Rhetoric of the Buffett Rule

I've encountered a number of interesting tidbits about this past week's State of the Union Address.  Here's an unusual analysis (sometimes rhetorical) from The Atlantic's James Fallows.  If you missed the speech, and would like someone to guide you through it, Fallows' annotation might be helpful.

While context matters, sometimes examining words themselves can be a useful tool of rhetorical analysis.  Here's a graphical comparison of keyword frequency in the last twelve SOTU addresses.  (This year's big winners: Taxes and Jobs.)  As you might expect, the current president chooses different words than his predecessor.  

Source: Saul Loeb/Associated Press

Most interesting to me, from  rhetorical perspective, is this piece, again from The Atlantic.  It points out some very peculiar use of numbers when people compare Warren Buffett's tax rate against that of his secretary.  (Frequent comparisons have been made (by Obama, Buffett, and others) between Buffett's effective tax rate of 17% and his secretary's rate of 35%.  Buffett is the third richest person on the planet, and the principle that he shouldn't pay a lower rate--that it's an injustice--was dubbed by Obama as "the Buffett Rule.")  The point being made about disparate tax rates still seems worthy of response, but the creative use of data does hurt the ethos of this argument.

The Rhetoric of Firing Paterno

You may already have seen this, but the New York Times today published a summary of conversations with a third of Penn State's Board of Trustees explaining their actions during the first week of the Sandusky mess.  Although the interview/event likely was orchestrated by the board's PR firm, it does certainly clarify some previously murky details; likewise, the board members' recollections strike me as sincere, even in the midst of other probable communication objectives.  (You are free to disagree, of course!)

So perhaps you could blog about the rhetoric of their stories, or their use of this interview (itself a rhetorical action--in addition to content, the fact of the event itself is designed to communicate), or about the responses you might see to it on Facebook today.

Source: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Or if you're looking to compare two reports against each other, you might consider this report from a former trustee about the flawed nature of the board's governing and oversight structure, which he believes created an institutional culture riddled with flaws.  He blames these systemic cultural forces for any potential shortcomings in the way Joe Paterno handled the Sandusky situation.  Keep in mind that he does not currently sit on the board (although he's running in this Spring's elections), that his experiences with the board are historical (so some things might have changed), and that his explanation came out before the Trustees had their NYT conversation (so a few of his conjectures about details turn out to be inaccurate).    It's long, but as a concerned student it's a perspective worth knowing.  And it could make really good fodder for an RCL blog entry on its own.

Writing Resources

If you're interested in receiving peer tutoring from advanced students, consider dropping by (or setting up an appointment with someone at) the writing centers on campus.  Information is available here.

Some RCL Blogs to Browse

Perhaps this should read:
"Your informed opinion counts!"
But you get the idea.
Source: neighborhoodnotes.com

Your first posts to your Rhetoric and Civic Life blog are due by the end of Thursday and I wanted to point you to a few successful blogs from last semester.  You'll see that the most recent entry is about the e-Portfolio, but the others are, on the whole, very good examples of either an engagement of rhetoric in action, or else an analysis of civic engagement encountered by the blogger.

So feel free to browse through some of these to look for topic ideas.  You may not know all the terminology yet, but the earlier entries should make good sense all on their own.

http://sunrhetoricandciviclife2011.blogspot.com/

http://boyntonrhetoricandciviclife2011.blogspot.com/

http://rcljohnson.blogspot.com/

http://rclgregory.blogspot.com/

http://rclsvr.blogspot.com/

http://rclgeorgeinglis.blogspot.com/

Finally--and I'm sure you've already thought of this--be sure to re-read the directions for the RCL blog so you have a sense of what we're aiming for.

Good luck!

The (un)Importance of Grammar

We talked this week about the modern preference for facts and certainty, while ancients far preferred opinion, or what we might today call collective wisdom.  And I continued to reflect today on all the attitudes wrapped up in the modern take on logos.

So when I came across this piece from The Guardian (UK) on self-appointed "language police," I was reminded of the potential negative effects of over-focusing on precision.  Not only does this column address written communication--something we'll cover extensively in this course--but it explores why some people might be drawn to a militant enforcement of what are, in some instances, relatively arbitrary rules.

As a reformed "grammar police officer" myself, the article reminds me why I used to care so much about the rules.  And while some of the arbitrary things still bother me (they just feel wrong), I now try to focus only on those issues that would lead to clear, concise, and vivid writing.  (Or those that would seriously compromise your ethos, like poor spelling or nonstandard usage of terms.)

So begin sentences with conjunctions!  End them with prepositions! Split infinitives!  And if you have a purpose for it--and the result is clear--feel free to break other rules from time to time.

(By the way, if grammar is a passion of yours, you could certainly select it as your passion blog topic.)

This I Believe Links, plus Jon Stewart on Crossfire

NPR's This I Believe site: http://www.thisibelieve.org
Local This I Believe examples: http://wpsu.org/radio/program/thisibelieve
(If I didn't play it in your section, I recommend "I Believe in Bananagrams" from a student last year)

Jon Stewart on Crossfire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

Passion Blog Ideas

We'll talk more about passion blog topics in the coming days, but I wanted to direct your attention to several from previous semesters that most successfully tackled the blogging task.  Sure, there may be a missing image here or a dead link there (it IS a year later...), but they still represent good quality writing for the blogging medium.  Plus, these entries hint at the diverse range of topics you could choose to explore.

I've linked directly to the first entry for a few of these, since they lay out a clear objective for the blog.  But you can click through each author's blog archives to find more, or click on the top banner to get to the most recent entries.

A Little Sincerity (is a dangerous thing) covers the effects--often environmental--of our culture of excess.

The Mile 27 Experiment chronicles one student's decision to train for a marathon, and the semester-long journey that resulted.

So's Your Bass is a tutorial for those wanting to play the electric bass better.  Entries often provide direction for playing popular songs (with YouTube videos recorded by the author), or spotlight the technique of a famous bassist.  Plus, there's a widget at the bottom that lets you listen to high quality versions of the author playing along with a variety of tunes.

Passion via Cookie reflects on and applies (or mis-applies) the philosophy of one fortune cookie a week.

A Bromance in the Making explores the qualities of roommates, friends, and bros, using evocative anecdotes from the author's first-year dorm experience.  Hilarity ensues.

Welcome to LA 101H!

This website is the online space for your section of LA 101H.   I'll regularly post announcements, assignment directions, my own observations about rhetoric, and tips on how to get the most out of the course.


Feel free to explore the site using the links at the right.  More content will be added weekly, so be sure to bookmark and check back often.


Glad to have you as part of the class!


Ben