New Terms through Video Clips

So far we have learned a lot of techniques to persuade our audience. But now we are learning what you do in order for them to believe that your answer is going to meet their expectations and values. First we have the tool of the advantageous that consists of making “the audience believe your own choice to be the advantageous one” (107).  It talks about what is best for the audience; you have to make them believe that their well being is more important than yours.

As shown in this video, Petro stated that every citizen should have the privilege to move from one place of the city to another without much difficulty. This clearly makes us believe that our needs are above his, making us vote for him (which was what he clearly wanted). So it makes us vote for him over the rest of the candidates because his purposes seem to favor us more.

Then it comes the use of the commonplace that consists of "any cliché, belief, or value that can serve your audience´s boiled-down public opinion" (107). The only way to shift or change someone´s behavior is by starting by their own position. You can always apply a commonplace to an idea which will make the opposer look as an outsider, as Heinrich will say. A good trick when your ideas are reject is to pay close attention to how they are talking so that you can find their commonplace and use it later on. One good is example is seen in this video of a french cliché explaining how must people around the world see them. 

 On many arguments, when you don´t have anything more to say, you start to babble. Without even noticing we start saying our commonplace. In this video of Phineas and Ferb we can see how Cansas is constantly saying that she is in charge (her commonplace) and that her brothers have to do whatever she says. Truly, the only thing she wants is for them to be caught doing their experiments under her supervision. 

Babbling can be easy to see when you are talking to close friends or to a small group of people, since their commonplace is more likely to be the same or similar. But when you are on national TV it becomes harder because their are a lot of mix opinions that makes it hard to narrow them down. This is exactly what you must do, find a broader context that can appeal to most.

Humor and commonplaces aren't the only tools you can use to convince people, facts and logos are also very useful. Heinrichs calls this stance and according to him you have to follow several steps:
  - term changing
  - redifinition
  - definition jujitsu
  - definition judo

In this video we can see how the girl uses facts and logos to convince her parents that she is ready to go out on a date. 

Unannounced Emotions

Experiences can be tried to be detailed described, but you can never fully explain what you felt. As I have learned in my psychology class, one can´t describe an emotion.

Teacher: How did you feel when they gave you a puppy?
Student: Great!
Teacher: How does great feel?
Student: Well I don’t know, I mean I felt happy.

Teacher: But how does being happy feel?

Student: Like ecstasy.

Teacher: And once again how does ecstasy feel?

The teacher could have kept that conversation for hours. My point is that no matter how detailed your story is, the person is never going to feel what you did. You can try to put in the other persons shoes, but what might be happy for me can be sad for others.
Still by telling shocking stories it becomes an easier task to manipulate your audience. Emotions are a very powerful weapon that depending on how you use them it can help you win an argument or might drawn you down the drain. As Heinrich states, “The more vividly you give the audience the sensations of an experience, the greater the emotion you can arouse” (80). Telling a story always helps change the mood of the person. Depends on how you want your audience to react, you either exaggerate it or make it simpler. As emotions can be very useful you have you have self-control because the persuader that displays her emotions will immediately lose.

Even though I’ve been through a lot with my accident of my arm, I have also taken advantage of it. Every time I tell the story the people start telling me compliments and admiring me. They even offer to help me in everything; even on carrying my bag from class to class. It’s been three months since my accident and still everyone asks if I need any help. Whenever I made a mistake or failed a test I would blame my arm and every one would understand why I failed. The moment I start talking about my arm everyone stops joking and the attention is on me. With this I realized how easy it is to manipulate your audience when you have a shocking experience.
So far this tool seems, to me, to be the most effective one and the easiest to achieve. With it comes belief, storytelling, volume control, simple speech, anger, patriotism, emulation, and unannounced emotions. 

Behind a Mask

Okay, so things are getting a bit confusing. So far all of the tools Heinrich has given us have been crystal clear until I started reading chapter nine. According to Aristotle there are three tools one has to follow: the reluctant conclusion, the personal sacrifice, and dubitation. Understanding them is pretty easy, putting them into work it´s not. After finishing this chapter I realized that you have to be a good liar in order to obtain your “perfect audience.” Not only a good liar, but also a good actress: you can´t let your audience know you are tricking them. He states, “…The single best word for Aristotle´s selfless goodwill is disinterest, the appearance of having only the best interest of your audience at hear…” (78).  This might not seem so ethical, but it´s the only way to convince your audience to follow you.

A great example is the campaigns for the presidency. They all say things that the audience wants to hear just so that they can count on their votes.

By reading this chapter my mind travelled right back to my first AP Language and Composition class. We realized that everything is a lie! At first I wasn’t very convince of that statement, but as reading Thanks for Arguing I realized that we are all lying constantly.  Maybe not literally telling a lie, like saying your going to a party with your friends when you are actually going to your boyfriend´s house, but by manipulating your audience. You have to pretend to be interested in your audience values to gain their trust. As I mentioned on my other blog we all wear a mask that prevents us from showing who we really are. Not only are we lying to our audience but to ourselves. It might no be so ethical, but it’s how rhetoric works and the only way to succeed in it.

Being Prepared

Getting to know your audience is an easy task, but making them trust and like you it’s a complete different story. As Heinrich says, “They may think you’re a terrific person, but they wouldn’t follow you if they think you would lead them off a cliff” (56). So, according to Aristotle, there are three essential qualities of a persuasive ethos in order to take control over your audience.

1.     “Virtue: audience believes you share their values” (56).
2.     “Practical Wisdom: you appear to know the right thing to do on every occasion” (56).
3.   “Selflessness: the audience´s interest seems to be your sole concern” (56). 

Once you manage to cover this threes steps, there will be no doubt that you will achieve the perfect audience: receptive and attentive.
Even though we might not realize it, we are constantly trying to win over an audience. We are always worried about how the others would think of one. Since we were little kids, our parents and teachers taught us to not judge anyone by their appearances, but still we do it every day. Without even realizing it we are trying really hard to be “popular” and being sure every one likes us. We are trying to appeal to them and put on a transparent mask just to gain their approval. Sometimes we even pretend to be a complete different person and do things we would have done if it weren’t for gaining that one approval.

I agree with Lina`s blog when she states that when a woman spends the night with a boy, she will immediately gain a reputation. While if a man stays with a girl he would be admired by the rest. How is this fair? It´s not. Still we have to accept it and deal with it. When this kind of accusations we have to be careful with whom our audience is. One can´t just, as a girl, spread the out the world that she spent he entire night with a boy. As Lina states, “being or not being virtuous may suit the speaker`s argument and convincingness.”