oratory

March 10, 2025

Upcoming in my Political Rhetor Series.

I’ve published: 6.1. Intro. Pam and Aristotle on the Political Rhetor; The Political Rhetor and the Future: 6.2.a. The Poor; 6.2. b. Children; 6.2.c.i. Future Generations. The Political Rhetor and the Future, Future Generations: 6.2.ii. Who are the Future Generations?; 6.2.iii The Glimmer of Hope Move; and, 6.2.iv. Stewardship — are each in the editing Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

action, concepts, ethics, mental states, movement, ontology, oratory, perlocutionary, Philosophy, political, politics, rhetoric, speech acts
March 10, 2025

Aristotle and Pam on The Political Rhetor. 6.1. Series. Intro.

I’ve already published 6.2.a. The Poor, 6.2. b. Children, and 6.2.c.i. (of ii, iii, and iv) on Future Generations. So this intro is out of chronological order. The most important concept for political rhetoric is the “perlocutionary speech act” as described below. “The political orator* aims at establishing the expediency** or the harmfulness of a Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

audience, ends, oratory, perlocutionary speech act, persuasion, Philosophy, political, politician, politics, polity, rhetor, rhetoric, speaker, speech, speech act, ways and means, words
March 7, 2025

The Political Rhetor and the Future. 6.2.a. The Poor.

To help you navigate political rhetoric. *updated from June 2020 for readability and to ensure active links See 6.1 Intro here. I’ve broken The Political Rhetor and the Future into: 6.2.a. The Poor; 6.2.b. Children; and, Future Generations 6.2.c.i. , 6.2.c.ii, & 6.2.c.iii. Subsequent posts in this series are: 6.3. Attainability of Ends; 6.4. Warnings; Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

analyses, aristotle, class, Clinton, concepts, future, Malthus, Obama, oratory, perlocutionary, Philosophy, political, politics, poor, poverty, rhetoric, speeches, the poor, Trump, underclass
August 23, 2024

The Right(eous)ness of the Wronged: A Powerful Tool of Persuasion.

Righteous anger motivates personal crusades just as it does a march of thousands, even hundreds of thousands. *Herein, I use rhetor, orator speaker and writer interchangeably. Likewise for the words hearer, audience, judger, and reader. An overview of what Aristotle means by rhetoric and some of its features is helpful here. Aristotle defines rhetoric as, Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

anger, aristotle, campaign, emotion, ethos, God, good, harris, Hobbes, injustice, justice, karma, oratory, pathos, persuasion, Philosophy, political, politics, revenge, rhetoric, right, righteous, speaker, Trump
January 17, 2022

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. The CDC reports an alarming number of repetitive strain injuries during the Finger-Wagging pandemic.

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Pam-Toons, Social and Political Commentary

accuse, art, cartoon, CDC, CNN, criticism, finger, finger-wagging, Fox, graphic, high dudgeon, holier than thou, hyper-morality, hyper-partisan, judgemental, media, moral, moralizing, MSNBC, nag, news, oratory, pandemic, pencil, photo, pointing, prig, repetitive strain, rhetoric, satire, scold, sketch, social
April 9, 2021

Hume on Persuasion.

In On War Carl Von Clausewitz says war is a continuation of politics by other means. Or cf. Foucault, who suggests this definition might be the inverted: politics is a continuation of war by other means. My interest is in the ‘other means’, which include political rhetoric. Broadly defined, rhetoric is “the power of observing the means Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric

aristotle, Hume, oratory, political, politics, rhetoric, Von Clausewitz, war
February 21, 2021

R.e.s.p.e.c.t. What does it mean and why should I care?

In my youth, my dad often gave me the following advice. Respect your elders, but don’t take any shit. I took Dad to mean that there is a mutual component to respect, that my respecting my elders didn’t give them license to abuse me. Even youth are due a modicum of respect. In this light, Continue reading

Political Rhetoric

audience, communication, connotations, context, diplomacy, disrespect, ethics, indexical, judge, masses, meaning, noble, oratory, political, politics, respect, rhetoric, sentiments, speech, value, wobbly, word
October 31, 2020

Thoughtlets .xxv.

If you like something a political speaker has said or the way she’s said it, ask yourself who her target audience is and whether you are a member. If so, remember the politician is soliciting your vote. It would not go amiss to slow down and inspect her wares for incorrigible defects, a most difficult Continue reading

Thoughtlets

bias, critcize, critic, deliberate, discern, emotion, inspection, judge, oratory, partisan, perspective, politician, politics, prejudice, rhetoric, scrutiny, slow, sophism, sophist, speech, think
September 18, 2020

Thoughtlets .viii.

Stand in one room while the television is on in the other. Now see if you can distinguish the voices of Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) and Tucker Carlson (Fox News). I can’t. Notice that it’s not just their voices that are similar, it’s their style. Each sounds like a pouty prepubescent child who, in a jealous Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

analyses, analysis, anger, Carlson, commentary, Fox News, Maddow, media, MSNBC, oratory, partisan, polarization, political, politics, rhetoric, style, television, voice