“I think the power of persuasion would be the greatest superpower of all time.”
– Jenny Mollen
A person who’s good at rhetoric has the ability to persuade, ability to make falsity sound like the truth, the truth to falsity, and has the ability to change the world. This is why during the time of Socrates, Sophists was the basis of law and people believed that what they say is considered the truth, because they were good at rhetoric and oration.
But how do you know that a situation or discourse is in a way, rhetoric? How do you become a rhetorician? Such questions is answered by Lloyd F. Bitzer.
Now according to Bitzer, when there’s a rhetorical situation, a rhetorical discourse follows. Let’s break that, okay? A discourse is when one responds to a situation, and rhetorical is when one asks or states something for merely being effective but doesn’t expect any respond. And again, a rhetorical situation is the context in which speakers or writers create a rhetorical discourse, as stated by Bitzer.
“The rhetorical situation may be defined as a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence” (p. 37). In layman’s term, rhetorical situations refers to a person, event, or an object that molds people’s perspectives using communication.
To analyze clearly what is rhetorical situation, here are the three aspects given by Bitzer to define such situation. 1.) Exigence, 2.) Audience, and lastly, 3.) Constraints.
First on the list is exigence. Exigence is what starts a rhetorical situation. It is the potential to have the idea of change, it is also the problem or imperfection marked by urgency. In other words, exigence is an issue or problem that demands urgent solutions or discourses. Which prompts a person to write or speak to initiate change. Which then leads us to the audience.
Audience are the mediators of change or the purpose of doing such discourse because they are being influenced by it. It takes two to tango as they say, that’s why rhetoric must have it’s receiver – the audience.
Lastly, the constraints. It is made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence. Let’s say religion, culture, society, and others are some factors that constrains change and the potential of the audience to address solutions to the exigence.
A sample issue that warrants a rhetorical situation is about the SOGIE Bill as presented by Gretchen Diez, wherein she and the people like her are being discriminated and denied access to the ladies’ restroom. With this matter being featured frequently in the news, people have been torn into different perspectives. The exigence here is the discrimination given to trans and them fighting for their rights, and the audience are us the people whose stand about the issue vary, and the constraints are fake news, religion, and people who are homophobic.
Going back to the question “how do you know that a situation or discourse is in a way, rhetoric? “, here are 2 types of situations (presented by the given videos) and let’s distinguish which situation is rhetoric and which is not.
The first video was a clip of a Atom Araulo delivering news about the super typhoon which hit the country, specifically in the Eastern Visayas on November 8, 2013 or the commonly known as the Typhoon Yolanda. Though the video was informative about the problem at hand, it isn’t rhetoric because it merely informs the audience about the issue. And as stated by Bitzer, “whatever comes about of necessity and cannot be changed — death, winter, and some natural disasters, for instance — are exigences, but are not rhetorical.” Which means, the situation didn’t need or demand any discourse or call for change for it was just informing the mass.
The second video was a clip of a Martial-law survivor and film director, named Joel Lamangan, who persuaded the audience that he’s experience during that era was gruesome and was never pleasant in any form. With him stating his youth experiences, people most especially the millennial, started voicing out their opinions about the issue. In this video, the 3 aspects of rhetorical situation are seen. The exigence here is about another Marcos gaining power and the late President Ferdinand Marcos being buried in the “Libingan ng mga Bayani”. The audience was the people who joined the rally and expressed agreement with the film director, and the constraints there was the people who stood to what they believed and was never swayed.
This is what Aesop meant when he said “Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”. The ability to be rhetoric is greatest and most effective ability to change the world. However, we should consider doing deep investigations first before persuading people, because for one to conclude, one must know the truth, and not just by mere benefits and motives. We are capable of changing the world, let’s use it wisely.
References:
Bitzer, L. (1968). From Philosophy and Rhetoric, Vol. 1. The Rhetorical Situation.
Video References:
Video 1: Storm Surge Hits Tacloban City – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxmHNuky0hU
Video 2: Film Director Speaks Out in a Rally –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoByGTN2dqg&t=4s
