The Rhetorical Internet

Many people look upon rhetoric with suspition because it has often been a tool of manipulation.  Many think that rhetoric is all about tricking people and manipulating their passions.  This unfortunate delusion is a result of a lack of understanding of the definition of rhetoric.  Foss, Foss, and Trapp who wrote a book named "Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric" define rhetoric to be the "human use of symbols to communicate (1). 

The fancy speaking used by politicians is only a kind of rhetoric.  When comedians on Comedy Central mix jokes with profanity, this is rhetoric.  When I try to get my Dad to pay my tuition, that is rhetoric.  When you write a job report, that is rhetoric.  When you write a check, that is rhetoric.  Rhetoric is not wrong in any way and is actually very useful.  People who are bad at rhetoric or symbolic communication are not very popular.  To me, rhetoric is less about moving crowd and more about communicating to others what I feel and think. 

Today more and more communication is digital so more rhetoric is being used in digital communication.  My friends and I like to text message each other a lot and that is a miniature digital culture.  I participate in Cramster.com which is a site where we help each other out with homework problems which are usually math related.  I like to put the solutions to tough problems online and look at solutions others have discovered. 

I answer math questions people have posted online and this requires good rhetoric.  When a person has trouble with a problem, he or she usually needs someone who can communicate clearly and effectively.  When I answer a question, I have to show a solution to a problem step by step using knowledge that people already know.  If I skip a step, or become unclear, or make a mistake, I risk confusing the asker.

People generally define rhetoric too generally and they do not realize that they spend much of their lives constantly using it.  Rhetoric is becoming very important in digital technology because that is now where much communication is going on.