Pradhi Waghray, Week 9 - Political Rhetoric and Power
2024. Another election year.
How can we be sure who to elect, how do we determine which candidate is promising? Well, one popular way to look at it would be to ask questions. What policies do they actively support that we agree with? What about them is intriguing to us that we would like to see more of in the country?
Well, how we perceive political figures depends highly on their technique of speaking, and how they present themselves to the country. In other words, the political rhetoric used by politicians is powerful in how it shapes their public opinion.
For example, you may in many debates and interviews, political candidates use a certain type of diction or imagery to phrase a policy they support or wish to bring forward in America. This implementation of rhetorical devices in speech is especially important to gain media appeal.
As linguist Chi Luu mentions in her article, "well-known powerful figures automatically have the attention of the public." With this benefit, all that is left to meticulously curate for these "powerful figures" is their wording when it comes to addressing the public.
However, this sounds much easier than it actually may be. While it is easy for us as citizens to scrutinize a political figure's every move, they must work to decide what they believe is best for the nation and what aligns most with the values of citizens today. All that is left for us to do is assess the sincerity of their statements, highlighting the power of political rhetoric.
https://glaad.org/2024-primary-candidate-records/ |
Pradhi,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how relevant your topic was to your audience, as many of us are getting closer to the legal voting age of 18 and will soon have that power to decide the future of our country. When evaluating our past presidents and considering our future ones, it’s clear that it’s important to make smart and deliberate decisions regarding who we vote for in the political arena—your blog is a great introduction to the rhetorical aspect of presidential campaigning. I enjoyed how you began your blog with a series of highly thought-provoking questions, as wondering how to make the best decision about selecting presidential candidates and how to even understand why a candidate would be a good fit for our country is something many of us are going through or will go through when the time comes. I further appreciated how you gave the examples of “diction” and “imagery,” which we could tie back to our education in language and further understand how these rhetorical strategies apply in the real world. The article you included was equally as enlightening as your blog and it aided in understanding the topic. Your use of bold text in your final words effectively highlighted the overarching message of your blog about power within politics, and I really enjoyed the massages you had to share. Thank you!
Hi Pradhi!
ReplyDeleteIt is bewildering to think about how quickly the years are going by. I love that you chose to write about this topic as it is extremely relevant to the country at the time.
I appreciate that you encourage people to question for themselves as it is common to vote based on communital bias. When choosing the leader of a country it is significant to comprehend the options with mindfulness.
Political rhetoric is a crucial tool used by many politicians in order to manipulate their words. The specific example you have used about the "debates and interviews" helps the readers effectively visualize your ideas.
The quote you used from Chi Luu acts as proper support for your claim and also helps the readers further understand and agree with the ideas discussed in the blog.
Lastly, the use of the bold lettering efficiently underscores the value of "political rhetoric" as the reader's eyes immediately gravitate to the darkest letters seen. I love the topic that you choose to write about and thank you for sharing this with us!
Hi Pradhi! I completely agree with you. How a politician markets themselves verbally is one of the key factors in determining their success in elections. In a sense, politicians NEED to be diplomatic people pleasers. Obviously, if their ideas go against those of the general public, they will not receive the votes they need to earn the position they want. I liked that you offered situations for us to think about that were also familiar to us to help us understand the impact politicians have on us through their rhetorical choices. What you said about our ability to evaluate a candidate's sincerity also really struck me. There are times when someone sounds way too passionate or way too considerate that lead an audience to believe that the person they are listening to is purposely trying to sway them. This would lead the audience away from agreeing to a candidate speaking before them. Politicians must strike a balance between sounding too sincere and completely insincere. By making rhetorical choices to discuss personal anecdotes or share witty remarks, politicians can show us that they are making an effort to relate to us and gain our trust. Your examples of diction and imagery add on to the plethora of rhetorical devices politicians use throughout their campaigns.
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