Adit Week #1 The Use of Language to Accumulate Power
As we know, the language we use when presenting an idea is key to making people actually believe in that idea. There are rhetorical devices of all sorts that make a point more presentable and easier to believe in. This is why politicians have teams behind them who spend hours crafting speeches for them. In order to rally people behind them, the key is in the way the point is presented more than the actual point itself.
Politicians understand that people are driven emotionally more than they are logical; emotions are more compelling and stronger than logic is. We all know who Hitler is. Germany was going through a lot of economic problems during the time, and Hitler somehow managed to make the country believe that the reason behind those problems was Jewish people. Some people believed in Hitler's words so much that they proudly executed every Jewish person they saw in their country. What allowed Hitler to achieve this is not his use of reasoning (there is no logical reasoning to begin with), but his ability to evoke emotion in people. Every speech and every event he held turned people ecstatic and made them believe that they were fighting for something bigger than themself, which caused so many people to stick to his ideas.
Politicians today try to replicate Hitler's way to the best of their ability. Regardless of how logical his ideas are, one thing is for sure: Donald Trump's speeches certainly stir up heavy emotions in the audience. This emotion is not accidental; Donald Trump's language is extremely charismatic and hyperbolic. He exaggerates the extent of things to the max, creating excitement in his followers. Joe Biden is another perfect example of a politician who relies heavily on emotion. After proposing his stimulus checks, he refuted counterarguments related to price by taking an emotional stance on things. He told the audience to imagine being in the shoes of the people of America who are struggling to get by.
Hi Adit! Your blog post reminds me of what we learned last year for the rhetorical triangle, where too much pathos turns into propaganda (I had to go to my archived google classroom and reread my cornell notes for this). I also think that it isn't necessarily true that emotions are more compelling than logic in all scenarios and that all three (ethos, logos, and pathos) are equally important in maintaining a good argument. I've only ever listened to Trump and Biden's speeches once, which was when we were required to for English last year, and all I felt from listening to that was that I was watching two children bickering. Since I was young, I never really cared for politics, and by 6th grade, all I heard was how Trump was really stupid so I never bothered investing my time learning about his ideals.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! I am glad that you have shed light on a very important topic that people should be well-aware of to understand the tactics that many politicians are using to advocate for their campaign. Your example of how Hitler resembles this practice of ‘stirring up emotions’ is one that I could definitely agree on that many of the recent politicians such as Joe Biden and Trump are utilizing the tactic of bringing out compelling emotions within the public to closely connect with their feelings. As a result of being able to properly connect with them, they create a sense of excitement or trust (which might not necessarily be true) with their followers, which makes them support their campaign regardless of any mishap that might occur in the near future. Biden’s approach of counterarguing for his argument of the stimulus checks goes a long way to describing how politicians bring in some individuals who might be struggling in the society to back up their claim. Thank you so much for your blog and I look forward to reading your next one!
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! Your post reminded me of that one episode from The Office where Dwight appropriated a speech by Joseph Stalin after winning some employee reward. Aside from that random little tangent, I also think it's quite interesting how powerful emotion is in convincing people. It’s almost as if the presentation of a topic is more important than the topic itself when introducing it to new audiences. Even though most people would consider themselves to be logical when it comes to evaluating certain ideas, the underlying influence that emotion has is certainly surprising.
ReplyDeleteHey Adit, I think you make a very good argument for the importance of pathos in rhetoric, as it makes the content of a speech much more appealing and significant to the audience. Having an emotional connection to the audience makes them much more receptive to the message, as they would feel a personal impact because of the message. Through techniques like imagery and hyperbole, leaders can communicate and skew messages to become significantly more appealing and persuasive to the audience, as you mentioned above. By incorporating these ideas into rhetoric, speakers and leaders can more effectively sway the audience and call them to action, whether the message be legitimate or simply propaganda to gain public favor.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit, I definitely agree that it is important to study Hitler's speeches and the rhetorical language he used to evoke the extreme nationalist beliefs of the German people. In analyzing those speeches, we can make connections to modern society and our current politicians like you did. Trump's speeches were very similar to Hitler because both were able to evoke such strong emotions and beliefs out of their audience. While every politician should be able to invoke patriotic spirit with their speeches, Hitler and Trump were the few that promoted nationalist spirit, which was much more dangerous, as we have seen.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit, I've noticed a lot of absolute leaders and those who spur almost devotional support always tend to promote fixed and strong beliefs (even if those beliefs have issues) as well as using Pathos and tugging on the heartstrings of their audience. A lot of effective Propaganda from strong regimes does the same thing. Even now we are all susceptible to propaganda from the partisan climate of American Politics. There is a line between Patriotism and Nationalism, but many dictators tread that line carefully so that when they eventually tip over it they drag their audience with them. Speaking and word choice is closely interrelated with this phenomenon as you have stated and the study of this topic is very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteHitler, no matter how much we may decry him and his actions, was nonetheless an extremely skilled orator and writer. Writing out Mein Kampf and captivating the German people with his words, Hitler would have been one of the greatest politicians of all time had it not been for his genocidal tendencies. His ability to read the crowd and persuade through the three appeals was unrivaled in the 1930s, to the point where he was named Time's man of the year. Nothing he did is acceptable, nothing he stood for should exist today. But no matter how bad he was, he was particularly skilled at convincing others, and that is what brought him to power.
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