Chapter 9 Discussion Question 3

A concept from Chapter 9 that I found interesting and also useful is rhetorical situations. Rhetorical situations are something that consists of three parts. The first part is exigence which is some sort of problem and the speaker chooses to speak about it because they feel that something is wrong and hope by speaking about it to make it right. The second piece is an audience that is addressed in order to try and convince them to take some sort of action or change their belief or attitude. The third is constraints which are the factors that control and shape the nature of communication. Current beliefs and values of the audience could be considered a constraint. Every rhetorical situation needs to have a fitting response that meets the demands of exigence, takes the audience into account and is sensitive to constraints. I think a good example would be the argument over Proposition 8. I believe that if two people are in love and want to get married they should be allowed to whether they are two males, a male and a female, or two females. It is their constitutional right. But then you have these crazy people bringing religion into it and using scare tactics. What happened to the separation of church and state? I could use the above argument to create a rhetorical situation.

Capone's Mom

Chapter 9 Discussion Question 2

I am going to use President Obama as my well known speaker. I think the new President of the United States is a very eloquent speaker which makes him really stand out. I did not find President Bush to be a good speaker. He seemed to make up his own words and did not come off as polished when he spoke. President Obama’s strongest characteristics as a speaker are his ability to communicate a message in a clear and precise manor. He comes off as well educated and versed in his speaking. He also makes a tremendous amount of sense which I found our past President did not. I think it is credibility, attractiveness and power as a package that make him come off as such an all around good speaker. I am not sure if I would be giving him such praise if I didn’t feel so poorly towards our last President. But our last President has sure made our new President shine like a gem. I actually think he is building ethos in the above three area’s because we see him as a father, husband, leader, and overall someone we can trust to reshape our future in a positive way. The American people have put a lot of trust in him and I think it is because of his ethos that we expect so much back in return.

Chapter 9 Discussion Question 1

I have been influenced by a speaker. The speaker I was influenced by was a man by the name of Mr. S, who runs a non profit organization called Youth Focus that puts on several talent and scholastic competitions a year. He was one of the best speakers because his speaking made everyone in the room feel as if he was speaking directly to them and we could all relate very well to him. When I was Miss Santa Clara County in 1999 he was the head of the organization behind the competitions. As Miss Santa Clara County I attended a week long competition to run for California’s Young Woman of Achievement. During our week long stay we had an intensive two day training session which focused on mainly communication and how we could continue to impact our societies through our continued involvement and volunteerism. One thing that always stuck out to me was how fulfilled and encouraged I always felt after these conferences. We were given little ribbons one day that said Who I Am Makes A Difference, because no matter where you are in life or what you are doing you can make a difference in others lives. His speaking is so memorable because it showed so much compassion and care.
I think one of the worse speakers I ever heard was Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 at the Miss Teen USA pageant. It made me cringe as I listened to her answer a fairly simple question. The question was: Why do you think one fifth of Americans can not locate the US on a world map? Her reply; “I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because uh so many people in our nation don’t have maps and uh I believe that our education like such as South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the US should help the US or uh should help the South Africa and the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our.” The main thing I remember about her message was that I just wanted her to stop speaking. It is literally painful to watch her speak. As a person watching this you feel so awful seeing someone make such a fool of themselves. Needless to say she didn’t win Miss Teen USA. Here is the link to the horrible speech if anyone is interested in viewing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

Chapter 2 Discussion Question 3

A concept from this weeks reading I found interesting was the ethnography of communication in which a student must place themselves in a position to develop sensitivity to different speech communities. This concept reminds me of a course I took last semester in which we had to find a cultural site and go through several steps in order to create an ethnography. It is so interesting because you have participants and situations which you record during your visits and in my case I actually grew quite fond and close to some of the residents. My ethnography was about a living facility that accepted patients that did not have any other source of living arrangement and that were older adults no longer able to be in the workforce or care for themselves. I actually came to feel quite upset with the administration of this old folks home because I found through my observations they commonly did not act in the best interest of the resident. I still visit the site of my ethnography.

Chapter 2 Discussion Question 2

The pragmatic view believes that communication consists of a system of interlocking, interdependent behaviors that become patterned over time. I believe it does make sense to think of communication as patterned interactions. The book gives some great examples of these interactions, such as the chess game in which you become interdependent on your partner in order to make a move and continue on with the game, if you don‘t you are forfeiting and thus the game ends, which is essentially ending that link in the communication chain. Communication is like a game because it depends on two independent behaviors that have become interdependent to continue. The ways it differs from a game is that it can be applied to many different aspects of communication like relationships. My relationship with my husband could sometimes be considered similar to the chess game. There is an interdependence on one of us making the next move in order to communicate. And like the book states sometimes silence or no reaction can speak volumes. Unfortunately silence isn’t in my game book.

Chapter 2 Discussion Question 1

The social constructionist perspective is the idea that communication is something that surrounds people and holds their world together. Through communication, social groups create collective ideas of themselves, of one another and of the world they inhabit. With that being said, the ways in which we build worlds through communication is through our social networks, family, employer, hobbies, etc… For a few years I was a member of an animal rescue group. During this time I tended to take on their beliefs about who was the right or wrong home for any of our fostered animals. A lot of the people in the group were older and quite set in their ways. I grew up with outdoor pets. We didn’t keep them inside because my grandmother who lived with us thought they were dirty, that was the cultural perspective she had been raised to believe. Our animals always had a good home and were well taken care of. If I would have approached the group as a potential adopter I would have been turned away because in their eyes I was a bad home. After fostering for some time I found that I took on their belief system. I frowned upon potential adopters who checked off the indoor outdoor answer on the questioner, when I myself had never seen anything wrong with an animal staying outside for all these years. This rescue groups social construct was something I adapted to because at the time it was the right thing to do if I wanted to be a member of their group and an animal foster home. Yet I found after time that their way of thinking was backwards because they placed more of an emphasis on judging the individual and the individual’s knowledge rather than focusing on what was the right thing for the animal. The best interest for the animal is to be placed in a regular home where it is not exposed to 30 other foster cats and is able to get the attention it deserves. I stopped fostering quite a while ago and have since changed my perspective. I have an outdoor cat and he loves being outside. The social constructionist perspective can contribute to our success because it allows us to seek out other representations in a broader form should what we are currently working with not be the correct fit.

Chapter 1 Discussion Question 3

The concept I found interesting in chapter one is the Five Canons of Rhetoric. The five canons of rhetoric are invention, style, arrangement, memory and delivery. I found this particularly interesting because I believe this to be one of the foundations for the study of communication. Invention covers the process of discovering information and deciding on appropriate subject matter in which to use that would lead to a conclusion. Style is where you develop the proper words or language that set the tone for your speech in order to convey your message. Arrangement is where you organize your ideas into the form that makes sense. An example of a form would be to open with an introduction, then follow with a statement of purpose, lead into the arguments, and end with some sort of conclusion. Memory is the next step. It is the ability to hold content, style and arrangement in your mind. I think this step would be the most difficult of all. The final canon is delivery in which the speaker was judged on vocal tonality and gestures. If the vocal tone and gestures were not pleasing the effect of the speech would be undermined.
The reason I found the Five Canons of Rhetoric so interesting is because I think we use them in everyday life. Whether we give a small presentation at work or speak one on one to a superior the five canons of rhetoric come into play. I know I have used this method on my parents at one time to convince them I needed a new car and it worked. I researched information on the make and model I wanted and why it was far superior to what I was driving at the time which led me to the conclusion of safety. By putting an emphasis on safety in my arrangement and style I reached my parents on an emotional level because safety is always any parent’s biggest concern for their child whether they are 2 years old or 20. By educating myself on my facts I was able to memorize and deliver my message in a way in which they agreed with my argument and conclusion. Although you must be careful with how well you sell something over because now anytime I talk of getting a new car I am reminded of my argument for the safe car I currently have. For all the above reasons the Five Canons of Rhetoric is my chosen concept for this chapter.

Chapter 1 Discussion Question 2

2. I find myself disagreeing with the Greeks belief that in order to be an orator an individual had to be morally good. Moral goodness and the ability to speak on a subject in front of an audience are two separate acts. Now a very persuasive speaker may come off when speaking as a morally good person but in reality they are really just a persuasive speaker who is good at making others believe in what they have to say. A car salesman may be a wonderful orator, trying to convince you that you need a car you can’t afford. So you fall for it and you buy the car because the salesman seems like such a nice guy. He has a family to care for and he wants you to be safe out on the dangerous roads so he persuades you to buy that huge SUV rather than the Geo Metro which was forty thousand dollars less. You are now convinced that for the safety of you and your family you must have this unaffordable beast of a vehicle. He prayed on your emotions, with his story of his sick child at home and how it has been so slow that he may lose his job. You were persuaded by the character of the person to believe he was honest, when you were being lied to hook, line and sinker. An orator can be a person who has no morals, but has the character ability to make you believe they do. Many great orators include politicians, some of whom are the greatest persuaders of all. The connection between goodness, truth and public communication is one of the greatest non connections of all. As a public we would like to believe that we can connect goodness, truth and public communication because it brings a sense of security to know that we can let our guard down and not have to worry. But what we believe to be the truth may be the biggest lie of all.

Chapter 1 Discussion Question 1

1. This question has really made me think. I never have really focused too much on any particular speaker. When I think about a speaker what automatically comes to mind are politicians due to our recent Presidential Inauguration. President Obama speaking of change and our future is a person I admire. His speeches promote positive messages of hope and change for a brighter future. President Obama’s power to persuade comes from pathos because it is on a very emotional level that reaches out to people. I believe this helped him to succeed in winning the election since there has been such a sense of hopelessness in our country due to the ongoing economic failure and war. My ability to persuade others comes from ethos because I feel my personal character when necessary can be persuasive in an unemotional way. Being a woman I try to stay away from showing emotion when it comes to persuasion because I think people may interpret that as a weakness. I think the personal qualities I have that make me persuasive are my ability to speak to others, my strength and perseverance on issues I feel strongly about and a track record showing the progress I have made throughout the years. I find for the most part that Aristotle’s classification scheme does work for them because it is pretty broad and open to individual interpretation.