"What is Rhetoric?", Lindemann, Ch 4

     There was a lot of dense information in chapter four of the Lindemann text.  However, the part that interested me most was when Lindemann discussed the positive and negative connotations associated with the word rhetoric.

Negative: "Rhetoric, so defined, is a fraudulent practice intended  to give some people an advantage over others by appealing to their emotions or prejudices, but not to their intelligence." (pg 39)

Positive: "...writers of great literature have employed powerful language to make us cry, to poke fun at our human frailties, and to command our support for important causes." (pg 39)

Lindemann then goes on to state that rhetoric is a tool and those who employ its functions are not inherently good or bad.  

This entire part of the chapter made me think of Saul Goodman, a fictional criminal lawyer in the Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul television series.  He is a character with a charismatic grip of language and rhetoric, who often uses his persuasive skills to get himself and others out of trouble.  While he is a liar and deceitful at times, he is not a completely morally bankrupt character, just a master of the pragmatic arts.  When I think of someone who embodies both of the positive and negative connotations of rhetoric that Lindemann describes, Saul was the first character to pop into my head.

I also think it would be interesting to have a conversation like this in the classroom.  Often when students hear the word "rhetoric" in terms of academia, they think only in terms of essays and writing.  However, rhetoric encompasses far more than just the written word.  Presenting real life and fictional examples is a great way to broaden the students' definition and expectations of the "What is rhetoric?" question.