Essay 3 Assignment

Engl360

Anjie Zhao

Essay 3

Dec-4-2014

Modern Rhetoric in Music Videos

Nowadays, rhetoric relies on multimedia, which includes a combination of video, audio, text, still pictures and others. The strength of multimedia is it enables audience to observe and interpret several different kinds of media at the same time; such process brings greater impact on the audience than a single text or a single media. In my essay, I will analyze a music video for “We Are Young” made by Fun (check out the link in the citation page). This music video is multi-media based; it embodies multiple rhetorical expression including oral text (lyrics), background music, music composition, visual images, slow motion videos, and American cultural elements. All of these rhetorical modes belong to modern day rhetoric, and they together to create strong emotional appeals. I will talk about how this music video serves as a good example as modern rhetoric and how its rhetorical techniques fit into modern audience’s expectations. I will also talk about how this music video connects to ancient rhetors such as Aristotle and ancient rhetorical techniques such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

The structure of this music video is very modern in general, because ancient rhetoric does not involve multi-media rhetoric. Such multi-media composition creates a stronger impact on audience by using appeals to both visual and audio; audience not only can hear the story, but also see the story by watching the video. Such effect by multi-media videos like can be found anywhere in 20th or 21st centuries, such as on YouTube. Before 20th century, people aren’t able to access different media at the same time, because devices like music video wasn’t officially invented until 1950; people didn’t think they can actually “observe” visual content of the song; before music video was invented, people relies on imagination based on the music and the rhythm. Differently, people today become materialistic, they rely highly on senses (the ability to feel, hear, and see) because of the influence of multi-media. While they listen to a song, they also expect there are visual or motion videos that supports the music. This music video satisfies modern day people’s expectation for multimedia text structure.

One technique of modern rhetoric is “multi-media storytelling”, which is an effective rhetorical process. Such storytelling technique is often used in a movie. The use of multiple different media contributes to the same story. In the music video for “We Are Young”, as soon as the music starts, we see a young man coolly adjusts his collar in front of the camera, a pianist sets his fingers on the piano, and then the guitar player is about to play the guitar. These scenes are being set together to show that a music band is about to perform some music performance. And the guy who adjusted his collar earlier starts singing; the lyric said “… My lover she is waiting for me just across the bar,” and immediately the camera shifts to the image of a girl who is standing in a bar, waiting for her boyfriend. This example shows that the singer plays the role of the narrator and is using his song to tell a story which happened in a bar. And the video clips serve as visual supports or visual evidences for the oral or musical texts. This is because as the guy sings more and more, the visual story gets developed, and the audience sees the visual motions and gets a deeper understanding of the lyric based on the visual. Using both video and audio simultaneously for a story is only possible in modern time. This music video is fully multi-media based thus is able to fulfill the requirements for multi-text storytelling technique.

Another modern rhetorical technique used in this music video is “slow motion.” As I said in the previous paragraph, modern day people are familiar with the rhetorical techniques used in music video production. Movie editing programs such as Microsoft’s Movie Maker includes “slow motion effect.” Such program is first released in 2000; before that year people do not know about this rhetorical technique. Slow motion effect can be edited through video editing programs, and is meant for the purpose of helping people keep track of what’s going on in the video. In some way, slow motion effects also emphasize on artistic portrayal of the plots of the story. The music video of the song “We Are Young” is an example of these rhetorical influences. For example, at 0:50 second of this music video, a guy is hitting the girl with a glass bottle, his movement is decorated by slow motion effect, you can see the glass bottle slowly breaks on the girl’s head, and the broken glasses slowly flying in the air. This depiction satisfies audience’s aesthetic taste because it’s creative and unique. Slow motion effect also match the guy’s movement with each words of the lyric such as “Tonight, we are young” (Klasfeld, 2011). This slows down the scene and makes the scene clear for observation. Audiences are able to focus their attention for the very moment of the hitting (the guy’s movement). The music turns explosively exciting when the bottle hits the girl’s head. This creates a strong emotional appeal; audience’s emotion reaches its peak when they see the glass breaks, and at the same time hears the song hits its climax. In modern days, people who love Rock music tend to think that the explosive moments in a song give them chill, that is why they love such music. These fans will expect such explosive moments in the music video, because such moments represent their unique life style and lift their spirit. Slow motion effect crucially contributes to the creation of such explosive moments and is adopted by the modern media industry.

In this music video, the editor also uses American traditions, cultures and norms as rhetorical techniques. For example, as the video goes on, you would notice that people in the bar are messing around and partying. They are spraying beers, throwing food, breaking things, dancing, and being wild. Partying is a big part of American’s tradition. The target audience for this video is the American youth, because if you look closely you will find almost everyone in this music video are young and there are no old people. And partying is also what young people most likely to do. This video is spreading this life style of being wild and free in order to attract young American’s attention. The lyric of the song express the same idea. In the lyric, it said “Tonight, we are young, so we set the world on fire, and we can burn brighter”(Klasfeld, 2011). These words encourages people to break free from social constrains and pursue freedom; these ideas emphasize on strong emotional appeals for young people’s desires and needs to be free. In addition, this music video also includes American’s idea about love and sexuality. In the video, there is a couple standing in the crowd; there are creams on the girl’s face and the guy is kissing her hard. This portrays the American ideal of how people love; and in American culture, young people’s relationship should always involve intimate interactions between a boy and a girl. This media production is trying to use all the appealing ideas about American dream, freedom, and love to meet the expectation of American youth; Again, the video portraits the American youth in an wild way because the society believes that young people are supposed to be wild. In contrast, people rarely behave wildly in the ancient times; before the 19^th century while technologies or sexually suggestive music are not developed, people hardly think American youth in an sexual or violent way. People perhaps will have negative perceptions about young people acting violent. However, the violence in this music video is portrayed in a positive way. This is also a cultural character for modern Americans. Nowadays, people hold more freedom than before, thus they expect things to be stimulating, especially in the media. The crime rate in America is higher than before too. It’s not hard to guess that American people become more open minded or tolerant with sex, drugs, and crime today. Thus they don’t mind seeing violence in music videos, because modernity has shaped their cultural values and norms; American people become like to watch violence in media. This can show that this music video is only designed for modern time audiences because its content fits into modern people’s values and ideas. In addition, the setting provides evidence of the “modern time”; the casual dresses, cellphones, plastic cups, the bar and the people’s haircut all can show that it’s 21^st century instead of ancient time. American people have unique ways of dressing. This can be considered an appeal to value. For example, white American guy would like to dress in a suit in public or workplace. In this video, the guy who is singing the song dressed formally; he is in a black suit and wearing a bowtie, like a gentleman. This also connects audience with the American ideal, because Western men are more likely to dress formally and in a suit, unlike Asian men who do not have customs or traditions to wear suit. While American people watch this video they get the idea it’s about American people, not people from other cultures, they feel more connected to cultural ideas being conveyed in this video, because they know such video is depicting a part of their lives, thus they are more likely to watch it.

We can also connect this music video with ancient rhetors. This music video has adopted some important rhetorical modes from ancient rhetoric. For example, this music video used Aristotle’s pathos. According to Aristotle, pathos embodies the appeal to audience’s sympathy and imagination. Aristotle said appeal to pathos is not just appeal to emotion but also appeal to “shared feelings”. Audience is able to share the same feeling with the author of the lyric or the creator of the video. I think this music video definitely provide audience with shared sympathy and imagination. An example would be the so called “American dream.” As I said earlier, this music video focuses on the idea of freedom. While people sees all the people are throwing things and doing what they want in this video, they will share the same feeling of being set free. They will also connect the video to their own lives and the free times in their lives, just like going out at night and play. These imaginations are culturally-based, if you are not American, you may not believe that throwing things or hanging out in a bar is freedom.

In conclusion, the music video for “We Are Young” fits perfectly into the category of modern time rhetoric because of the depiction of its multi-media structure, editing effects, and modern cultures. By analyzing this music video, I realize the powerfulness of technology. Technology helps us make more effective products. This music video, if without either the video part or the audio, would appear less attractive to audiences. This is because multimedia has made the emotional appeal stronger. The two different media emphasizes on the same message and at the same time. This doubles the level of effectives of a single text.

Citation

Klasfeld, M. (Director). (2011). We Are Young [Music Video]. United States: Fueled By Ramen. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6dMFF_yts

Blog Post 17: RT, Toulmin, pp. 1410-1428; Foucault, Order of Discourse, pp. 1432-1436 and 1460-1470

RT, Toulmin, pp. 1410-1428; Foucault, Order of Discourse, pp. 1432-1436 and 1460-1470

In the chapter of Stephen Toulmin, Toulmin said logic argument is separated from human understanding. I understand his point; I think that sometimes you understand something doesn’t mean you are logically thinking it. Toulmin set up some rules for logic argument. He said an argument should contain five steps; they are claim, warrant, backing, qualifier, and rebuttal. I actually wrote a Toulmin essay based on this format in my Engl301. And I think this format is well-structured and ensures the clarity and effectiveness of an argument. Before learning how to write Toulmin essay, my argument lacks warrant, qualification, and rebuttal, thus is weak and incomplete compares to the Toulmin structure. Toulmin said knowledge is the product of argument, and I can’t agree more. I think that while you are learning something, you are always using logic to prove or disprove, and make sense of an argument. Toulmin said scientific knowledge improves not because of accumulation but because of change of perception. He also rejects absolute rationality. I think we cannot always be rational because we all have emotion; we sometimes can get irrational due to the influence by our emotion. This is why I agree with Toulmin on the idea we cannot have absolute rationality. I think that Toulmin’s logical argument is similar to Aristotle’s syllogism in some way. For example, Aristotle said syllogism shows while A equals B and B equals C, A is most certainly equals C. Similarly, Toulmin said Petersen is a Swede and Swedes are almost certainly not a Roman Catholic, thus Petersen is almost certainly not a Roman Catholic. I think that Toulmin’s argument somehow adopts Aristotle’s syllogism. The difference between Toulmin and Aristotle is that Toulmin’s logical argument contains disagreement, opposite views, qualifiers, and rebuttal while Aristotle’s syllogism doesn’t. Aristotle’s syllogism seems less complex in comparison with Toulmin model.

One thing that interests me is that Michel Foucault studies different art of knowledge such as psychology and madness, treatment of prisoners, and relationship between language and knowledge. One thing I like about him is he said it’s not enough for people to accept and pay attention to new knowledge. He said “knowledge is created not by act of observing but through relations” (p. 1433). I think that he has very good point here. I think it’s true that people often ignore new products or theories when it firsts appears and without proven or examination. But overtime, as the relationship between the product and the society slowly builds up, more and more people are likely to buy and consume the product, and the product will no longer be new. I also agree with him on the idea that authorizing power makes it possible for us to speak certain knowledge. I think what he meant here is that if you have power or authority, it will help you get more attention while you express your new idea. Your authority gives a force for people to respect and adopt your knowledge. 

Blog Post 16: RT, Modern and Post-Modern Rhetoric, Intro, PP. 1181-1205; Michael Bakhtin, Marxism and Language, pp. 1206-1226

After reading the introduction, I feel like even though rhetoric is no longer popular, it exists in every aspect of English. It is used in psychology, communication, philosophy, and literacy studies. Rhetoric can also be used in politics, media, and other non-academic fields. I think the idea of Charles Sanders Pierce (the American philosopher) is interesting. He gives new definition to grammar, logic, and rhetoric. He said grammar is the study of meaning; logic is the study of truth; and rhetoric is the study of the connections between signs.

I think it’s interesting that Mikhail Bakhtin cannot find a publisher of Marxism, Freud, and literacy Formalism in the beginning. I think it’s interesting that Saussure said signs are psychological in nature (p. 1208). Bakhtin said our minds can form signs during social interactions. In another words, while we are talking to each other, we are constructing symbols in our thoughts. I think it’s very hard to explain how we construct meanings in our mind, because that process is spontaneous and it is by neuron stimulation. But it is evidence that we are able to talk and express meanings by oral communication.

I think a big difference between ancient rhetoric and Marxism is that Marxism analyzes the origin of our communication, which is a psychological process. None of the ancient rhetors are able to explain our language from a psychological perspective, because by that time such science hasn’t been invented. Socrates, one of the ancient rhetor, is the only one who is aware that he has a soul, a conscious world. 
As a Chinese girl. I'm going to talk about the history of Chinese communism. Chinese communist actually make great use of Marxism. They used it to expand capitalism and improved industrial development. Marxism is the theory that enables Chinese people to build a communist society, where all people are equal.And the spreading of communism eventually leads to the so called Cold War, which is an attempt by America to suppress the growing communism. 
Marxism is really a great ideology that leads societies grows and development.

Blog Post 15: ARCS chap 12, RT, Maria Stewart, pp. 1031-1044; Frederick Douglass, pp. 1061-1085

ARCS chap 12, RT, Maria Stewart, pp. 1031-1044; Frederick Douglass, pp. 1061-1085

In chapter 12, I think it’s interesting that the ancient rhetors value delivery more than reading and writing. Nowadays, we value less about delivery because print and digital computer make our life easier; we don’t need to memorize or recite our speech because we can read the print copy or the powerpoint out loud. But the importance of delivery does not disappear. Performers for TV shows, dramas, and movies value delivery a great deal because they need to recite the script and act out (by using gestures or facial expressions) in a performance. Musicians and singers also values delivery because need to memorize their music and songs in order to perform them to their audience. Cicero said there are difference between orators and actors. Orators act in real life while actors mimic reality (p. 327). But I think that oratory and mimicking are still very much alike because they both need to go through the process of memorization. I also think that they both can make the orator or the performer become more confident and outgoing. It is difficult to perform in front of a large number of audiences, thus through practice of oratory, a shy person will grow stronger and not afraid to show him or herself in front of people. Performing in front of a camera also can also challenge and empowers the performer. The ad Herennium author said delivery relies on volume, stability, and flexibility. I think that a delivery will not be successful without each of these three factors. I remember while I was answering a question from my instructor during class, my volume was too slow and it made it hard for my teacher to hear the answer. The Kairos could also influence my delivery. The fact that I sat too far away from my teacher also interrupt the clarity of my delivery. Voice can also impact the delivery. A light voice is easy to comprehend than a low and deep voice.

I think visual appeals can definitely make a speech more appealing to the audiences. Just think about how the pictures depicted in a movie attracts your attention. One advantage of digital computer based presentation is that you are able to depict visual rhetoric on screen, so that the audiences not only hears you talking about your argument but also sees it. You are both visually and vocally attracted by the argument. It is more effective than just reading a plain speech or just showing a picture. Visual appeals can also increase the emotional appeal to the argument. The audience is detached with oral speech maybe emotionally attracted by graphics, patterns and images.

        I’m impressed that Maria W. Stewart is able to overcome religious values against her, and creates her own rhetorical style. Her style is based on spirituality and beliefs of God. Stewart’s rhetoric also encourages social changes, feminism and movements against patriarchal system. I think it’s very interesting that she is an African American woman. I don’t know if women of color are facing issues of racism that time, but if they did, then I think it’s amazing that Stewart has followed her own desire to become a female rhetor, because it’s very likely that the society only accept male teachers and male rhetors.

Blog Post 14: ARCS chap 11, RT. 19 century Rhetoric, Intro, pp. 981-999; Whately, pp.1000-1030

Blog Post 14

ARCS chap 11

Chapter 11 talks about copying and paraphrase. Aristotle said the ability to imitate is what distinguishes us from animals. Indeed, human being is the specie which can mimic different vocalizations. This is why we can study different languages. Quintilian said imitation is a “universal rule of life” (p.11). People want to copy what they like in others. I connect this idea with my own experience. I like to imitate the way music singers sing. It makes me feel good singing a song that I like. The chapter also talked about how handwriting a copy enhances one’s memory. If you handwrite a document over and over again, it’s going to reinforce each word in your memory. I feel like typing doesn’t really enhance your memory because it doesn’t give you the time to think and draw the symbol (the word), you press the button key and the word bumps out, thus you don’t have enough time to acknowledge or recall the spelling of the word. Even though copying is good for memorization, it causes problem of plagiarizing. Because people have the habit to use hand-copies in the past, it becomes a tradition to use copies. Nowadays, digital copying enables people to copy quickly and encourages piracy. You can find illegal book copies, and CD copies everywhere. People can download their favorite movies anytime if it’s available on Youtube. They could also make illegal music videos based on these movies. So many fan made videos are illegal but are not removed from Youtube. I think digital copying’s impact on society is similar to Facebook. It spreads messages to the world. Now, many pirate version of Japanese films, American films, music, videos and books can be found in China, and other countries. People not only copy the original version, they also copy the rhetorical styles, and the way of speaking, analyzing.

Whately, pp.1000-1030

Richard Whately focuses on the idea that discovery and reasoning are different. Discovery is based on experience while reasoning is based on argument. He said that probability is the foundation of discovery. As a rhetor, Whately used both logic and science in his argument. I think that Whately’s rhetoric is a lot similar to Aristotle because they both explore the definitions of different terminology. For example, Whately said condition is different from the cause while similar to the conclusion. This definition is tricky but very specific. It shows that thought causes, conclusion and condition are similar, they still have some differences. He said that in the case of piracy, people should not destroy the book until it is proven a pirate version. The responsibility to prove the book is or isn’t pirate lies on the accuser and the author. He also said people can let their ideologies affect their judgment towards others. People are able to decide based on their standards whether a situation worth their pity. If someone doesn’t meet their standard or ideologies as they expected, they would not show pity or respect him. In such case, one’s ideology blinds him or her from the truth. I think that Richard Whately’s ideas are very modern and open-minded. He combines science and logic, which distinguishes him from ancient rhetors, because ancient rhetors solely based their argument on logic. His ideas set standard for modern day issues too. For example, in court, the judge should not bias any sides of the issue. He shouldn't give an assertion or judgement when there is no evidence provided. He should not let his own preference or ideologies get into his way. As a good individual, we shouldn’t judge a stranger based on our own preference.

Blog Post13：ARCS 10, RT, Vico, PP. 862-879; Sheridan, 879-888

ARCS Chap 10

Chapter 10 mainly focuses on rhetorical styles. The section of clarity shows the power of circumlocution. Circumlocution is defined as “a more roundabout means of references” (p. 252). The section also talks about colloquial words which refer to words that are specific in culture or locale (p. 253). I find it interesting that colloquial words could substitute each other in different periods. For example, “hip was ‘cool’ in the sixties, whereas cool was “hip” in the fifties and the seventies. It surprises me that different words contain the same meaning at different years. I don’t know why these words could interchange but it seems like their replacement relates to shift of cultures.

I also find it interesting that rhetorical questions can open up more discussion about the argument. I realize that modern day TV production use these kind of questions a lot; usually cope with the use of sarcasm and anger. For example, in the show Criminal Minds, agent Gideon started the conversation with a question that criticizes Garcia’s mistake; he said “how could you be so stupid?” This question not only insulted Garcia but also brings him more opportunity to argue against her. I find it amazing how certain styles are more effective for persuasion, and others not. Modern TV shows use rhetorical styles to attract audience’s attention. Like in the show House of Cards and Game of Thrones, Frank Underwood and Tyrion both are rhetorically powerful in their styles, thus these two characters are TV watcher’s favorite, because their rhetorical ways are so appealing and powerful. I realize that sometimes women’s rhetorical ways are never the same as men’s rhetorical style. For example, in Game of Thrones, Margaery try to persuade the queen by using their “sisterhood”, in contrast male characters (like Tyrion, Joffrey, and Jeremy) rarely address brotherhood or their connections with their partners.

I think the use of ornament is interesting but hard, especially in dialogues. I believe that I’m better at writing than speaking, so I take use of ornament more in writing than in speech. Sometimes, I find it hard to retrieve unusual or extraordinary words in the middle of a conversation. I don’t know why but it seems people like to use simple words in their dialogue and complicated word in writing. For example, the word “gargantuan” appears more frequently in writing than in speech because people usually just say “big” or “huge” because “gargantuan” is not common.

I think the use of punctuations makes argument more powerful in writing than in speech because in conversation, people don’t usually realize punctuations like comma or quotation marks or period. In writing, people can see these punctuations and acknowledge their effect. For example, when a character remark “I’m getting MARRIED!!” it’s different from she says “I’m getting married.” The former is more powerful than the later because of the exclamation mark and the capitalization because these effects emphasized her excitement. Nowadays, journalists or novelists make use of punctuations for decorating their writings. Thinking about this quote:

“Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.”- - - James Allen

If there are no commas cutting the sentence, the sentence would be too long because readers would keep reading until they see punctuation. Without the comma, the sentence will be less effective because there’s no intonation, the readers would not feel that the voice of the narrator is becoming stronger and stronger.

Essay Assignment Two: An Analysis of How Print/Literacy Changed Rhetoric

Engl 360

Essay2 draft

Anjie Zhao

10-27-2014

Printing has been one of the greatest inventions in human history. The invention of printing contributed greatly to the formation of the text-based culture in modern days. This essay will give an overview of the ways print and literacy shaped ancient rhetoric. I will also provide brief histories and evidences in both Renaissance period and Enlightenment era about the ways rhetoric was shaped. I will mainly discuss how printing influences rhetoric in memory, style, and thinking. Lastly, I will analyze these changes based on my perspectives. Overall, I think printing and literacy affect these three areas in a beneficial way; they bring changes that increase social, economic development and improve people’s welfare.

Between 15^th and 16^th century, the first book was printed and published, and it was about the same time printing started to change the use of rhetoric. The use of text based information became more often. Title page, for example, appeared within rhetorical treatises during the incunabular period, which is between 1400s and 1500s; the purpose of title page was to identify each text or book (Murphy, 1984). The study of rhetoric was hard during that time because people did not have subject indexes to catalogues (1984). The closest tools they could use to locate the texts were lists of authors’ names (1984). The distribution of rhetoric increased with the help of printing (1984). There were huge amount of editions and print copies being produced (1984). Numbers of Rhetorical books were small compared to grammar books, literature and religion books (1984). Most rhetorical books had only one or two editions (1984). Many classical writing pieces were published during 15^th century including speeches written by Cicero, Quintilian, Aristotle and Plato (1984).

Before printing, rhetors memorize their speech based on what they called the art of memory. The art of memory includes techniques to help people memorize things such as memorization of series of places and imaginary recreation (Peters, 2004). People not only could remember what they want to memorize based on these techniques, they could also retrieve and recollect their memories through using these techniques (2004). Prints and books destroyed people’s ability of memorization in rhetoric by replacing human memory. Since 16^th century, the invention of printing enables people to objectify their memories and create material memories like books and journals (2004). This results in people no longer need to use their brain to memorize rhetoric, thus their ability to memorize things is abandoned (2004). At the end of 17^th century, the art of memory has vanished completely (2004).

Print and literacy has changed the styles and structures of rhetoric. Milman Parry and Eric Havelock, both from 20^th century, argued that rhetorical structures are changed since the age of literacy. They found that before the age of printing and literacy, Homer taught speeches by using rhetorical techniques like repetitions, epithets, similes and lists; differently, literate rhetors made their speeches long, and well-organized just like Plato’s proses (Peters, 2004). In addition to these changes, Havelock said society has shifted its attention away from performed poetic rhetorical genres like epic recitation, ritual, oratory, and drama (2004). These poetic performances are aimed for maintaining memories through verbal and phonetic practices (2004). The reason people gave up for them is, same as memory, people’s need for prints took over their need for these services for memory enhancement (2004).

The enlightenment period shows some similarities and differences between those from the enlightenment era and classical rhetors (Aristotle, Plato, Cicero and other). Like Cicero, Giambattista Vico believed that through the process of learning one could become a skillful orator (Herrick, 2005). Vico also wanted to recreate Cicero’s topical system. Similar to Aristotle, Vico used metaphor to make difference between words and objects. However Vico’s rhetoric is also different from classical rhetoric because his rhetoric shows some modern features. Unlike Aristotle or Cicero, Vico believed that rhetoric can make connections between things they can describe and things they can’t (2005). Other classical theorists like George Campbell proposed that ethic is the most important among all science (2005). This idea is identical to Aristotle’s use of ethic in his rhetorical persuasion (2005). In addition, Campbell’s proposed that eloquent orators should use truthful and good words in their arguments; this idea is similar to Quintilian’s idea that “eloquence is based on research, analysis, practice and application” (2005). Different from Quintilian, Campbell’s theory of eloquence is less about style but more about connections with audiences and human mind (2005).

Furthermore, the age of literacy proposed rhetorical thinking based on written-text and logic. An example could be Plato’s Phaedrus because it is a written script (Peters, 2004). Walter J. Ong, a literacy critic, has studied Peter Ramus (a college professor and educator who adopted printing) and discovered several changes occurred in his writings before and after the Renaissance period (Petrick, 2004-2006). Ong found two main changes in Ramus’s way of thinking. One is a switch from uncertain knowledge (rhetoric) to logical and truthful evidences. Another is a change from vocal arguments to readable written scripts. Ong argued that that literate culture still relied on oral form because it did not depend on print to widely distribute literacy and written texts (Peters, 2004). With print technology, text based culture slowly succeeded oral rhetoric (memory based) (2004).

People debated about the impact of literacy and print. Jacques Derrida, a French philosopher, criticized literacy and printing by his reasons (Peters, 2004). He said cultures without oral speech will have no record, no rationality or civilization; print will not cover the profoundness of phonetic culture; and print revolution has neglected the dynamism of different cultures like Chinese and Turkish. Oppositely, Linda Bolzoni argued literacy and print will not devalue techniques of memory (2004). She said writings and prints are mirrors of memory; they exactly reflect the human mind thus will not degrade our memory. She also said literacy and print may have caused the disappearance of memory, but they have also recreated memory and phonetics through written texts. No matter either side of the issue tells the truth, these perspectives can prove that print and literacy have brought great changes to people’s way of thinking and analytical skills.

In my opinion, human mind and print both can serve as restorations of memory. Without print, people can still remember by their brain. Likewise, without memorization people can retrieve their memory based on textual information. I disagree with Derrida’s idea that people have lost their memories and civilizations forever due to the impact of printing press. Records and civilizations are preserved by prints and books while people become forgetful. People’s memory will not be diminished just because they don’t need to remember or because they have tools that assist them with memorization. People can always try to remember when they need to. For example, students need to memorize materials for test preparation; in this case, students have to memorize test materials and they will make sure their memory of the material last long enough or even become permanent.

Rhetorical culture has shifted from oral to textual. This change predicts the improvement of people’s writing and reading ability. As literacy rate grow, the country will experience the rising of economy and the development of society. But text-based rhetoric also brings negative effect to culture. People may become more shy or silent within a society as they rely more on text based rhetoric, and less on the oral based communication. This effect is similar to the texting effect; people find that Japanese people are quiet on bus because they are all busy texting, and highly attached to text based media. Same to Western societies, text-based ways to express thoughts will replace speaking out loud.

The shift from ancient rhetoric (which are based on religious beliefs or irrational thoughts) to logical and scientific arguments provides more truthful information for audiences. This change enables people to live practically and improves people’s living standard. For instance, court judgment relies more on evidence, thus becomes more equitable. Study of logic is also good for people’s well-being because they can get away with irrational thoughts by thinking logically. Although this shift from rhetoric to logic represents the disappearance of ancient rhetoric, some pre-modern theorists from the enlightenment era still maintain the ideas of classical rhetors such as the previous cases of Giambattista Vico and George Campbell.

All in all, according to the research on changes in memory, styles, and thinking, printing and literacy shapes rhetoric in a good way. In a sense memories and old ideas are not completely destroyed but are preserved through text based medium. Print and literacy can assist people with memory, and improve people’s logical or critical thinking skills. The coming of print and literacy replace oral based rhetoric and memory, and make our society faster and more efficient. This change marks the unavoidable development of the society, just like nowadays how hyper-text media (I-phone, Facebook, Twitter and others) replaced books.

Reference

Peters, J. S. (2004). Theater and Book in the History of Memory: Materializing Mnemosyne in the Age of Print. Modern Philology: A Journal Devoted to Research in Medieval and Modern Literature, 102 (2), 179-206.

Murphy, J. J. (1984). RHETORIC IN THE EARLIEST YEARS OF PRINTING, 1465-1500. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 70(1), 1-11.

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