhetoric is all about values, with a specific focus on the present, dealing with what is right and wrong, good or bad. It creates a good lens to focus on issues. As Aristotle wanted, political speech is deliberative, it deals with choices, the future, and telling the audience which choice in the future is to their advantage.

Politicians are the most persuasive people in the world. During an election, the most successful politicians are those who use Aristotle’s three appeals (Logos, Pathos, and Ethos) effectively. By not only establishing themselves with voters, but also appealing to voters’ emotional side and using evidence to support the effectiveness of their political platform. As a politician persuades voters, an author must similarly persuade their audience. For an author to persuade an audience, the author must use the three appeals effectively; in which, when observing the works of Nicholas Carr, Alexis Madrigal, and Rev. Billy Graham respectively, it is shown that all three authors use one of the appeals effectively.

How does the speakers' rhetoric evoke a reaction from the audience, in the speeches? Political speeches use rhetorical devices to persuade the reader to engage in their speech. "I have a dream” by Martin Luther King Jr, ESPY award speech by Jimmy Valvano, JFK's inaugural address, the Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln, 2009 inaugural address by Barack Obama are examples of political speeches that contain rhetoric. Throughout the speeches asyndeton, procatalepsis, allusion, antithesis, ethos, pathos, logo, repetition and parallelism are used.

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.

Based on Hedge’s iconic statement that “the most essential skill… is artifice”, one can infer that politicians use narrative as a strategy to increase their following. This causes controversy among the audience who may only decide their candidate through a subliminal message therefore empathizing with the candidate rather than voting based on their intellect and opinions. While it may seem as regular propaganda, it is a tool to deceive the viewer. Although it may be a compelling strategy, artifice creates a barrier between the politician and the audience making the politician unable to connect with his followers.

What is a discourse community? According to John Swales, a respected written communication analyst, a discourse community is described as a group of people that have the same goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals. In addition, “A discourse operates within conventions defined by communities, be they academic disciplines or social groups” (Swales, 119). This is not be confused with a speech community, “a community sharing knowledge of rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech” (Swales 121). In determining whether or not a group is a discourse community, there are several certain rules, rather a list of criteria, in which

Neil Postman makes a few connections to politics in Amusing Ourselves to Death previous to chapter nine. In chapter nine Postman really goes in depth on politics. More specifically, he focuses on discussing how politics and political discuss are affected by television as a medium. The main points that Postman brings up when explaining problems television creates for politics are all very similar. However through the use of details and examples Postman clearly demonstrates how television has changed politics in general, how the way we view politics has been changed by television, and how television makes politics less credible in general.

When determining what I should cover for the annotated bibliography, I knew I wanted to cover rhetoric with the political and public affairs arena. The ability to persuade the masses is truly an art itself. Because the political and public affairs arena is so broad, I narrowed my research down to reading and researching about the president’s rhetoric when campaigning, governing the public, and convincing the other branches of government. The power of rhetoric and the effective usage of it play a vital role in winning the elections, building a level of trust with the public, engaging in good public policies, and delivering on promises. It results from the candidate’s ability to know what to say, how to say it, when to say it, where to say it, and understanding the political environment of the time.

Political communication is a message designed for a mass audience with the objective of making an audience sympathetic to your position. Most political communication is done through mass media, which presents a unique challenge: making extremely impersonal communication through a screen seem personal. Successful, effective political communication utilizes classic rhetorical techniques in order to identify with the audience at hand and present a position.

Politicians and government institutions have been around for over thousands of years. Such organizations and public figures hold tremendous value to society and the individuals within those societies, usually exercising great influence in how local, state and federal government conduct business. Their role as political figures in a democracy is to represent the mass public in different issues, and in order to conveyconvince? their audience to support a particular matter they use various tools such as diction, tone, and appealing to one’s ethos, pathos, and logos. A series of variables (including audience, purpose, and situation) influence the approach a politician takes in order to communicate their ideas to the public. While Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump and Martin Luther King Jr. appeal to different audiences based on their purpose and the situation, they also share some similarities in how they carefully build their rhetoric. Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Martin Luther King Jr., carefully build their rhetoric differently from one another based on audience, situation, and purpose. Yet, they also share some similarities on the aspects they try to appeal to the public.

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.

SPECIFIC PURPOSE: By the end of my speech, my audience will know the history of Walt Disney, his invention of Disney World, and how his invention has impacted people.

In a world of politics, many politicians are involved in negative campaigns and as a result healthy conversation among politicians often lead to a disaster. With the endless political news cycles, rhetoric is essential for politicians to deliver their speeches. Therefore, in this essay, the style and delivery of Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention will be examined. It will be using the three main appeals of Aristotle’s mode of persuasion, the five essential rhetoric elements and the classical canons to analysed the speech and evaluate its effectiveness all of which will contribute to its persuasive power to leave a memorable impression in the minds of the audience.

In today’s age, the use of persuasive rhetoric is everywhere. The most recognized use of rhetoric today is through political propaganda. Politics are confusing to many people and disliked by many more. The reason for this is because politics are often misleading. “Political speaking urges us either to do or not do something: one of these two courses is always taken by private counselors, as well as by men who address

Another way to avoid awful political speech is to change our habits within society and increase our use of direct communication. This habit would especially help create good political speech because if citizens used direct communication more than it would influence political speech to be more clear and straightforward. When using direct communication people have no underlying intentions and simply get straight to the point. Thus, causing less confusion for people listening and coming across as candid and forthright. Likewise, political speech needs to be clear and straightforward so everyone understands it and can therefore draw their own thoughts and opinions about it. Stanley touches on the problems with language when he states “One reason speaking about deficits is hard is because of the entrenched language that is used to speak about the process” (Stanley 84). Think about it, if it is normal for people to use direct communication in their everyday lives than it is more likely to be used in formal settings as well. Currently, I think that having the ability to use very difficult vocabulary and write long and complicated sentences that go into formal writing are highly praised and valued. The people who can do this are recruited to write political speeches for politicians. If instead society praises the use of direct communication more, than that will reflect back into our formal spoken and written language as well. If we do this consistently enough society might change.