The art of persuasion, the art of popularity, or the art of both?
Often, people make common misconceptions about rhetoric. Many believe it to be the art of deceit, which is basically what I thought before listening and watching to this week’s videos and podcasts. In actuality, Andrea Lunsford describes it best saying, “Rhetoric is the art, practice and study of human communication.” Interestingly enough, we use rhetoric in almost every form of communication because it is the language choices we make and why we make them. Anyone can use rhetorical strategies to be an effective, and hopefully more successful, communicator. Rhetoric enables communicators to create and assess their messages and other’s messages. This includes gestures, emotional appeals, and the way we try to identify with things and people.
What is interesting is that this mode of persuasion not only occurs in writing and speaking, but also digitally and in advertisements. Visual rhetoric is also very important in digital media because it’s any way that we can get someone to understand, believe or agree with us. Cropping a picture, changing the lighting, and/or enhancing the pixels are all ways that we do this visually. When you think about it, it makes sense, and we see the use of rhetoric without realizing it every single day.
Rhetoric is extremely important in business writing and communication. Without it, nothing would get done. I say this because in order for business people to get their points across in an effective way, they must use rhetoric. In fact, Chapter 23 of Business and Communication directly says that, “The primary purposes for sending business messages are typically to inform and to persuade.” As communicators, we try to appeal to our audience through different modes through emotional appeals, gestures, and wording. This is rhetoric. Every step of business writing involves thinking about how to persuade the audience and how to make points as clear and concise as possible. “The first phase of the writing process prepares you to write. It involves analyzing the audience and your purpose for writing. The audience for your message will be other franchise owners, some highly educated and others not.” (Business Communication 2-2b). In business writing, analyzing your audience is a huge part of rhetoric because you are figuring out the best way to go about persuasion. Even deciding what tone to use in an email, report, or memo uses rhetoric. Using empathy to discern what both the primary and secondary audience will think of the message is rhetoric because, as the writer, you are assessing how others will feel about your work. It’s very important to do this in the business world when communicating. Using an informal tone over a formal tone in a memo, rolling your eyes in a meeting, or using low level diction speaking with your boss can all be detrimental to your career. This is why in business writing and communication, you must think, study, and practice rhetoric to better suit the audience and their reaction.
Social media might not seem like it contains any rhetoric, but it is heavy with it. Changing the lighting on a picture is rhetoric. Deciding on a caption or hashtag is rhetoric. This is because altering things slightly persuades an audience to “like” a picture or post. When teenagers write their posts on social media, they often want to appeal to their peers, so they write like their peers would to gain popularity. This is similar to business writing. Businesspeople are constantly trying to figure out how they can get their peers to understand, believe, or agree with them. They do this by using rhetoric. Writing an email to your boss about a pay raise would require thought about how you could persuade him effectively, so you must use rhetoric! In any case, without the use of rhetoric, one will not survive in the business world.
What is interesting is that this mode of persuasion not only occurs in writing and speaking, but also digitally and in advertisements. Visual rhetoric is also very important in digital media because it’s any way that we can get someone to understand, believe or agree with us. Cropping a picture, changing the lighting, and/or enhancing the pixels are all ways that we do this visually. When you think about it, it makes sense, and we see the use of rhetoric without realizing it every single day.
Rhetoric is extremely important in business writing and communication. Without it, nothing would get done. I say this because in order for business people to get their points across in an effective way, they must use rhetoric. In fact, Chapter 23 of Business and Communication directly says that, “The primary purposes for sending business messages are typically to inform and to persuade.” As communicators, we try to appeal to our audience through different modes through emotional appeals, gestures, and wording. This is rhetoric. Every step of business writing involves thinking about how to persuade the audience and how to make points as clear and concise as possible. “The first phase of the writing process prepares you to write. It involves analyzing the audience and your purpose for writing. The audience for your message will be other franchise owners, some highly educated and others not.” (Business Communication 2-2b). In business writing, analyzing your audience is a huge part of rhetoric because you are figuring out the best way to go about persuasion. Even deciding what tone to use in an email, report, or memo uses rhetoric. Using empathy to discern what both the primary and secondary audience will think of the message is rhetoric because, as the writer, you are assessing how others will feel about your work. It’s very important to do this in the business world when communicating. Using an informal tone over a formal tone in a memo, rolling your eyes in a meeting, or using low level diction speaking with your boss can all be detrimental to your career. This is why in business writing and communication, you must think, study, and practice rhetoric to better suit the audience and their reaction.
Social media might not seem like it contains any rhetoric, but it is heavy with it. Changing the lighting on a picture is rhetoric. Deciding on a caption or hashtag is rhetoric. This is because altering things slightly persuades an audience to “like” a picture or post. When teenagers write their posts on social media, they often want to appeal to their peers, so they write like their peers would to gain popularity. This is similar to business writing. Businesspeople are constantly trying to figure out how they can get their peers to understand, believe, or agree with them. They do this by using rhetoric. Writing an email to your boss about a pay raise would require thought about how you could persuade him effectively, so you must use rhetoric! In any case, without the use of rhetoric, one will not survive in the business world.