Application of Rhetorical Devices in an Argument Debate
LAVC Application of Rhetorical Devices in an Argument Debate Discussion
Find a two-minute clip on any argument or debate aired on the news in the last year (note that your choice of video doesn’t have to be two minutes itself; you can choose a longer video and just select a two-minute section of it, noting the time stamp of the two minutes you’re looking at).
- Provide a link to the clip and address the following:
- What is the context of the argument being made?
- Identify at least two or three rhetorical devices used during this debate and explain their effect on the audience. Do you think the speakers use these intentionally? If so, for what purpose? If not, explain your reasoning.
- Note: Your video does not literally need to be a political debate, such as a mayoral or presidential debate, or a major debate over important political matters such as climate change or universal health care (although it certainly can be); it can be a debate over, say, whether or not pineapple is acceptable on pizza, or whether AutoTune has ruined music. That is, it doesn’t have to be super-important to be eligible for our discussion – what matters is that a position is presented and then defended, and we want to assess how rhetoric at times might replace rather than merely augment or decorate reasoning in the argument.
- Be sure that your analysis focuses on rhetorical devices (such as those detailed in Chapter 5 and listed at the end of the chapter) rather than ethos, pathos, and logos, which are rhetorical modes of persuasion. If you do want to discuss ethos and/or pathos, make sure to provide a substantive analysis of the specific, particular ways the argument is relying on the professed credibility of the speaker (ethos) and/or relying on specific appeals to emotion, and how it’s doing so.
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