Why Emotions in Civil Discourse Lead to Problems

Where there are social and political issues, there will always be emotions that follow. Whether or not people like to admit it, sentiments play a huge role in decision making and persuasion. Think about it, have your friends ever guilt tripped you into doing something because they knew you would feel bad? Mine have. They knew how to use my emotions to get me to leave the house and quit watching Netflix in bed. (Slightly kidding- okay, maybe not).

When it comes to emotions in discourse, however, the situation becomes more intense. In general, I believe emotions should be kept to as low a level as possible when it comes to civil discourse, because it can incite very harsh and passionate feelings. That being said, there will always be some emotion in any type of social and/or civil issue- it just goes without saying.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/19995797742
From the Disney Movie Inside Out that is about emotions and feelings.

As humans, we are subject to feeling emotions; we can be happy, ecstatic, sad, depressed, frustrated, stressed, annoyed, blissful, and so much more. It is completely natural to feel a certain way on various topics, and when it comes to social issues, these feelings are usually intensified as they are tied in with moral beliefs. If you refer to this research brief entitled "Classical Rhetoric, Contemporary Science and Modern Civil Discourse", you will find that it states, "Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian expressed awareness of the manipulative powers of rhetoric and the vulnerability of audiences, and offered guidelines for how rhetoric could be deployed ethically." The article continues on to state how emotions should be used in a positive way as opposed to manipulation when it comes to rhetoric, and I completely agree. 

In this case of civil discourse, it must be understood that ethics will inevitably be tied to a person's emotions towards a subject. For an example of this statement, see my previous post, ""You're Stupid" "No, You're Stupid"" where I discuss rape culture and the Old Dominion fraternity outrage. People tied their emotions to their beliefs on misogyny as well as rape culture; their frustration can clearly be seen in the comments.

Continuing on that subject, the emotions in those comments were sometimes used to undermine other commenters' opinions and arguments (logos). People that disagreed would let their anger get the best of them and suggest that other individuals' arguments were invalid while also undermining their values by suggesting they were not worthy of attention. This then undermined the author's logos by implying her story did not deserve national and international headlines, which also insinuated the concept of rape culture was insignificant in comparison to other political and worldly issues. 

In a world full of social and political issues, it is undoubtedly hard to separate emotions and ethics to give a purely objective standpoint. However, the less influence emotions play, the more rhetoric and persuasion can be based on credible arguments thereby reducing the need to rely on emotions.

The Controversy on Stem Cell Research

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dov-fox/gop-confusion-over-stem-c_b_7958424.html

This article by the Huffington Post addresses stem cell research and how it has become a GOP case. According to the article, the recent Planned Parenthood video has inspired all the candidates at the debate to agree on one topic: prohibiting stem cell research.This piece is interesting to me because I intend to go into the medical field, and stem cells are a very important part of research in the field- they are in fact the reason many people live healthier lives today.

"You're Stupid" "No, You're Stupid": The Never Ending Rivalry Within Comment Threads

Rape culture without a doubt is a sensitive subject with many people across the globe, so when it makes national, and even international headlines, it is clear that such a culture truly exists.

During our lecture Wednesday, I read an article entitled "About Those Banners at Old Dominion" by Adrienne Lafrance. The article discussed how a fraternity chapter hung up banners on their house that read things like "Drop your freshman daughters off here" and "And while you're at it, drop of mom too" (for exact wording, refer to article above). When I first heard about the incident, I laughed. It was the type of laugh that would happen when you witness someone running into a wall. (You immediately proceed to feel bad.) After the initial reaction, I began to feel slightly disgusted by the banners. After all, I am also a freshman at a University, and if I saw signs like that on the fraternity houses on my campus, I know I would be uncomfortable walking past them.

Those boys (hopefully) probably just wanted to make a joke; however, they were condoning inappropriate sexual advances towards women. While you may agree or disagree with my views, it is important to ask yourself: Would you feel comfortable with your daughter walking past those houses?

http://www.memecenter.com/fun/94738/Its-Time-To-Stop-Posting

The picture above is how I felt towards certain individuals commenting. As expected, there were some people that agreed with the author's view on the subject, and those that did not. The comments were for the most part respectful; however, there were those that were distasteful and plain out rude (hence the meme above). Anybody can write comments under the article, and their intended audiences are either other commenters, the author of the article, or anybody that is reading the article. Their purpose is to voice their opinion on the matter, and/or address others that either agree or disagree with their views on the controversy of rape culture.

The are two sides represented in the fears and anxieties of the comments. One of them is the fear of the rape culture in today's society, while other commentators fear that this story "doesn't merit international attention" (comment made by Blogvader). This shows the values of various commenters, they either value this as a true example of rape culture, or as a meaningless article on fraternity shenanigans.

The people that seemed most reasonable in the comments section were those that were polite and respectfully stated their opinions without attacking anybody else's, whereas those that made threats, angrily attacked other's views, and called each other stupid lacked credibility and trustworthiness.

Finally, the comments did not affect my assessment on the validity of the article's argument. I tend to be indifferent towards comments, I just acknowledge their remarks, but still hold my opinion on the subject. This is not true for everyone though, as how one reacts to this article and the comments truly depends on their view of rape culture, and whether or not it truly exists.

The Art of Rhetoric: Deciding How to Best Present Ourselves

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Old_main_during_monsoon.jpg

First week of my Freshman year of college? Check. My first lecture of the day was with Dr. Mary Bell at the University of Arizona, and in her class we discussed the all too commonly misunderstood concept of rhetoric. 

Many people have come to know the term "rhetoric" to be linked with propaganda and political persuasion. Moreover, it is apparent that many politicians will often use deceptive forms of rhetoric, which lead to a general distrust of the concept of rhetoric in general.

It must be said that rhetoric in fact is used by individuals everyday, whether they realize it or not. Rhetoric is simply a way of being aware of one's audience, context and purpose, so that a person may communicate effectively. That's it. No hidden meanings. No evil intents behind it. That being said, people must begin to understand how to analyze a rhetorical situation, which is what our class activity was about.

Dr. Bell gave us this task: separate a paper into three separate sheets and on each one write five words to describe yourself to an employer, date, and roommate. Once we wrote them down, we got into groups of four to five and mixed our papers so that we could separate them again by analyzing the rhetorical situation of the audience, context, and purpose.

When one is describing themselves to an employer, they typically tend to present themselves as responsible, hard-working, and compatible. They want to show how they can be trusted and will work to help improve their company. When one is describing themselves to a date, they want to show them a less formal side, and show their personal qualities, such as being intimate, loyal, and loving- as a date is about being romantic. Lastly, our group was able to distinguish the roommate category by noticing words like helpful, social, and trustworthy. When living with someone, people hope that they can trust the person, and hope that they can help them or be kind to them in times of need.

Analyzing a rhetorical situation was actually not new to me, as both my AP Language and Lit classes focused most of the courses on rhetoric. This in fact helped me to analyze the rhetorical situation that affected my personal life. As many are aware, the costs of education are rising; it was my job to persuade the Honors College to help me reduce the cost of my education. My audience was the scholarship committee, and they were looking for the best candidates to lend financial support to. My purpose was to gain additional grants, and I would say that it was quite effective as I actually received some supplementary financial aid. I presented myself in an academic and positive way, while also stressing that I am deserving of the funds they would present me with.

In other words, understanding rhetoric and how to effectively present it is key to persuasion, and it is important to understand that rhetoric is actually beneficial to society, and not at all as evil as the media will sometimes present it.