The Voting Results Are In: Sports Are Better.

Da Bears are playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and I am getting really excited. All of the hype and anticipation going on in Chicago reminded me of a theory brought up by one of my Dad’s favorite radio personalities as to why people care more about sports and their favorite sport teams than current politics. The man thought that it was because you can care a lot about and be very attached to a team, such as I am to the Bears or several of my friends are to the Packers, but whether they win or lose, your life is not going to be changed. If you start to care a lot about politics, and the politician or legislation you supported loses or does not pass, then your life could be affected. He theorized that people are more or less afraid to get involved in politics because they figure that they will not notice that their life is being negatively affected as long as they don’t care.

My main disagreement with his theory is that sports are way more fun than politics and it is kind of stupid to compare the two. Besides that, I think that people don’t vote or don’t get involved in politics because of several different reasons, but fear of the possible outcomes is not one of them for me. I was scowled at a lot last November because I did not vote in the Wisconsin election. My reason for not voting was that my insane schedule last semester did not afford me the time to look up information on the candidates and referendums. I decided to not vote at all rather than make an uneducated vote.

I’m not saying that I don’t understand how important a freedom it is to have the right to vote. My senior year of high school I was involved in the Center for Civic Education’s “Constitution Team” (super dorky, I know), so I basically spent 7 months of that year studying the Constitution and our nation’s government. I read up on a lot of the founding fathers thoughts on the right to vote, as well as many other things that I don't remember at all. Also, I had to keep up with current events because we could be asked about anything going on in politics during our competitions. After all that I was prepared to vote in any election, but I wasn’t 18 yet. Politics, for me, takes a lot of time. Last semester I just didn’t have that time.

I’m going home this weekend for my Mom’s birthday, so I will have time on Sunday to cheer on the Bears. I’ll probably be stressed out during the game, because I stress about everything, but hopefully they win. If not--I guess it won’t affect my life too much.

I was way off.....

Before the readings I had a vague definition of rhetoric. Basically, I thought it was just the way one writes or speaks. I had heard the saying, "that is mere rhetoric," but, to be honest, I did not really understand what it meant. The reading assignments enlightened me on the many extensive definitions of rhetoric and the fact that there is argument over its true meaning.
I think Aristotle had a good basis for rhetoric when he divided speech into logos, which Silva Rhetoricae defined as "logical content," and lexis, which is "style and delivery." This helped to fill me in that rhetorics is about the form or style of what is said or written that adds to the overall meaning that the author or speaker is trying to say.
After reading Herrick's detailed analysis on the art of rhetoric, I realized how large a role rhetoric plays in everyday life, and how important this tool can be for more than just authors and speakers. From this description, I realized that rhetoric is a tool of persuasion that can be used by everyone from politicians and attorneys, to artists, and even dancers. I was especially interested in what Herrick said about how doctors use rhetorics often to persuade patients and other doctors about controversial medical procedures or the effectiveness of a debated medication. At first I thought rhetorics would never pertain to me if I were to become a doctor, but here I was proved wrong!
What really stood out to me was how rhetorics can be very powerful. If one is able to master the "art of rhetoric," then one could possibly shape the beliefs and actions of others. Depending on who masters it, rhetoric could be used for good or evil. After learning this, I was confused as to why so many have argued that learning rhetorics is useless.
After the readings, I have changed my definition of rhetorics to the way one uses symbols, style, and knowledge in order to communicate persuasively their ideas to a specific audience. By using rhetoric, one is able to effectively make their private thoughts public, and perhaps create change in society. This is still a fairly vague definition, as opposed to Herrick's, but I feel like it hits the main points of rhetoric.

Also, I have finally chosen a title for my blog: Che Stress! This is a saying (translation: What Stress!) from a calender featuring a popular Italian comic called Mafalda. It is about a girl, Malfalda, that stresses about everything. My parents bought me this calender when they were in Italy last September because I am always stressing about something. I'm sure being stressed out will be a common theme in many of my blogs. If not, I will do my best to find a more creative title!

Bloggerific!

Hello! I'm Liz and I set up this blog for English 201: Rhetorics of Network Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I'm in my second year here and am pursuing a Genetics major. I hope to go on to medical school and become an oncologist one day, but I have a lot of things to accomplish before I sell my soul to the medical field.
I was born in Chicago, Illinois but my parents moved my brother and me to Park Ridge, a suburb, when I was a baby. I adore the city of Chicago and I am a huge Bears fan. I am also an avid reader (currently I'm reading Sense and Sensibility), I love to cook, and I enjoy movies (especially scare ones). Also, I am fortunate to be surrounded by a great group of friends that really know how to laugh and have a good time.
I have never had a blog before and I am very interested as to how this will work out. I am usually a fairly private and shy person, so posting my thoughts and ideas publicly on the internet might be a bit of an obstacle for me. However, I am going to do my best to have fun with this!