Discussion #5
Joshua C. Cook English 1001 (006)
Rhetoric is pragmatic because it deals with what is real and can be seen, and It changes the world in some way through discourse. Rhetoric produces action through this discourse, much like a speech act creates action through words. Rhetoric relates directly to Bazerman’s work for it can be used in contrast with speech act. A speech act being an utterance that provokes an expected action. Rhetoric being speech or writing that is done to make change in a “positive” manner.
Now, the biggest difference between Rhetoric and Speech acts is that Rhetoric is situational. The Rhetorical speech is used situationally and is rooted in this world. So, rhetoric wouldn’t be fictitious or deal with fictitious thing, but it would be used in response to what the world deals out. For example Game-stop lost $200,000, in response a memo is released to calm the employees and reinsure them nothing is wrong.
Rhetoric has three main features Exigence, Audience, and Constraints. Exigence is a need or demand that requires immediate attention. Exigence is extremely important to Rhetorical situation because it is the catalyst, the demand for the rhetoric. Audience is always a factor, because Rhetoric works though the prompting of action from others by inviting discourse and changing minds. Meaning you need an audience for it to be Rhetoric unlike poetry. Constraints allow for the rhetoric to be defined, providing consistency, and in short makes rhetoric more effective.
This passage from Biter’s essay “Let us regard rhetorical situation as a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which I strongly invites utterance; this invited utterance participates naturally in the situation, is in many instances necessary to the completion of situational activity”(Bitzer pg.5) encompasses rhetorical situation as wholly as one can. I would use this passage to help me define rhetoric as a sort of genre in its’ self.
Citation
Bitzer, Lloyd F. Pennsylvania University Press, 1966.
WATs its Face productions 
Good work! I am beginning to think I poorly understood exigence after reading your post and others. That exigence is the need that drives rhetoric makes a lot of sense.
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Thanks, this passage from Bitzer’s essay really cleared things up for me “a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance.”(Bitzer pg.5) I find it to be a good passage to quote if you where looking for more quotes.
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I really like the example about game stop loosing $200000 and the company send a memo to employees, so they will not be panicked. This memo is a great example of rethorical situation.
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Thank you, the more topical the example when it comes to rhetoric the better. The reason for this is because, rhetoric is a public and requires action. The memo with GameStop filled all the checks for what a rhetorical situation is.
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Great job!!! I love how you answer everything thoroughly. you provided a great example to help understand the rhetorical situations. One thing I notice on your paper that I did not see after proofreading my post entry is, when you provided the example of game stop and how they lost $20000 and how the company informed everyone. For someone who does not rhetorical situation, once they read your post entry you will help them have a better understanding of what Rhetorical Situation means!!
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I usually don’t do too great in English classes so I’m trying to be as thorough as I can. It’s great to get so many positive responses for a change. I tried to remain topical when doing an example for rhetorical situation. The reason for that is rhetoric is immediate and public. Gamestop was a good example in my mind, because of all the public troubles it has.
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I like the way you show the difference’s between rhetoric and speech acts!
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Thank you, I thought that it was important to define the difference between the two sense they were so similar. It helps clear away any confusion when everyone agrees on a definition, which is why it is so important to define the words you use.
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