What does rhetoric do?

According to Herrick, modern students "expect their writing to change the world they live in" (3). Good writing "changes something. It doesn't just sit on the page. It gets up, walks off the pape and changes something" (Herrick 3). My theory of rhetoric maintains that writing, speechmaking, interpersonal communication, and other forms of rhetoric do something. Rhetoric is an act of creation. Herrick claims that rhetoric has six social functions: it tests ideas, assists advocacy, distributes power, discovers facts, shapes knowledge, and builds community (17-23). While all of these are important aspects of rhetoric, I'd like to focus on a few in particular that shape my theory of rhetoric.

Rhetoric tests ideas. Herrick writes that "the better equipped an audience is to test ideas advanced for their consideration, and the more care that goes into that testing, the better check we have on the quality of ideas" (17). Clearly, this is a process that helps to advance society, so "training in the art of rhetoric is just as important for audience members as it is for advocates" (Herrick 17). Kenneth Burke, in "The Rhetoric of Hitler's 'Battle,'" emphasizes the importance of rhetorical understanding for each person as a way of evaluating ideas. Burke analyzes Hitler's rhetoric in a way that no other scholar had done before by taking it seriously and paying attention to it. By taking a systematic and analytical approach such that he tries “to discover that kind of ‘medicine’ this medicine-man has concocted, that we may know… exactly what to guard against,” Burke shows how crucial it is for people to be equipped to evaluate rhetoric (164). Rhetorical training equips us to recognize manipulation and other abuses of power through our testing of ideas.

Rhetoric also distributes power. Herrick writes that "due to its capacity for influencing decisions, rhetoric is a form of social power" (19). Hélène Cixous examines the social power of rhetoric in her essay "The Laugh of the Medusa." In reckoning with a history of rhetoric and literature that is extraordinarily patriarchal and phallologocentric and that has enabled men to lead women to hate women, Cixous views language as an opportunity for a redistribution of power. She calls for women to "write her self" as a form of "new insurgent writing" (Cixous 1235). The history of rhetoric is overwhelmingly male. Not only are most studied rhetoricians male, but the development of language and rhetoric has largely been shaped by men, and many of these men (for example, Aristotle) viewed women as less than human. So, in an effort to change how male-dominated rhetoric is, Cixous proclaims that "It is time to liberate the New Woman from the Old by coming to know her-- by loving her for getting by" (1234). Rhetoric provides an opportunity for liberation and a redistribution of power.

What does it mean to speak well?

Take this speech by Lady Gaga when she accepted her ELLE Women In Hollywood award in 2018. It's a beautiful speech, and it both advances knowledge and educates others. In this speech, Gaga uses her choice to wear a suit as a frame for a discussion about reclaiming one's voice. She speaks about her survival of sexual violence, the way that shame caused her to "shut down" and "hide," and how she's worked to find power within herself, and promotes mental health treatment and kindness as strategies for overcoming trauma (ELLE).

Her discussion about women in Hollywood is particularly moving: "We are not just objects to entertain the world. We are not simply images to bring smiles or grimaces to people's faces. We are not members of a giant beauty pageant... We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced" (ELLE). Gaga's speech works to educate her audience by referencing her personal experiences within a sexist and exploitative industry. She advances knowledge about what women are: voices, with deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs, with power. In Gorgias, the character Socrates promotes rhetoric as when a good man speaks towards the best, with the goal of bringing about justice and ending injustice. Gaga's speech undoubtedly does the same when she calls for mental health resources and women's empowerment.

Her speech is democratic and works with the audience. Gaga meets the audience's values and level of knowledge to reach conclusions together. It is persuasive, also. Gaga gives out calls for action-- to fund mental health treatment in schools, to empower women to reclaims their own voices and power, and to be kind to one another. She employs persuasive rhetorical tools by sharing her experiences, providing statistics on mental health, and using her celebrity platform to not only reach a wider audience but have increased credibility as a speaker. Finally, it is both interpersonal and public. Obviously, this speech was given at a public (and recorded) event, making it public. It interacts with members of the public as Gaga references friends, coworkers, and inspirational people in the crowd. But it is also interpersonal. Gaga speaks about the power of interpersonal disclosures in terms of surviving sexual violence. We are not witness to these interpersonal conversations, but we can see how rhetoric is operating there, too, in bringing healing and building community around Gaga.

This is just one example, but I think it's effective in demonstrating how rhetoric is democratic, persuasive, interpersonal, and public, all while fulfilling its goal of advancing knowledge and educating others.