Introduction
A rhetorical situation is an instance, scenario or an occurrence which calls for a spoken or written response. According to (Caudill etal 217) a rhetoric situation has three components namely the rhetor, which is the person speaking or writing, the audience and the issue. Other elements include the genre or type and the purpose of the rhetoric.
The following is a rhetoric situation targeting readers in countries affected by terrorism. The purpose is to bring to light the increased acts of terrorism around the world and recommend measures to curb the same. The genre of this rhetoric situation is written.
The Menace of Terrorism
In any instance one would wonder what terrorist seek to achieve when they launch cowardly acts on innocent civilians. While they may be against the policies and the mode of operations of many countries, these beasts should understand that it is not the common citizen who passes laws, decides on policy or determines government actions. They proclaim so much power and victory over innocent lives while they cannot even afford to confront a troop of military. If these weaklings think they are so powerful, why can’t they justify their self proclaimed might by attacking state houses, parliament buildings and other heavily guarded governmental factions?
There has been a rise in terrorist attacks recently around the world and especially in Africa. The most recent incident of terrorist attack in Africa is the Westgate Mall attack in Kenya in which the Al Shabab terror group claimed responsibility (Elbagir, 2013). The inhuman event which involved around 10 gunmen claimed 65 innocent lives a majority of them being pregnant women and children. The terrorists are known to attack places and countries ...
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References
Caudill, Sally, Celeste M. Condit, and John L. Lucaites. Contemporary Rhetorical Theory: A Reader. New York [u.a.] [u.a.: Guilford Press, 1999. Print.
Elbagir, Nima. “Kenya mall attack: Four accused of having role in bloody siege”. CNN. 4 November 2013. Web. 25 Mar 14. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/world/africa/kenya-mall-attack/
Koppel, Andrea. & Glasse, Jenniffer. “Rescuers search for life in rubble of Nairobi bomb attack”. CNN. 8 August 1998. Web. 25 Mar 14. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9808/07/africa.explosions.04/
Raghavan, Sudarsan. “The Central African Republic’s complex war, explained in the journey of a Muslim baby girl”. The Washington Post. 9 March 2014. Web. 25 Mar 14. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/it-was-a-miracle-she-survived/2014/03/08/04ca0922-9671-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html
Lloyd F. Bitzer’s article, “The Rhetorical Situation”, is an account of what he calls the “rhetorical situation” as what he believes to be the conditions necessary for compelling a rhetorician to engage in rhetoric (35). It is Bitzer’s position that a work of rhetoric comes into existence as a response to the call of a certain state of affairs in the world (32). Furthermore, Bitzer claims that when we find ourselves in such “situations”, we are compelled to engage in rhetoric in order to restore the balance that we find lacking (34). He identifies three interconnected elements of situational rhetoric: exigence, audience, and constraints (35). Bitzer argues that a rhetorical discourse, which consists of an engagement with an audience for the purpose of compelling that audience to modify the world so as to repair the problem which is presented (35), is required to solve the problem as the world presents it (34). This lack of balance in a rhetorical situation or state of affairs in the world leads to what Bitzer calls exigence, which he defines as “an imperfection marked by urgency” (36). Bitzer also expands on the notion of a rhetorical audience, which is central to his theory of situational rhetoric. Bitzer defines a rhetorical audience as persons who, through discourse, are subject to influence and as persons who can be compelled to bring about the change called for by a rhetorical situation (37). Bitzer also identifies constraints as being a vital component to his theory, which he defines as anything within the rhetorical situation which has the power to “constrain decision” (38).
Currently, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia are only legal in a few states, but for years, many have tried over and over again to get this practice to be legal nationwide. Upon searching the web for news and articles pertaining to this touchy subject, I found a video called Ad Campaign for Physician-Assisted Death. This video by Kelsey Milbourn supports my views and effectively shows the benefits to legalizing physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Within this video, I was able to pull out the rhetorical situation, which is a diagram that ties together the speaker, speech, audience, occasion, and presuppositions of both the audience and speaker.
In The Rhetorical Situation, Lloyd F. Bitzer argues that what makes a situation rhetorical is similar to that which constitutes a moral action as he writes that, “an act is moral because it is an act performed in a situation of a certain kind; similarly, a work is rhetorical because it is a response to a situation of a certain kind”.(3) By defining the rhetorical situation in this way, Bitzer further contends that rhetoric is a means to altering reality. (4) It is through the use of discourse that one is capable of changing reality through thought and action. (4) Bitzer then elaborates upon the nature of a rhetorical situation by explaining that rhetorical discourse enters a situation when: providing a response to its state of affairs; rhetorical discourse is given significant presence by the situation; the situation exists as a necessary condition for rhetorical discourse to have effect; a rhetorical situation or event may mature or decay over time; the rhetorical situation invites the use of discourse to alter its reality; the rhetorical response given to the situation is appropriate; and the situation controls the response of the discourse. While Bitzer notes that these are parameters for a situation to qualify as being rhetorical, he further discusses three constituents that are present in any rhetorical situation prior to the presence and manipulation of discourse. (6) Exigence, audience, and constraints are seen to be necessary elements in a rhetorical situation for Bitzer. Exegince, “is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be undone, a thing which is other than it should be”. (6) An audience whose members may function as mediators of change is required, as rhetoric alw...
The traditional method is incredibly contextual, meaning, it looks deeply at the source, message, and audience as they interact within a give time span. Furthermore, this method is a critique of the assumed interaction between a speaker, text, or artifact and its intended audience. In contrast, a narrative criticism examines all facets of any rhetorical artifact for its form, structure, and pattern, treating it as a dramatic story that unfolds and reveals itself for a certain purpose. Additionally, narratives are primarily utilized as a cognitive instrument for comprehending significance.
The author’s main argument in “Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making” is that rhetoric does not need to be complicated if writers incorporate certain elements to their writing. Downs further analyzed the elements that contribute to rhetoric such as symbols and signals, motivation, emotion, ecology, reasoning and identification. The author emphasized that writers can learn how to deliver their writing effectively once they are more aware on how rhetoric works. Downs constantly assures that rhetoric is quite simple and does not need to provoke fuzziness. Even though the term rhetorical is applied to everything, the author of the article made it clear that the “rhetorical” thing is situated. The example provided by the author in this article, further guides our understanding on what rhetoric
Grant-Davie’s article assesses “the elements of rhetorical situations that may help the audience understanding and responding to the rhetoric”(Grant-Davie 1997). In order for the audience to grasp what the author is trying to convey, he provides an example by stating, “When we study history, our first question may be “what happened?” but the more important question, the question whose answer offers hope of learning for the future as well as understanding the past, is “why did it happen?” (Grant-Davie 1997). Through this the author is trying to state that rather than looking from only one perspective, try using different perspectives to gain a more in-depth insight and true meaning of the topic that is being convey. He then talks about the different elements such as exigence, rhetor, audience, and constraints, which are key elements to use to rhetorically analyze a text. Grant-Davie then further talks about all the elements in depth to provide a better understanding to the audience to help them evolve their rhetorical knowledge.
As the course of Rhetorical Communications has progressed I have expanded my understanding of rhetorical communication at a greater level. Between the weeks of project one and project two, I have expanded my idea on the theory of communication. In the article the author, Emig wrote, I have learned that communication relies on more than just the rhetor, the constraints, the rhetorical situations, and the content within verbal or written communication. Based on Emig, written communication must have a purpose and the audience expects accuracy within communication. With that in mind, a rhetor must also demonstrate the purpose of their piece through evidence to back up their claim, and they must also exhibit accuracy to the audience. Though with
In short, rhetorical discourse is defined by six specific characteristics, to wit: (1) having been planned; (2) having been adapted
During the 21st Century acts of domestic and international terrorism have significantly increased. Thus the international community of nations has the challenge to adopt a common approach to the treatment of terrorism as an international crime. The challenge at present is for the international community of nations to adopt a common approach to the treatment of terrorism as an international crime (Lawless, 2008). In fact, terrorism is an international crime it requires the international community to act in the prevention of terrorism and the sanction of individuals perpetrating acts of terrorism(Lawless, 2008). The September 2011 attack on the United States has presented an opportunity for the internationalist forces to come to the forefront of the global political agenda. ...
Of course, previous experience taught me that the three main components of any writing were purpose, audience, and topic, but I didn’t have a name to put with the face, so to speak, until very recently. That is, I think I knew what a rhetorical situation was, and that practically every interaction ever could be considered a rhetorical situation, but I didn’t have the technical term or even the definition. I didn’t know there were constraints, but looking back I suppose it makes sense that the effectiveness of a work could be severely hindered by the beliefs and attitudes of the sphere in which it’s presented. I heard the phrase “rhetorical situation” being used the first week in this class and it confused me, because in my mind rhetoric could almost be equated with bombastic, and I had previously only ever heard the word rhetoric used meanly by teachers to describe a paper with no substance and a lot of pretty
The threat of global terrorism continues to rise with the total number of deaths reaching 32,685 in 2015, which is an 80 percent increase from 2014 (Global Index). With this said, terrorism remains a growing, and violent phenomenon that has dominated global debates. However, ‘terrorism’ remains a highly contested term; there is no global agreement on exactly what constitutes a terror act. An even more contested concept is whether to broaden the scope of terrorism to include non-state and state actors.
As stated by Haddow, C., Bullock, J., Coppola, D.P., Terrorism is a global problem. From 1969 to 2009, over 38,000 terrorist attacks were reported worldwide. Three thousand, or 8 percent of these, targeted Americans or American interests both inside the United States and overseas, leading to the deaths of almost 5600 people and injuries to over 16,000 more (p. 309).
The concept of terrorism is exceedingly difficult to define. Author Gerald Seymour first said in his book Harry’s Game that, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. Each individual may view terrorism in a different light. Because of this, there is currently no universal definition of terrorism. However in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to form a definition of terrorism, especially while working in the media.
Vatz, Richard E. “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 6.3 (Summer 1973): 154-61. PDF. 19 Aug. 2013.
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,