The Art of Persuasion, Convincing...The Art of Everything

Persuading, convincing, selling, brainwashing, talking. Everyone has their personal definition of rhetoric, and mine combines all of the above terms (it helps that most of them are synonyms). Like some of those terms, “rhetoric” has many negative connotations. When Barack Obama spoke, Fox News commentators always seemed to note that his speeches were “just rhetoric”. When terms like brainwashing and persuading, maybe even lying, are involved, people are quick to protest. I disagree with these politically correct people. The art of persuasion, as it’s been called, is of high importance in our world. Social interaction defines today’s times, and how we interact should be heavily stressed.

If there is anyone out there who thinks rhetoric is not involved in many social situations, I beg them to visit a school or university. There, they will find children of all ages doing what they can to climb up the social ladder, whether by spreading rumors, acting differently to different groups, or a multitude of other ways. Rhetoric is simply everywhere. I feel that learning rhetoric’s uses and learning about where one might find it would lead to better citizens. Maybe some people wouldn’t be taken in by every ad, be it political or otherwise, and realize that they are trying to persuade them, and nothing more.
If I ruled the world, no editor would force an author to re-title his work because no one wants to buy a book with “rhetoric” in its title. Rhetoric is much too important to be downgraded. Even if a professor or news commentator doesn’t approve of rhetoric, they should still understand its importance and strive for a greater understanding. Or maybe I’m just naïve and would expect people to learn about that which they do not know. Regardless, my feeling is that rhetoric is one of the important concepts that should be studied. Students may have no need for any type of science in their professional careers, but I bet they would learn a few things from a rhetoric course that taught how people persuade and/or how people communicate.

Everyone would benefit, because everyone experiences rhetoric all the time. A teenager tries to survive through high school, then after school sees commercials and wanders what clothes to buy. Oh, and he can vote. That leads to politics, which is rhetoric at its finest (or worst, depending on who the loser is). My point is that many people downgrade rhetoric because they see it as deceitful or just persuasion, when that might be the reason why it should be studied. When our world revolves around what you can make others think, then the ability to do so is prized. Even understanding rhetoric is important. Knowing a liar, or seeing through the persuasion, is just as important as being able to persuade. Rhetoric should be taught in high school and in college. Rhetoric is important, because rhetoric is everywhere.