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Rhetoric

Rhetoric Midterm

In the text box, enter your question (label it QUESTION, in all caps) and directly beneath it your answer (ANSWER in all caps). Be sure to include your name in your post.

As a guide to the kinds of questions I'm looking for, use the 30 midterm review questions posted on the EXAMS page of the course website. As an alternative to writing out an answer, you can refer us to a particular page in one of our textbooks or a page (provide URL) on our course website. You may post as many questions and answers as you like up until the evening of the midterm exam. However, I will have finished making up the exam by Sunday night, October 21, so if you'd like to see your question considered for the exam, post it by Sunday evening. I can't promise that I'll use your question (or even a version of it), but the review should be helpful in any case. Each evening I'll check the postings on the forum and correct or delete any misinformation that I might find there. Posting questions and answers isn't a requirement, but there's not a single good reason not to post at least one Q & A.

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Subject:		Q & A (question 9)
Name:		Jie Chen
Date Posted:		Mar 13, 08 - 8:24 AM
Email:		jaelchen@gmail.com
Message:		QUESTION Define (and distinguish between) "invented ethos" and "situated ethos," and discuss how both types of ethos came into play (and perhaps competed with each other) in the speech Gary Hart delivered in 1987 announcing his withdrawal from the race for the Democratic nomination for president. ANSWER Invented ethos means proofs from character that are invented by a rhetor or are available by virtue of the rhetor's position on an issue. Situated ethos means proofs from that depends on a rhetor's reputation in the relevant community. Both type of ethos came into play in Gary Hart’s speech. Before he had the speech, the media exposed his marital infidelity. We might suspect that it was not true, yet, there was a picture called Monkey Business showed by the media that he had an affair on the ship. The situated ethos reflects his reputation was going down. From the invented ethos, his speech “I bend but don’t break—I’m not a broken man”, “tossing and turning all night”, we might doubt that his affair is not true, because he has acknowledged his Monkey Business. His invented ethos is undermined by his situated ethos. He was trying to claim his idealism as a perfect candidate and innocent outsider “a rare bird”, “not good at talking about himself”, and “not like other politicians.” However, we did not believe him any more. Even the end of the speech wrongly remarked himself as an unreliable executive such as “I could have been a successful president, but unfortunately we’ll never know”, from which invented ethos shows his diffidence. [Jie Chen]
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Re: Q & A (question 9) by Nordquist · Mar 14, 08 - 1:32 AM

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