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Showing papers in "Rhetoric and public affairs in 2001"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that visual images of American casualties and POWs have had a profound effect on senior leadership's perceptions of what level of casualties the American public will and will not support during humanitarian interventions.
Abstract: This essay argues that visual images of American casualties and POWs have had a profound effect on senior leadership's perceptions of what level of casualties the American public will and will not support during humanitarian interventions. The result is the current policy of "zero casualties," a policy that makes it virtually impossible to justify military operations in humanitarian crises because the policy is based on a profound misreading of the way the American public will interpret photojournalistic images. An argument- and rhetoric-based analytic provides a more viable and pragmatic basis for interpretation and hence for foreign policy decision making.

44 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article argued that reconciliation is a mode of rhetorical history-making, a complex set of inventional practices that both open time for speech and employ speech to make time, and that institutions and citizens can craft the potential for future dialogue from within historical justifications for violence.
Abstract: South Africa's turn to reconciliation did not begin with the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This essay examines the role of reconciliation in South Africa's transition from apartheid to constitutional democracy. It contends that reconciliation is a mode of rhetorical history-making, a complex set of inventional practices that both open time for speech and employ speech to make time. Viewed closely, this middle voice of reconciliation illustrates precise ways that institutions and citizens can craft the potential for future dialogue from within historical justifications for violence.

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The seven propaganda devices (name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, and bandwagon) have been familiar in the field of communications as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The analytic construct of the seven propaganda devices--name calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, and bandwagon--long has been familiar in the field of communication. The following documentary account of the seven-devices framework, extending and focusing my previous explications of the subject, clarifies who first developed the format, how it came to be published, why it both captured immediate interest and longstanding attention, and how later it encountered social and ideological conditions that variously facilitated or impeded its diffusion and use.

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Ballot or the Bullet as discussed by the authors is an example of an oppositional prudence that encourages the audience to deliberate and act in ways that defy the expectations of the dominant culture.
Abstract: Prophetic speeches such as "Black Man's History," which Malcolm X delivered while a Nation of Islam minister, encourage a politically passive isolation. "The Ballot or the Bullet," however, delivered after Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, illustrates the rhetorical invention of an oppositional prudence that encourages his audience to deliberate and act in ways that defy the expectations of the dominant culture.

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors understand how the secular ideals of the classical republican tradition were used to resist the inclusion of Texas into the United States and understand the crystallization of manifest destiny into a theologized ideology in the 1840s.
Abstract: Scholars have long understood that the ideology of manifest destiny congealed out of the millennial ideals embedded in American culture. However, they have not fully appreciated that manifest destiny only became a national ideology by overwhelming the arguments that were first voiced during the Monroe administration to resist the incorporation of Texas into the Union. Understanding how the secular ideals of the classical republican tradition were used to resist the inclusion of Texas can help us understand the crystallization of manifest destiny into a theologized ideology in the 1840s.

28 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a new vision of wilderness is proposed that integrates wilderness and social concerns in a way that opens environmentalism to unexpected yet promising alliances with justice activists, unions, and corporations.
Abstract: Environmentalism has been sustained by a mythic discourse about heroic individuals discovering and saving pristine wilderness. Although a successful rhetorical strategy, this mythic discourse erases a complicated history and has significant political costs. Some contemporary wilderness activists are enacting a new wilderness vision that integrates wilderness and social concerns in a way that opens environmentalism to unexpected yet promising alliances with justice activists, unions, and corporations.

24 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors analyzes conversations from nationwide focus groups and argues that the major ailment of the public sphere is the predominance of egocentric arguments, and that healthy public discourse is necessary for a healthy democracy.
Abstract: A healthy public sphere is necessary for a healthy democracy. While most diagnoses currently point to an ailing public sphere, we currently have very little empirical information about the functioning of this discursive realm. To enhance our empirical understanding, the present essay analyzes discussions from nationwide focus groups and argues that the major ailment confronting the public sphere is the predominance of egocentric arguments.

21 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Controversy over the wisdom and workability of "communal dialogue" protocols for informed group consent pivots around quintessentially rhetorical issues and highlights the myriad challenges involved in reconciling medical benefits with ethical concerns in the post-Human Genome Project milieu.
Abstract: Human genome research destabilizes established notions of the "consenting research subject," because individuals who donate DNA samples for research studies necessarily reveal sensitive information not only about themselves, but also about others genetically linked to them. An ethical quandary arises from the fact that as virtual research subjects, these genetically linked others may be harmed by research, yet traditional informed consent protocols give them no say about whether proposed projects should be approved. Proliferation of population-specific genetic research in the wake of the Human Genome Project's completion could magnify this ethical quandary on a vast scale. Such concerns have motivated recent proposals in medical ethics to collectivize the norm of informed consent and require investigators to secure group-based approval for genomic research. Controversy over the wisdom and workability of "communal dialogue" protocols for informed group consent pivots around quintessentially rhetorical issues and highlights the myriad challenges involved in reconciling medical benefits with ethical concerns in the post-Human Genome Project milieu.

17 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the rhetorical performance of W. E. B. Du Bois during the Harlem Renaissance as he cultivates the conditions favorable to an authentic African American public voice, and proposed a rational role for the norms and values of black culture in the public deliberation of American civic life.
Abstract: This essay explores the rhetorical performance of W. E. B. Du Bois during the Harlem Renaissance as he cultivates the conditions favorable to an "authentic" African American public voice. I argue that Du Bois's rhetoric accomplishes three tasks: First, it calls into being the features of "Negro Art." Second, it associates black art with a public voice and posits the black public voice as a mode of mediation between the opposing constraints of "pure art" and "propaganda." This mediation creates a space for public dialogue about race, culture, and society. Lastly, it proposes a rational role for the norms and values of black culture in the public deliberation of American civic life.

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, Lost Revolutions as discussed by the authors considers the insights of scholars like Doug McAdam on the subject of social movement emergence and makes a strong case against portraying collective action as a form of aggression induced by the frustration of status dislocations.
Abstract: Though not completely unpersuasive, this book’s story of the nascent civil rights movement and its opponents might have been stronger if it had considered the insights of scholars like Doug McAdam on the subject of social movement emergence. In particular, McAdam and others have made a strong case against portraying collective action as a form of aggression induced by the frustration of status dislocations, as Daniel does here with respect to segregationist agitation. Moreover, McAdam’s influential work on the civil rights movement suggests that its growth was the result of political developments, not generational change within this crusade. Despite these weaknesses, Lost Revolutions deserves applause for its ambition. Lucidly written, it narrates some of the most important developments in twentieth century southern history without forgetting the human beings who participated in them. Few historians today would undertake such a sweeping project, and few could have pulled it off so well. This book merits wide readership among historians and other scholars with an interest in the South’s recent history.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors provides a critical memories study that looks at some of the key rhetorical shifts in the generational histories of Anne Frank and Bergen-Belsen and finds that these contentious and fragmentary memories have influenced our understanding of the symbolic and material meanings of the Holocaust and its victims.
Abstract: The polysemic nature of Holocaust memories has meant that various communities have conflicting remembrances of the World War II concentration camps. These contentious and fragmentary memories have influenced our understanding of the symbolic and material meanings of the Holocaust and its victims. The author provides a critical memories study that looks at some of the key rhetorical shifts in the generational remembrances of Anne Frank and Bergen-Belsen.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The late-nineteenth century reformer Frances E. Willard carried out an impressive incremental campaign to persuade Woman's Christian Temperance Union members and others in the evangelical Christian community to support woman suffrage as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Late-nineteenth century reformer Frances E. Willard carried out an impressive incremental campaign to persuade Woman's Christian Temperance Union members and others in the evangelical Christian community to support woman suffrage. Willard's commitment to the ballot and even to temperance was more means than end however, since she believed that when women joined together to work they came to a realization of their own powers that could simultaneously transform the world and themselves.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Eleanor Roosevelt's address to the 1940 Democratic National Convention transformed a contentious situation into a motive for unified action on the part of the delegates, the president, and the first lady.
Abstract: Eleanor Roosevelt's address to the 1940 Democratic National Convention transformed a contentious situation into a motive for unified action on the part of the delegates, the president, and the first lady. The speech provides insight into the powerful rhetorical resource of time and insight into one of the central rhetorical strategies that enabled ER's expansion of the first lady role.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an application of J. G. A. Pocock's understanding of the republican tradition based on his theory of political languages facilitates the exploration of hitherto neglected aspects of John C. Calhoun's republicanism.
Abstract: An application of J. G. A. Pocock's understanding of the republican tradition based on his theory of political languages facilitates the exploration of hitherto neglected aspects of John C. Calhoun's republicanism. A Pocockean reading can reveal how republican notions such as the mechanization of virtue, the people's character, military virtue, and the virtue of the South informed Calhoun's political rhetoric.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article used a close analysis of addresses by former President RonaldReagan and Pat Buchanan at the 1992 Republican National Convention to sketch two possible trajectories for contemporary conservatism, and found that the trajectory apparent in the Buchanan speech leads toward anti-government extremists, while that in Reagan's address ironically leads back to traditional liberalism.
Abstract: This essay uses a close analysis of addresses by former President Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan at the 1992 Republican National Convention to sketch two possible trajectories for contemporary conservatism. The trajectory apparent in the Buchanan speech leads toward anti-government extremism, while that in Reagan's address ironically leads back to traditional liberalism. Implications for the status of conservatism and for the process of rhetorical analysis are developed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines Ross Perot's 1992 presidential bid as a comic catalyst for a reinvigorated view of civic responsibility and examines important and previously unexplored distinctions between planned and unplanned incongruity.
Abstract: This essay examines Ross Perot's 1992 presidential bid as a comic catalyst for a reinvigorated view of civic responsibility. Despite the Texas maverick's political naivete and penchant for miscalculation, his very presence in the campaign reanimated Americans' conception of grassroots democracy. By examining important and previously unexplored distinctions between planned and unplanned incongruity, we probe the means by which Perot invited consideration of alternative political perspectives and offered an appealing glimpse into a dormant, more deeply held democratic ideal.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article found that a majority on the Court, and some dissenters, violated their previously established realms of legitimate linguistic possibilities to make their arguments, and that the majority's rhetorical inconsistencies with their past rulings, particularly those immediately preceding Bush v. Gore, prevented consensus and attempted to rationalize a politically charged decision.
Abstract: This critique of the Supreme Court ruling in Bush v. Gore establishes judicial and political contexts to ground a critical reading of the text. It finds that a majority on the Court, and some dissenters, violated their previously established realms of legitimate linguistic possibilities to make their arguments. The majority's rhetorical inconsistencies with their past rulings, particularly those immediately preceding Bush v. Gore, prevented consensus and attempted to rationalize a politically charged decision. This study explains how the Court's credibility was damaged.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In order to cope with the Cold War situation in both Poland and Cuba, Pope John Paul II contrasted the secular sphere of communism with the permanent Christian tradition and its transcendent mystery.
Abstract: In order to cope with the Cold War situation in both Poland and Cuba, Pope John Paul II contrasted the secular sphere of communism with the permanent Christian tradition and its transcendent mysteries. By interpreting history and current events in sacred terms, the pope tried to preserve national identities, empower groups, and ground political change in an overarching Christian order.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines a 1969 speech by President Nixon that introduced millions of Americans to his Family Assistance Plan, a welfare reform proposal that would have provided poor families with a minimum income guarantee, and argues that historical contradictions of poverty discourses informed Nixon's speech and frustrated his attempt to articulate a new approach to federal welfare policy.
Abstract: This essay examines a 1969 speech by President Nixon that introduced Americans to his Family Assistance Plan, a welfare reform proposal that would have provided poor families with a minimum income guarantee. I argue that historical contradictions of poverty discourses informed Nixon's speech and frustrated his attempt to articulate a new approach to federal welfare policy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored how the rhetorical binary of purity and contamination undermined Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign and argued that instead of insisting on an unadulterated space from which to launch their attacks on a corrupt system, the Greens might have had more success by embracing their role as an infecting agent.
Abstract: This essay explores how the rhetorical binary of purity and contamination undermined Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign. Instead of insisting on an unadulterated space from which to launch their attacks on a corrupt system, the Greens might have had more success by embracing their role as an infecting agent--a kind of green virus--actively forcing a reconfiguration of American politics.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This perspective provides a de-essentialized account of human biological diversity that should shift the stasis of the debates about affirmative action away from questions about innate human abilities and toward value issues.
Abstract: Recent genetic accounts of human variation treat the biological components of socially constructed racial groupings as differences in the frequencies of some genetic elements among geographically dispersed populations. This perspective provides a de-essentialized account of human biological diversity that should shift the stasis of the debates about affirmative action away from questions about innate human abilities and toward value issues.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Schier as discussed by the authors provides a sweeping analysis of the changes that have occurred in patterns of voting participation in the United States and of the causes of those changes, concluding that changes in laws or political party processes appear unlikely to occur or to overcome the changed environment within which American politics takes place; such changes are therefore likely to be unable to mitigate the effects of the exclusive invitation and narrowly targeted political activation.
Abstract: who value their freedom not to participate or who, like politicians, also fear the outcomes that might occur if previously unactivated citizens voted would also oppose compulsory voting. Another proposal supported by Schier is government registration of citizens to vote, such as occurs in Canada or Britain, rather than the current practice of citizen-initiated voter registration that exists in the United States. To summarize, this book provides a sweeping analysis of the changes that have occurred in patterns of voting participation in the United States and of the causes of those changes. Changes in laws or political party processes appear unlikely to occur or to overcome the changed environment within which American politics takes place; such changes are therefore likely to be unable to mitigate the effects of the “new” politics of exclusive invitation and narrowly targeted political activation.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, Baer as discussed by the authors describes the rise of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DLC) and its development into a major political force, its philosophical assumptions, and the thinking of its key leaders.
Abstract: genda set ti n g” as discussed by John Ki n gdon (5). He even bri ef ly tips his toe into the w a ters of po l i tical “ i n n ova ti on s — n ew thinking with rega rd to party stru ctu re ,s tra tegy and ideo l ogy,” but he never gets wh ere he needs to go (5). At minimu m , the boo k would ben efit from the work of those intere s ted in con ceptual ch a n ge and po l i ti c a l i n n ova ti on , su ch as Teren ce Ba ll and Ru s s ell Ha n s on . At maximu m , Baer could have s tu d i ed some rh etoric in order to explain what he ack n owl ed ges as crucial mom en t s in the evo luti on of the DLC . For instance , Wi lliam Galston and Elaine Ka m a rck’s m on ogra ph “The Po l i tics of Eva s i on ,” p u bl i s h ed after the 1988 el ecti on , p l ayed an en ormous role in set ting the co u rse of the DLC for the fo ll owing four ye a rs and outl i n ed the rh etorical stra tegy to be fo ll owed by Govern or Cl i n ton . It also propell ed Ka m a rck deep into Vi ce Pre s i dent Gore’s upper ech el on of advi s ors . Yet Baer cannot qu i te explain the doc u m ent because he does not ever en ga ge with the litera tu re on con ceptual ch a n ge and rh etorical del i bera ti on . This mon ogra ph was a powerf u l p i ece of po l i tical rh etori c , and Baer simply cannot explain it as su ch . Reinventing Democrats is an important book because it recounts the rise of the DLC, its development into a major political force, its philosophical assumptions, and the thinking of its key leaders. The research is excellent and the writing is clear. Its strengths are so evident that one wishes for some more—for an interpretation that goes beyond the Beltway wisdom and for a perspective that embraces the classical notion of invention. How, indeed, does one rhetorically invent a Democrat?



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argued that those who own a given speech situation can also occupy the speech of others in that situation, using common features of language, by examining the manner in which the prosecution framed linguistic evidence in the 1949 trial of 11 leaders of the Communist Party of the United States of America.
Abstract: This essay offers an elaboration of Stanley Fish's contention that politics trumps free speech. By examining the manner in which the prosecution framed linguistic evidence in the 1949 trial of 11 leaders of the Communist Party of the United States of America, the author argues that those who own a given speech situation can also occupy the speech of others in that situation, using common features of language.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The history of punishment can be traced to domestication as discussed by the authors and the history of cotton is traced to the harvest of Mesopotamia, which was the site of some of the earliest recorded battles in history.
Abstract: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 08:22:00 GMT harvest of empire a history pdf The history of cotton can be traced to domestication. Cotton played an important role in the history of India, the British Empire, and the United States, and ... Sun, 09 Dec 2018 20:30:00 GMT History of cotton Wikipedia Background. The Assyrian empire has been described as the "first military power in history". Mesopotamia was the site of some of the earliest recorded battles in history. Thu, 06 Dec 2018 13:10:00 GMT Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire Wikipedia KING Art Games is raising funds for Iron Harvest on Kickstarter! A classic real-time strategy game with an epic single player campaign, multiplayer & coop, set in the ... Sun, 09 Dec 2018 18:57:00 GMT Iron Harvest by KING Art Games —Kickstarter The History of Punishment By Lewis Lyons, published by Amber Books, 2003. The early history of punishment begins with Gildamesh, the Samarian King of Uruk, who Sat, 08 Dec 2018 12:17:00 GMT The History of Punishment By Lewis Lyons, published by ... How wonderful, Rebekah! We love The Voice of the Martyrs and praise God for how the Lord has been leading you and your family. Glad to hear this curriculum can help you. Sun, 02 Dec 2018 11:05:00 GMT TWGHW: FREE One-Year Homeschool Curriculum! | Harvest Ministry The History of Money www.jamesrobertson.com 1 THE HISTORY OF MONEY From Its Origins to Our Time This was the final draft of the English text of "Une Histoire de l ... THE HISTORY OF MONEY From Its Origins to Our Time A good type. In January 1954, the economic historian Ernst Boehm requested access to Commonwealth government records as part of his research into the depressions of ... Closed Access – discontents -


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The unintended irony of this discourse, which would expand the domain of liberal democracy in order to dispel international anarchy and tame the forces of chaos, is that it rehearses an attitude of BOOK REVIEWS, which is the strong and troublesome tendency of a post-Cold War discourse of democratic peace shared by scholars and political leaders alike as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Locating democracy at the intersection of the politics of war and peace is a rhetorical expression of U.S. security interests that takes the form of a universal law of international relations grounded in the authority of science. That, at least, is the strong and troublesome tendency of a post–Cold War discourse of democratic peace shared by scholars and political leaders alike. The unintended irony of this discourse, which would expand the domain of liberal democracy in order to dispel international anarchy and tame the forces of chaos,is that it rehearses an attitude of BOOK REVIEWS