Persuasion in Democratic Politics

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 10.02.07

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Rationale
  2. Who am I?
  3. Strategies:
  4. Aristotle's Rhetoric of Anger and Calm
  5. Strategies
  6. Mytilenian Debate, Who persuaded better Cleon or Diodotus
  7. Strategies
  8. Cicero vs. Catilina
  9. Strategies
  10. Action vs. Inaction
  11. Strategies
  12. "Just words"
  13. Strategies:
  14. It's not what you say but how you say it
  15. Strategies
  16. Examples of Lesson Plan Outlines
  17. Bibliography

Educating Tomorrow's Orators

Adam J. Kubey

Published September 2010

Tools for this Unit:

"Just words"

This was what Candidate Obama said on his campaign trail in response to criticism from Candidate Clinton that Obama was more rhetoric then action. That he was not a realist did not have the experience and was leading American's to false hope through use of fancy rhetoric. Though whether his speeches were just rhetoric is still to be determined and could someday be true, but many see Obama's rhetorical word choice as even more important then the message itself. The specific use of words is nothing new. Wordsmiths, or people who understand meanings of words and how and when they should be used, has always been part of speech. Choosing the correct word for the topic, the time, the audience, the part in the speech is just as important as the overall message. Words are a part of the whole machine that drives the message.

The use of specific words and phrases to create a certain emotion, or pathos, has been one used since the beginning of speech. How one uses those words is a complex science. Some words are tested with targeted audiences, and others are chosen for their associations with ideas. Even though a word can mean the same thing as another, one might work better then another.

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