Writing and Rhetoric ch 6

So we were assigned to read chapter 6 and make a post on here and so i did and now i am. I found this section to be very helpful, before i was a little confused on how to actually formulate an argument, i thought i was just supposed to pick an audience and then write a bunch of facts about the subject that maybe would persuade them. However this is not how to do it, the chapter explains how it is important to use different topics like defining, comparing, contradictions, or precedents to formulate what it is that is being argued. The chapter also explains how to decide where to start an argument, it says to focus on the audiences stases. A stasis is a place where an argument can stand. The four stases are fact, definition, quality, and procedure, depending what the audience believes about a subject determines where to start the argument. It uses the example of a congressman in the sense to look to see if they believe in what you are arguing and if they don't you wouldn't start at the fact stasis but instead you would open the argument with a definition. Using these helps to make sure that the argument is focused because if not you are speaking past the audience and in turn making them uninterested.

Mit Romney

Former presidential primary candidate Mit Romney gave a speech about his beliefs in his campaign to try to be candidate in preparation for the 2008 election. His speech portrayed the persuasive appeals very well, but mostly logos and pathos. The way that he developed his logos was that he used facts about how the country was formed in regards to different religious models, he says that Rhode Island was formed by someone who was banished from Connecticut because of what he believed, so he started his own colony. The way that he developed his pathos was by appealing to the readers feeling of pride in their country: he referenced the wars that we have fought in such as; the WWII and how when we won we didn't take any land from Germany, in Vietnam we did not take any thing, and also in Korea all we did was defend our idea of freedom and try to free other nations.

In response to Mr. Romney's speech Lori Lipman Brown said that to state that he would keep the teachings of his evangelical leaders out of the policies that the president has to deal with would not be possible because his beliefs would be reflected in certain issues such as marriage or abortion. Lori also says about how Mit would serve everyone from all beliefs, "Gov. Romney has sadly traded the sacred space of American pluralism for a church revival tent" (Religion in America 102). By saying this she means to say that Mit can not serve everyone without invoking his own beliefs.