Rhetoric Generation

As I walked to class, I noticed marketing everywhere with rhetoric trying to persuade audiences one way or another. However, some rhetoric (advertising) was more evident in its persuasive content above others. One such argument in particular stood out among the rest: a debate between two students as they discussed the upcoming presidential inauguration. One student described the excitement of a new change in government and the other described the fear of where America’s future was heading. This conversation made me look back prior to the presidential election and remember all of the media coverage and commercials and how each commercial used visual persuasion, hybrid texts, ads as arguments, strategies in all different forms, and all the logos, pathos, and ethos appeals for support. These commercials were blatantly biased in their appeals to the American audience. It disturbed and saddened me that my generation, the college age group, blindly followed the shallow media strategies of persuasion advertised on shirts of famous Holly wood stars, on MTV, and articulated in the words of the “candidate” the media supported. Many of the voters in this past election voted on the race issue alone, or the economy issue alone, but not on issues of traditional values or morality. The voting patterns of the youth of America in this past election will be analyzed someday by future generations, just like we have judged those that came before us. In order to win this past election, the president-elect utilized in part the ad hominem debate, or “an argument that attempts to persuade by attacking an opponent’s ethos or character” (pg. 47 Envision in Depth). He also used other tools of persuasion such as effective facial expressions and actions, both of which may be difficult to read, although actions do speak louder than words. The president-elect won the election; the question is at what cost to America? Just as commercials sell products, I just hope we haven’t been persuaded to give up what really matters: morality and faith.