Exam 5: Rhetoric,the Art of Persuasion

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: The antigun people think that just as soon as guns are outlawed,crime will disappear,and we'll all live together as one big,happy family.

Construct eight sentences,each illustrating a use of this slanter:loaded question.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: Perhaps the "religious leaders" who testified at the state board of education's public hearing on textbooks think they speak for all Christians,but they do not.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "Although you were not selected to receive the award,I congratulate you for your achievements at California State University,Chico." -Excerpt from a letter written by a university president and sent to an unsuccessful contender for a campus award.

A)Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain any slanting techniques you find in the following passage.(We'll comment on features we find obscure,unusual,or tricky. )B)Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content. Well,it looks like the wimps are coming out of the woodwork all over the place.If you're a man,the fashionable thing to be these days is "sensitive." Articles with titles like "Babies and Men," "The Divorced Father," and-can you believe it?-"Men Cry Too" are cropping up all over the place.You'd think today's males were unleashing the bottled-up agonies of a couple of thousand generations from the way they like to step into the spotlight and bare their sensitive souls to anybody who'll listen.They say there are more divorces today,and maybe because of the safety of numbers,a divorce is an excuse for a guy to become a softhead;the summons server may as well deliver a license to cry in public. If a kid wants his modern daddy to come out and toss a ball around,he'll have to drag him out of the kitchen first.After making him take off the apron,of course,so he won't embarrass his kid in front of his buddies. It's a good thing the women are getting out there and learning to run the world.Today's men are busily forgetting how to do it.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "Would you want to appoint my opponent as president of your company?" -The late Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines,speaking to a group of Philippine businessmen about his 1986 election opponent,Corazon Aquino

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: The Best Way to Clean Up Congress -Title of article by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "Within the context of total ignorance,you are absolutely correct." -Caption in a National Review cartoon

Provide a critical assessment of the following comparative general claim: Mitt Romney ran a more negative campaign in 2008 than did John McCain.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "The people who [fought] the Soviet-backed government in Nicaragua [were] freedom fighters just as George Washington was in our country." -Ronald Reagan

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: Orlando is a little town with friendly and helpful residents.Still,you might not want to live there.In the summer it's hotter than the Sahara Desert.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: It is,of course,conceivable that the Qaddafi regime has nothing to do with terrorist attacks on Israeli airports,but...

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels...justified the attack on thousands of Jews as a step toward removing an 'infection' contaminating Germany.'It is impossible that,in a National Socialist state,which is anti-Jewish in its outlook,those streets should continue to be occupied by Jewish shops.'" -Reuters report in the Sacramento Bee

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: Maybe it's possible,after all,to sympathize with the Internal Revenue Service.The woes that have piled up in its Philadelphia office make the IRS look almost human.

Provide a critical assessment of the following quotation.Discuss rhetorical flourishes and slanting techniques,if any,including otherizing,demonizing,fear or hate mongering,and forstering xenophobia.Some passages may fit more than one category. "Dear Marriage Supporter, Since the age of the French Revolution,the phrase "Let them eat cake" has been used as a symbol of out-of-touch,tyrannical elites or aristocracies.The phrase comes from a popular anecdote that a monarch (often identified as Marie Antoinette),when told that the peasants had no bread to eat and were starving,proposed this as the solution:"Let them eat cake." Well,ironically in our own day the phrase is once again a fitting a symbol of an out-of-touch,tyrannical government:this time in the form of a Colorado Judge who ruled that a baker in Denver must provide wedding cakes to same-sex couples...or else pay the price." -Brian Brown,President NOM [National Organization of Marriage], http://www.nomblog.com/38615/

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: Miracle X-K3 battery additive extends the life of your battery up to five years.

Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: "Any person who thinks that Libya is not involved in terrorism has the same kind of mentality as people who think that Hitler was not involved in persecuting Jews." -Robert Oakley,U.S.Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism,in an interview on National Public Radio's All Things Considered

Construct eight sentences,each illustrating a use of this slanter:horse laugh/ridicule/sarcasm.

A)Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain any slanting techniques you find in the following passage.(We'll comment on features we find obscure,unusual,or tricky. )B)Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content. "Citizens for a Clean Community caused quite a commotion the other day when it announced its campaign to end the sale or rent of so-called adult and X-rated videos and movies." "There immediately came the usual charges of censorship and free speech violations-as could have been predicted." "We certainly would be the first to defend someone's right to read or view whatever they please.But make no mistake,those who are offended by this smut have every right to express their frustration by protesting its distribution....And this kind of material is completely debasing and has no redeeming value whatsoever...." -Cascade News

Provide a critical assessment of the following comparative general claim: Chrysanthemums that have been pinched back produce bigger blooms than those that have not.