It’s Time to Tell the Ref to Whistle

I thought that there was only one rule when you were talking, “think before you speak” turns out there is an actual thought out rule about argument. There would be no point if an argument has no rules, and you always have to “remain intent on real persuasion”(158).

Even if arguments give you the freedom to make your own decisions and sometimes even say what comes to mind, there should in fact be some ground rules in order for the argument to be much better.

Sometimes logos won’t get you were you want with your argument and it can turn everything around.

Ethos and pathos are forms of manipulating the crowd that will guarantee your vote more than logos ever would.

Ethos and pathos can make you look “strong, passionate, and reasonable”(162). A fallacy can sometimes “fail to persuade”(162).

As repeated in various chapters, we want “to get the audience on his [our] side”(163). You should use past and present tense to make your argument stronger. You should try to use the future and make plans about how you can improve. Instead of blaming my sister for being late to school, I should instead talk to her and discuss what we can do to deal with the problem and what we can do to fix it later on.

You shouldn’t stick to the present tense when you are in the position of making a choice. You will never win the argument if you do that, you will automatically “commit a foul”(166).

In an argument, when you use threat there isn’t really space to make a choice, and this throws off the whole point of an argument. Parents use threat. They use it a lot.

You have to go to the dentist or you’ll get cavities.

That’s it, you have to go if your parents use that move.

In hollywood they take rhetoric to a whole other level and use threats permanently to prove their points. 

Even if rhetoric is in fact very free there are still some things you have to follow in order for your argument to be successful. 

Let’s give Heinrichs a Ferrari

In chapter 13 Heinrichs focuses on syllogisms, he says that in the philosophical way they are truly boring and totally “useless in day-to-day conversations”(123). When he starts saying that philosophy is boring I was like “hey back off there man, you don’t know what you are talking about.” I get really personal when it comes to philosophy because it is my favorite class. I want to study something that has to do with that so I don’t really like when people say it is boring. It totally  isn’t.

There are different kinds of syllogisms in which you use logos to use logic, that doesn’t make sense at first, but it will. Logos takes a big part in this chapter and Heinrichs explains how you can use facts to get people to do what you want. I really liked the “if-then” theory, sometimes it won’t get you anywhere because it states the obvious, “Even the Greeks found syllogisms boring, because the middle line tends to be painfully obvious”(125). Sometimes it really does make a lot of sense.

If moms go for good grades and

If you go for being smart

Then study hard and do your homework (or get a tutor).

Enthymeme. “You believe this, so you should do that”(130). Lets leave out all that hinders in the sentence and let’s just stay with what is really important.

Mom’s go for good grades

You should get a tutor.

You know, there are really a lot of techiniques to argue. You apply them everyday, you just don’t notice and don’t know until you read this book. You can use them with anything.

I like the fact, comparison, and story. And using them all at once is even more effective.

We should use all three to persuade my mom to go with me to the Lady Gaga concert.

Me: You want to be a cool and modern mom right? Then you should totally go with me to the Lady Gaga concert.

Fact: She is the number one pop star right now and it is the only time she is going to come to Colombia.

Comparison: Do you prefer to stay at home like you do every other night? I don’t think so.

Story: One of my friends once went to a concert without her mom and they didn’t let her in. She lost all the money she had spent on her ticket and she had to go back home.

I think this would work with my mom! Thank you Aristotle once again! 

Once Again, I Learned How to Argue

And with videos!!!

We come to politics once again when we understand that all politicians want something out of you.  Every person wants to get you to do something, if not they wouldn’t be giving you their attention. If the messages you are trying to send to your audience “appeal only to the speaker have a tendency to boomerang”(98).

Of course in the case of politics what they want is your vote. Once they have it they will keep calm and then start doing all the stuff they promised they would do. But if you are in Obamas shoes, you want people to know what you did well in your presidency so they can trust you and vote for you again. In the video he talks about generating more jobs, of course this is beneficial for the audience and the country, people they are generating more jobs. But it is more beneficial to Obama, since he proves he can make the economy work, he puts peoples needs which in this case are jobs before what he really wants (a vote) or also, actually generating more jobs.

Disney does both babbling and clichés. They do in their famous cliché “and they live happily ever after.” As children grow up, generally for the girls, the parents want their children to understand that in fact everyone lives “happily ever after” Disney babbles this same phrase in each and everyone of its movies that it finally sticks.

Let’s go back to Obama, in this video clip he uses judo and he made Romney look bad because of what he had or hadn’t said before.

He talks about how he thinks it’s a “mistake” about the healthcare choices that women are making. He says that insurance companies need to provide contraceptive coverage to everybody who is women. He says that Romney objected, that women shouldn’t get contraception in their insurance coverage.

Here Obama does uses “jujitsu and judo”(119) because he uses the terms that Romney had said before and attacked him, he also contrasted with his opinion, he disagreed with Romney so the audience would agree with him and make him look bad.

Here we go, one final video. A pretty geeky one, but I like it! It shows how commonplace words can be applied. These words have “almost no emotional effect”(115). The word standard is used in this video and it shows how there are many ways in which you can employ it. 

I'm Interested In Disinterest

Every time I continue reading this book I get more and more new ideas of how to manipulate my parents very discreetly and “disinterestly” to give me the things I want.  You have to make it their interest to give you whatever it is you want, and not vice versa. You have to make them think it’s for their good and not your personal.

When you are up to something, you have to “make it seem you have no tricks”(75). You have to be really sneaky about everything and not let them notice what is behind all of that. Just be genuine, (Pause, NOT.)

Dubilatio, oh the romans, they always knew about everything, even one of the early chief rhetoricians, Quintilian knew about rhetoric. “Pretending to be uncertain on how to begin or proceed with his speech” (75)

Abraham Lincoln even used this Dubilatio technique in his campaign, he made it seem like he wasn’t prepared and when he gave his speech in New York he announced that what he was about to say was “nothing new”(76). “Absolutely brilliant”(76). This way, he lowered the audience’s previous expectations about the speech and completely surprised them later.

I know understand how emotions work, people tend to make connections with the “clumsy”(76) speakers and sympathize.

This man really was a genius, more than my mother, he knew exactly how to work with people, no wonder Heinrichs talks about him so much, and he really is worth spending paper on. He was able to make the audience trust him and let the audience know he was being very sincere, and then he would show them that he was really intelligent and that he knew a lot about the country.

Ethos goes way back , even Marie Antoinette used it with her famous frase of “let them eat cake” clearly, didn’t work out so much for her because shw was later guillotined, not as smart as Lincoln I would say, and I’m sure I have people who agree with me too.

Also, you have to make the audience think that you are “disinterested” as another genius of rhetoric Aristotle said. This way, you will be “the most believable”(78).