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Rae Overton

Professor Gardiakos

ENC1101

8 September 2021

Reading Response One: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Reading

Rhetorical concepts are often used in all types of literature, entertainment, etc. to express

ideas to their intended audiences. They create depth to an author’s words and give meaning to

the pieces they are working on, be it obvious or discreet. Doug Downs writes the article

Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making, that fleshes out and

explains a handful of different rhetorical strategies in literature. Throughout the article Downs

explains how and why they can be used to get points across to an audience. Arguably every

rhetorical device Downs covers in his writing is useful in all forms of media, but this paper will

focus on three: rhetorical appeals, ecology, and identification.

Rhetorical appeals are used all day, every day, in just about every piece of media we

consume. These proofs are split up into three main categories: credibility (ethos), emotional

appeal (pathos), and logic (logos). The three proofs have varying effectiveness depending on

what context they are being used in, all three have their own strengths. Ethos is most notably

used when trying to persuade an audience that feels they can only be one over by somebody who

knows what they are talking about, or somebody they look up to. Pathos is a more subjective

appeal that uses emotions to connect with the audience and draw out the desired reaction. Logos

is the appeal that utilizes pieces of information that rely more on more proven factual statements

and common-sense arguments rather than personal bias. Though each have their own benefits,

they are usually used in combination for individuals trying to make the strongest persuasive
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arguments and points. A couple of months ago the White House had popular singer-songwriter

Olivia Rodrigo come talk at a briefing about getting vaccinated. They made it abundantly clear

that they want younger people to get vaccinated, and having Olivia there in the White House is a

strategy to make it happen (0:45-0:55). This video briefing is a great example of the rhetorical

appeals. Olivia Rodrigo’s appearance itself is used as ethos, seeing as her celebrity influence will

impact the younger audience watching this video. She is a ‘credible’ figure that teens look up to,

making them more likely to get vaccinated after watching this. The video also uses emotional

appeal (pathos) by mentioning multiple times that getting vaccinated will help to keep the ones

you love safe. The video goes on using the logos appeal by mentioning the small portion of

people under the age of 18 being unvaccinated and that this video can help spread the message of

the necessity to a younger audience and promote safety (2:15).

Ecology is another example of an extremely important rhetorical concept. In Doug

Downs’ words “rhetorical ecology is as the overall context in which a rhetorical interaction (or

set of interactions) takes place,” (379). He is essentially saying that anything used to

contextualize media and literature is part of the rhetorical ecology. This can include background

information on the topic, interactions that take place in context, and other factors and

surrounding information that may impact the audiences and authors perception on the piece that

has been created. Internet memes receptions are largely impacted by their rhetorical ecology. For

example, ecology is necessary in understanding the image of a futurama character being

dissolved with the caption “Not sure if I feel so good,” (Gifsboom). Without background

information and situational context, the image itself makes little to no sense at all. With the

background information of the original futurama character saying lines about being confused in

combination with the understanding that the Avengers: Infinity War movie was released around
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the time of this image more of the pieces come together. Even still you would have needed to

watch the movie and witness the character Peter Parker dying to understand the meaning of the

meme. This entire situation is why ecology is so evidently important in the analysis and

understanding of literature, because what do we have without context.

Identification ties in strongly with the concept of ecology and the rhetorical appeals. It

uses the identities of both the author and the audience to build up its appeal. The author wants

the audience to identify with what they are reading so that it has more substance and more

impact. If the author cannot get the audience to understand the purpose of their writing, movie,

video, etc. then their words have been lost and the piece is meaningless. An author will often try

to appeal to a specific demographic, or group of identities, and will use ethos to get their point

across so that they can connect with those identities and try to reveal to them their own opinions.

Popular Twitch streamer Hasan Piker heavily relies on this concept of identification to help

educate a younger generation about the world of politics and other global issues. Piker was

previously employed by the Young Turks, a progressive news network, before moving to twitch

(Lorenz). He uses his previous knowledge and connections to educate his fanbase on various

topics while trying to get them to understand things from his perspective. He is aware of the

constant harassment and judgement he faces from individuals who watch his streams that are

right-leaning, so he does what he can to help them identify with what he is trying to express

online. He forges a connection between himself and his community so that he understands what

is going on outside of his own bubble, while in turn trying to be a progressive influence on the

younger generation through his twitch streams.

As seen, rhetorical concepts are largely important in the world of media. Without them

audiences would have very little understanding about the meaning and purpose of various
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literature. The concepts of rhetorical appeals, ecology, and identification are a necessity when

trying to convey meaning to audience’s and allow the audience to understand the true intentions

of a piece.
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Works Cited

Downs, Doug. “Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making” Writing

About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s,

2014, pp. 369-392

GifsBoom. “Best Memes: Most Popular Memes of Last Year.” GifsBoom Blog |, 23 Nov. 2020,

gifsboom.net/blog/most-popular-memes.

Lorenz, Taylor. “Hasan Piker Is Twitch’s Top Streamer.” The New York Times, 14 Nov. 2020,

www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/style/hasan-piker-twitch.html.

“Olivia Rodrigo, President Biden, and Dr. Fauci Talk Vaccines at the White House.” YouTube,

uploaded by The White House, 27 July 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=2wHOtsQ44HA&ab_channel=TheWhiteHouse.