Canons of Rhetoric

The canons of rhetoric are extremely valuable in speech, even today. The first of the five, invention, is basically ensuring research is made on the subject. One cannot hope to make an argument in front of a knowledgeable audience if they themselves do not know of the matter they are speaking on. Additionally, the style one speaks with to an audience is just as important: Using simple terms or words when speaking to a smart crowd might make them bored, while using larger words and terms for a more layman crowd might confuse them if they don’t know the meanings of the different words you use.

The arrangement of the speech is also important, and is rigorously emphasized in all forms of communication nowadays: Speeches and essays being two prime examples. A speaker shouldn’t speak on history in an order other than chronological, as disordering the context of history is just a bad decision in general. Additionally, if attempting to disprove a statement, one doesn’t simply start with what is believed to be the truth, but instead takes individual steps to show the fallacy, and then finish with the truth being the conclusion.

Memory is a definite necessity when speaking to a crowd. Simply reading from a speech in some manner can detract from the final canon, delivery, and is thus important. Even if it isn’t as important as it was back when the written word was much less prevalent than the spoken word, it is still important when making a speech. Memory is important mostly because of how it can affect the delivery of a speech in general. If one is static and unmoving throughout the speech, the audience can become bored, while moving too much can distract the audience as well. Additionally, attempting to emphasize unimportant parts of a speech is just as distracting as moving too much.

Speaker

Chris Christie, the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention and governor of New Jersey, is a public speaker I definitely admire. For the most part, his ability to persuade stems from pathos. This is because it is easy to tell he feels very strongly about what he says, and how passionate he is when he says it. Additionally, he also has a bit of ethos because of the fact that what he says is heavily backed by his record, and he speaks mostly of what he has done anyway. From there, he finally has parts of logos because he doesn’t just use his record; he also uses the effects of his actions to back what he says. Although a bit of his persuasive abilities stem from pathos, he also utilizes logos and ethos to persuade the listeners.

My main quality that makes me persuasive is a combination of logos and ethos. I use logic and facts behind most of what I say, making those my arguments concise and definite. Additionally, I am able to stand by what I say, knowing that I either have done or will do what I try to persuade others to do themselves. The one thing that Christie has that I don’t is the ability to remain passionate about what I say, maintaining a level of emotion, of pathos, in my arguments and statements.

Oration

In all honesty, an orator is just someone who has great skill in public speaking. Nowadays, one could consider politicians to be a sort of orator due to the fact that they constantly speak in public and are able to rally those to their cause. Even though a majority of this is simple lobbying, it doesn’t change that they are orating in this way. Although I wish the Greeks were correct, I truly do not believe that an orator needs to be morally good, because politicians have earned the infamy of being liars and not holding true to the promises they make in oration. Despite this, politicians can be argued as "bad orators" anyway.

Even then, there is also the “good” that one can have behind their speeches. Most of the time nowadays, the main intention behind the speech is to get people to follow them and nothing more. In modern times, orators are mainly there to get the word out and hopefully rally a group of people to a common cause. Therefore, I conclude that an "Orator" does not need to be morally good or honest to be considered an orator, but merely be able to get the desired word out into the public in an efficient and powerful manner.

Introduction

Hello everyone. I'm Chris Trefero, and I'm taking the Communication Studies class. Outside of academics, I have numerous interests, including programming, music, and gaming. The three of them tend to go well together as well, but I've yet to do anything professional with anything I enjoy doing. Anyway, I also enjoy watching a good show here and there, like Leverage, Burn Notice, and a slew of cartoons. Then again, who doesn't like cartoons?

On a side note, I enjoy writing. I take pride in keeping decent grammar in all mediums, as well as checking my spelling if I'm even partially unsure of how to do so appropriately through the use of search engines and online dictionaries. I have informally been granted the title of "Grammar Nazi," something I wear like a badge of honor. I've started on a couple actual writing projects, although I doubt I'll get anything published in the near future. However, I think I'll be able to get some attention on one work I've begun, so that'll be a plus. I'm still in the preliminaries on the writing work I'll get the "attention" on, but I hope to have all that sorted out within the week.

On programming, I even do customized skins for the gaming platform known as "Steam." Once I get the screenshots taken, they'll be uploaded to my DA account for the appropriate audiences to be able to view, although I can assure everyone that the content is child-friendly (although some people wouldn't like it anyway). I honestly find it fun going through the seven thousand lines of code in the few layout and style files I modify for the custom skin, but that's just me.

I guess that really wraps up my short introduction here. I hope to enjoy this class, as I hope with all classes I take at Sierra. I also hope to get some sort of job in the near future, and I keep doing what I can do get said job. Anyway, I look forward to getting to know some of you as well as taking this class!