Journal 2

Bitzer says that rhetorical situation has 3 important parts-exigence, audience, and constraints. Edbauer doesn't see rhetorical situation in parts, but that rhetoric interacts according to different situations.  Bitzer believes that exigence is inherent to objects (people and things), and that they have meaning itself. Edbauer believes that feelings and material experiences come together to make an exigence. Something doesn't have meaning of itself because things like our culture and experiences can change the meaning of one thing. Edbauer argues that we must add a sense of rhetorical ecologies to our model of rhetorical situation to change what prior models have said. An example of Bitzer's Rhetorical Situation would be when a candidate tries to persuade an audience on his or her ideas. An example of Edbauer's rhetorical ecology would be that when a preacher at Church is speaking to the congregation, he isn't just speaking to the congregation on one meaning. In the congregation, every single person, gets something different out of the message. The audience brings in their own experiences, beliefs, contexts, and derives a meaning of their own,