Lloyd Bitzer, in his work, The Rhetorical Situation, explains that communication becomes rhetorical when the speaker is addressing an existing situation that invites a response. He outlines the elements of the rhetorical situation as containing exigencies that can be altered by agents of change. According to Bitzer, the rhetorical situation presents constraints controlling the character of the rhetoric used to address it. On June 16, 2015, Donald Trump officially announced that he is running as a Republican candidate for President of the United States. During the primary election, he must compete with other GOP candidates to win the nomination to run as the Republican representative in the general election while simultaneously addressing Democratic …show more content…
Specifically, a candidate must convince the voters that he or she is the person for the job. Among the Republican candidates who are running against the current (and potentially future) party in power, there is the perception of an existing exigency (a situation urgently requiring change). This perception, along with the competitive nature of the election cycle, creates a rhetorical situation. According to Lloyd Bitzer,
“rhetorical discourse comes into existence as a response to a situation…the situation controls the rhetorical response…rhetoric is a mode of altering reality…by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action…Let us regard rhetorical situation as a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance” (Philosophy & Rhetoric, Volume 1, 1 –
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The first competition is between ostensibly like-minded competitors who compete to win their party’s nomination. The second competition that is simultaneously taking place is between these competitors and the representatives of the opposing party. In the first competition, the candidate must convince their potential voters that they are the best candidate to represent those voters in the general election. When Donald Trump announced that he is running for president as a Republican candidate, he responded to the constraints present in the first competition by highlighting perceived weaknesses of his primary competitors
“The Candidate” is a prime example to the inside of a campaign and the inside of an election. Elections do not only include the candidate themselves but the campaign manager, the supporters, the nominee’s family and the media crew. During “The Candidate” democratic nominee John McKay uses many strategies in order to “not” win his election for senator of California. Going into this campaign McKay was in hopes that he would not win the election, as time passed his view of the election changed as did his strategies.
“The Rhetorical Situation” by Lloyd Bitzer discusses what a rhetorical situation includes for a situation to be identified as a rhetorical situation. Bitzer states that a rhetorical situation occurs when an issue has the possibility of being changed in a positive way. Bitzer discusses that a rhetorical situation must include rhetorical exigence, audience, and constraints. Rhetorical exigences must be receptive of positive change and can only be changed through discourse. Bitzer explains that discourse is a type of social practice or a way of thinking.
The rhetorical situation is made up of a few elements such as the audience, the issue, and the constraints. Bitzer described the rhetorical situation as “a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence, which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence” (Bitzer 6). In this essay I will explain in depth how the rhetorical situation works as a process. The main three parts of the rhetorical situation is the exigence and/or issue, the audience, and the constraints. I will also talk about the influence that Bitzer holds with the rhetorical situation, and
What I have learned about the rhetorical situation is that it is very fundamental and useful when it comes to reading or writing a text. The rhetorical situation applies to the audience and purpose of a text, which create creates a rhetorical response. Also, it
For instance, rhetoric is often used in politics. The rhetoric used in politics can make one side of the argument seem better, and it often points out the flaws in the opposing debate. This creates a positive outlook on the person debating, and causes the audience to believe, and side, with them. Since we are constantly surrounded by rhetoric, it is our job to choose which opinion we agree with, and which will benefit us.
Gail highlights the main idea that Donald Trump won’t accept the election results if he loses. In the third debate, Donald Trump constantly interrupted Hillary Clinton and the moderator. Gail Collins uses the rhetorical mode; illustration by pulling out examples from the debate. In addition, Gail pulled quotes directly out of the the debate to support her purpose that the third debate was a mess. She used the quote “I will tell you at the time. … I’ll keep you in suspense” from Donald Trump to show how horrible Donald Trump's remarks at the debate were. Gail also uses the rhetorical strategy; colloquialism, to turn the twisted debate into something comical. She uses words like “jeepers!” and “yow!” to show how cringe-worthy his remarks were. Gail Collins uses the same rhetorical strategy throughout her
Keith Grant-Davie's essay on rhetorical situations is an in depth explanation of rhetorical situations. A rhetorical situation is when a rhetorician or writer wants to change the way an audience see's or understands something by using discourse. Grant-Davie describes the four main parts of a rhetorical situation as being the rhetor, an audience, exigence, and constraints. The rhetor, is the speaker or producer that is trying to get an idea into the audiences head. The audience is anyone who is taking in the material that the rhetor is advertising. Exigence is the "problem" that the rhetor is addressing; the whole reason discourse was brought to light. Finally constraints are the boundaries the rhetor follows to butter up the audience. They
Rhetoric seems like a big word but the meaning is simple- persuasion. In the book Julius Caesar, Antony and Brutus, two major characters, are fantastic at persuading the Roman citizens. When one is reading the story, they might think that both have equal amounts but when you look closer, Antony has the better rhetoric strategies. In just a few short sentences, Antony convinced the people to believe that Caesar needed revenge even though he never came out and told them that. Just a couple of minutes ago, the citizens were on Brutus’s side and thought that Caesar needed to go.
Rhetoric gives you an avenue to tell a story from your perspective in a way that connects with the intended audience without having to be one hundred percent substantiated. This writing style is evident in almost everything we read from billboards to Internet ads and even political speeches.
For effective rhetoric to take shape, the rhetoric must create a situation through which they are able to persuade. According to Vatz, "No situation can have a nature...independent of rhetoric" (154). If rhetoric were not present, then there would be no situations. The situations created by
In The Rhetorical Situation, Lloyd F. Bitzer argues that what makes a situation rhetorical is similar to that which constitutes a moral action as he writes that, “an act is moral because it is an act performed in a situation of a certain kind; similarly, a work is rhetorical because it is a response to a situation of a certain kind”.(3) By defining the rhetorical situation in this way, Bitzer further contends that rhetoric is a means to altering reality. (4) It is through the use of discourse that one is capable of changing reality through thought and action. (4) Bitzer then elaborates upon the nature of a rhetorical situation by explaining that rhetorical discourse enters a situation when: providing a response to its state of affairs;
There are seven hopefuls who are likely going to formally announce their candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, within the next week and many more who are contemplating a run. None of them invoke an emotional, if not polarizing response quite like “The Donald.” It is early yet, but the only Republican hopeful who has broken from the reserved, almost polite rhetoric of the early stump speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the government-as-usual policy discussions on the Sunday media carousel, has been Donald Trump. By removing the shackles of political correctness and “media-speak,” Mr. Trump tossed a few verbal hand grenades into the throng of Obama-friendly, group-think media sycophants, who were waiting
Current events create opportunities to analyze rhetorical situations in action and apply the effectiveness of rhetoric’s various definitions in a real-world context. One such recent event that sparked controversy in this year’s presidential election was Hillary Clinton and, her aide, Huma Abedin’s email crisis. The scandal specifically highlighted how these women handled classified information on their personal servers and relayed sensitive emails on private devices (Goldman and Apuzzo P6). Investigators working on the case of Anthony Weiner, Abedin’s estranged husband, confiscated a personal laptop and found nearly 650,000 emails; they loaded these emails into computer software designed to detect classified information (Schmidt, et al. A17).
election campaign is compared to a war. The candidates try all means to fight for the presidential position. This can be
In the recent presidential campaign, Trump has come into sharp criticism regarding his firm-held belief regarding some matters. The political ideologies that Trump has been propagating through his campaigns have been questioned regarding his moral reasoning and arguments. Trump’s political career began in the year ending 2012 when he then announced his intention to run for office. However, the political statements he makes have come into sharp focus regarding his leadership style and political beliefs.