Blitzer’s rhetorical situation is
rhetoric as a mean of persuasion and audience. He implies that rhetoric is more
than discourse, it’s the ability to have an effect on people. Examples of his
notion of a rhetorical situation are big speeches, such as Kennedy’s and
Churchill’s address that he mentions, and also large protests. Both of these
things are persuasive and use rhetoric as a way to reach a certain audience. A
real life example of Blitzers rhetorical situation that just happened the other
day is the Women’s march. This protest began in Washington D.C., but ended up
spreading across America. Thousands of women took part in this protest in order
to protect their rights and prove that they still stand with Hillary Clinton.
What these women were trying to persuade is clear, and who they were trying to
reach was clear as well. This is a good example of Blitzer’s rhetorical
situation, because the rhetoric goes beyond conversation, it is used as a
persuasive mechanism for an audience and exegence.
Edbaur on
the other hand, doesn’t think that rhetoric is situational, and instead thinks
that it’s ecological. She believes that texts are constantly transforming and influencing
people. Her idea can be seen in social media. For example, on Facebook whenever
people share things they can add a different status or caption to go with and
change the way people view that original post. Same goes for Twitter and retweeting
things. The more something is circulated on social media, the more different it
becomes and the influence it has on people is changed as well. Edbaur stresses
that rhetoric can’t be situational because its fluid; it’s always changing and
becoming something different. This idea is pretty much the exact opposite of
Blitzer’s rhetorical situation, which stresses the need for a definitive rhetoric.
Your examples are great!
ReplyDeleteThe women's march was a good idea. There are very clear constraints and motivation in that situation, and it fits with what Bitzer claims perfectly.
Using social media as an example is really fitting for Rice's ideas, and I really feel like it applies well. It is easy to imagine a tweet or facebook post, or something of that sort, getting out of hand and transforming based on how people interpret (or misinterpret) it.
Hi Carli!
ReplyDeleteI also used the womans march as an example in my post. However, i found it great that you incorporated other big speeches that impacted the surrounding world as an a form of audience. Rhetoric is a powerful subject and therefore a powerful tool and I believe showing these examples for Bitzer's correlation between persuasion and audience was very good! I also thought it was great that you incorporated a modern form of circulation, using the social media outlet -- Twitter. Retweeting is one of the quickest forms of circulation in today's era. Two clicks and that individuals thoughts and words are spread to an infinite amount of audience.
Carli,
ReplyDeleteYour examples really gave me a better understanding of Bitzer and Edbauer's theories. I liked your example about the woman's march because it was something that just happened so it is simple to understand. It was a good example because there was a strong motive and a lot of persuasion that deals with the situation- and that goes hand in hand with Bitzer's theory.
When it comes to Edbauer, I think Twitter is another great example. I would say the majority of us are social media users so this seems very relevant. It is true how quickly something can get around when using any type of social media, but certainly Twitter. A couple of retweets and who knows who that message will reach.
I really liked your example for Edbauer! It felt really easy for me to understand in comparison to the Keep Austin Weird examples and I think it really exemplifies the fluidity that comes with situational.
ReplyDelete