“…It’s better to ask for the earth than to take it,” observes the mysterious Inspector Goole in J. B. Priestly’s An Inspector Calls. The rhetoric of…
Comments closedCategory: Politics
Political campaigns, elections, and legislative debates.
Teaching about rhetoric in the time of Donald Trump presents a curious challenge. I don’t believe Trump is a reflective, scholarly sort of thinker. Reports…
Comments closedWhat I find most interesting about this political moment, sadly, is the lack of coherence within the political parties. What the moment demonstrates is that…
Comments closedNot every famous philosopher had a degree in philosophy or formal training in the field. We define philosopher based on demonstrated rigor of thought and systemic reasoning.…
Comments closedPresident Donald Trump is either the most ignorant president elected in a century (or more) or he is the most brilliant manipulator elected since either…
Comments closedImmigration debate? Stalled out on February 15. Infrastructure spending? Tax reform? No matter the issue, it seems reasonable compromise isn’t only impossible but also not…
Comments closedThere have been moments this century when social media helped organize social change. Public policy in nations was changed, and social media played a role.…
Comments closedEducation divides us, and more than some of my students and colleagues realize. When I ask classes to estimate the percentage of citizens in the…
Comments closedRhetoric, as a field, has long admitted that pathos persuades more people than reason and logic. The Greeks and Romans recognized the danger of this…
Comments closedThe Centers for Disease Control recently issued a list of words and phrases to avoid in publications. The media (and social media) quickly howled that…
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