The Terms

As we keep on reading this book, we keep on learning on ways to persuade people, but these two chapters have been the ones that I liked the most.

As I read the terms in chapters eleven and twelve, I felt completely identified, especially with the “techniques for labeling” in chapter twelve.

I thought that the idea of putting videos for defining the terms was a very fun way to understand them better.

Definition Judo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

This video was a perfect example of Definition Judo. Samsung is comparing to Apple saying that they’ve had things way before Apple did. Making them look bad.

The Commonplace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERD2TnMNH98

Everybody believes that in France they all wear stripes and hats. That’s Cliché. This video shows all of these Clichés. You can use them to help you connect with the audience.

Babbling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvj2aQlQusU

Babbling is a very good way to persuade your audience. If you repeat the same thing various times that’s what the audience is going to remember.

A good example of babbling is a song. Unless you’ve been to lyrics.com you usually know only the chorus of the song because it’s what is repeated the most.

For example this song, it keeps on repeating “you’re the only one” but you never really know what the rest of the song says.

It's all a Lie!

In this chapter, the author states that the “ethos asset combines selflessness and likability.” (72) I had and idea what these terms meant but wasn’t really sure, so I decided to look them up in the dictionary.

Selflessness: “having little or no concern for oneself.”

Likability: “readily or easily liked.”

The author then focuses on “disinterest” and “uninterest” and peoples “passion” for these, in which the point is “making the audience believe in your selflessness.” (73)

            In my opinion, all of these methods have to do with psychology. It’s all about learning how people’s minds work.

At the end of the chapter, Heinrichs describes three tools:

1.     The reluctant conclusion

2.     The personal sacrifice

3.     Dubitatio

Instead of describing each of them individually, in short words, they all go back to the title of this course: IT’S ALL A LIE!

In order to be good in rhetoric, you have to lie to yourself and to the ones you are trying to convince or persuade. 

Convincing at its Best!

Virtue, practical wisdom, and selflessness: the three essential parts of ethos for arguing.  No one would have thought they would actually use these qualities to persuade someone into doing something or to argue about anything. But yes, after reading Chapter 6 of the book Thank You for Arguing, I realized how important and effective these three qualities really are.

Let’s start with virtue. According to Dictionary.com the meaning of a virtue is a “moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.” In other words, it is our pride. When persuading someone into doing something, we tend to do that. We just want them to agree with us, no matter what it takes.

For example, a year ago my dad was bothering me when he had no reason to do it. He was just “having fun”, or at least that’s what he thought. I was concentrated on my homework and he came in my room and started to switch the lights on and off, not letting me concentrate, then he just left the room leaving the lights off. I stood up from my desk really angry, opened the door, called him a bad word, and turned the light in my room on again. The next day, he took my phone away and told me I was grounded for a month. I didn’t pay much attention to it or said I was sorry or anything, but the day my friend was throwing a party I just wished I hadn’t said that. I lost all my virtue on convincing my dad to let me go. I said I was sorry, that It was a wrong thing to do and that I would never do it again. I kept on bragging on all the good things I had done, which according Heinrichs on page 62,“it’s the most red-blooded American technique.” But he says, “It doesn’t always work.” To my surprise, it worked. He took my punishment away and I was able to go to the party. We both knew we were wrong but none of us did something due to our lack of virtue.

            When I first read that virtue, practical wisdom and selflessness were used in arguing I laughed. How is that possible? After reading this chapter I realized that we use them almost every day. Amazing!

 

Presidential Debate

I was never really aware with what was going on in the United States with the elections.

Islamic Key Words

            As I stated on my previous blog, I had never actually heard much about the Islamic Revolution, and as I started to read this memoir, my curiosity began to grow. I decided to do some investigation on the topic. The following are some quotes that mention certain icons about the Islamic culture. Which, I had no idea what they were.

“At the age of six I was already sure I was the last prophet” (6) : “The last prophet” is a term used mainly in Iran which refers to “the last person through whom God speaks.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_prophet)

“I also wanted us to celebrate the traditional Zarathustrian Holidays” (7) : The Zarathustrian Holidays come from the Zoroastrianism religion. The holidays include the Fire Ceremony and the Persian New Year. 

“I knew everything about the revolutionaries of my country: F. Rezai, Dr. Fatemi, H. Ashraf” (12): 

F. Rezai: Fatemeh Rezai was a women that was executed in Iran for defending her rights.

Dr. Fatemi: Hossein Fatemi was a politician in Iran. He was tortured, arrested and then executed because of “treason against the Shah.”

H. Ashraf: After searching for ten minutes, and confusing him with another woman, I wasn't able to find any information on H. Ashraf.

The Islamic Revolution is a very interesting topic. As I keep on reading I’m going to keep on investigating. Not only for my personal interest, but to be able to understand and keep up with the book.