Summary:
During this first chapter you are introduced to the concept of what is an argument and what to do and what not to do also how to win in losing an argument. He tells you about different persuasion techniques and how they are used in everyday ordinary life. With argumentum a fortiori, “argument from strength” it is thought if something works the hard way it should work the easy way. This is often used in commercials an example would be Secrets “Strong enough of a man but made for a women”. This commercial states how their deodorant can be used on the harshest subject so it can be used on the softest, it makes a lot of logical sense. Rhetoric is not only for the courts or to get you to buy a product it can be used in an everyday setting. Most common everyday persuasion technique is seduction. Now seduction is not only about sex appeal but about just appealing to everyone. It is trying to please a variety of people and their emotions. Logic can rarely get people to do anything you have to make them desire to do something. In TV shows we see this with good looking characters with dark gravelly voices fighting the same devilishly handsome bad guys each week with over dramatic and lavish close-ups of them with dramatic music. This makes us feel like we are experiencing something real even when we are not .When a TV show is not doing so well they will seduce an audience by cutting in more music. This makes the viewer ship feel more connected and it makes them feel something because we can call connect to music. Especially classical music such as The Magic Flute by Mozart in Infinity's new car commercial. Music such as this for decades has made people feel something and seeing a car back up is not very exciting but in the snow with this song rapidly playing in the background makes it exciting. Now this type of persuasion technique can be seen as manipulation but that’s only one part of the argument. Another big persuasion technique is chiasmus. Chiasmus is latin for crossing a figure of speech where two or more things are related to each other using a reversal of sentence structure to make a bigger point. This is seen a lot in speeches such as Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech March 5, 1946 “Let us preach what we practice —let us practice what we preach.” Most recognizable would be “All for one and one for all” the Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, they are all around us. As you can see rhetoric is all around us and it influences everything we do.
Reflection
The first chapter of Thank You For Arguing was very interesting, insightful, and entertaining, something most educational books lack. I have seen a lot of the same information many times and never have I been so intrigued by it. Jay Heinrichs is a brilliant writer who knows how to teach you something and at the same time make you laugh. Which made this chapter far more enjoyable to read. I enjoy learning and laughing so why not do both. Right off the bat with this book Jay tells you a story about toothpaste and his son and it was very interesting how he handled it. I would have never released he was using any sort of persuasion technique until he explained it. I thought everyone understood that in conceding your point you could still get what you want. I do that all the time with my sister when she may have thought she won the argument and proved her point but in the end I got what I wanted. Who cares who technically won I got what I wanted in the end. I also never really realized how much seduction was in our media till this chapter. I went back and looked at some of the more successful commercials and TV shows and it’s just about all you can see. Even if at first glance you don’t see it, it’s still there just under the surface. We have rhetoric built into us, into everything that pretty song the blue bird sings is actually a warning that this tree is theirs. My name on my cup tells everyone that this cup is mine. We are constantly in debate. We can’t help but seek new challenges. 
No comments:
Post a Comment