Using Rhetoric in Everyday Life

A basic definition of rhetoric is language that is intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable. There are many different uses of rhetoric which can be found in day-to-day life due to the fact that one, there are always going to be people trying to convince other people of something and two, people want to make their point in an argument or convey an idea they have. Two of the most common places you can find rhetoric are in advertisements are political speeches. Advertisements are constantly influencing us in magazines, newspapers, television, and pretty much everywhere on the internet. Ads use arguments to convince people of an idea which use basic elements of rhetoric. These include critical thinking, assumptions, counterarguments, types of appeals, logical fallacies, and audience. They also use metaphors, hyperboles, and anaphora to make the idea seem more attractive to the audience. Likewise, in political speeches the uses of rhetoric get the audience to agree with the points and ideas the speaker is making. They do this without offering information with any intellectual value. An example of rhetoric in political speeches is that the speaker will try to convince the audience that the other person running against them is unintelligent and doesn’t deserve to be elected, or is not fit for the position. This gives the other person a negative connotation but with no fundamental meaning. They use this strategic type of communication for one main reason which is agreement of their target audience. These are just some of the ways rhetoric is used and seen in everyday life.

 

Sources:
https://edurhetor.wordpress.com/about/rhetoric/

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/32181.html