Due Wed. Oct 5 — 10am EDT
Read chapter 7 attached! Tell me what you gathered from it or use the guided questions.
Some questions to consider:
–In light of Burke’s argument about rhetoric as identification, is the process of a speaker persuading an audience ultimately more of an internal process within the listeners? Can persuasion occur if the audience doesn’t own or internalize the persuasion?
–How might the idea of rhetoric as identification help us understand the kinds of polarization that can occur on social media?
–Identification can be a powerful force of peer pressure, goading people to think or behave in ways they see as aligned with their group’s values. But what happens to this peer pressure when there is an internal sense of ideological dissonance? Within politics, for example, Blue Dog Democrats are known as relatively moderate Democrats who align with the Democratic Party on most issues but who may differ on certain issues like gun control or abortion. On the Republican side, Log Cabin Republicans have historically aligned with the Republican Party on most issues, but they are staunchly pro-LGBT+ rights. What should someone do when they feel a sense of ideological dissonance within their identity group?
–Thinking about Burke’s concept of redemption from guilt, what are some contemporary examples in which such redemption has successfully occurred? In which cases was the redemption tragic and in which cases comic
