Unintentionally Rhetorical

In Lindemann’s article, “What do Teachers Need to Know about Rhetoric?” He argues that the majority of the history of rhetoric is an elaboration on the theories introduced by ancient Greco-Roman rhetoricians.  However, more contemporary scholars have begun to include an interdisciplinary perspective, an exploration of alternative rhetorical mediums, and a redefinition of rhetoric altogether.  This is evident in Lloyd F. Bitzer’s article, “The Rhetorical Situation,” where he attempts to redefine a rhetorical situation.  In his article, he claims that “Every audience at any moment is capable of being changed in some way by speech; persuasive situation is altogether general” (3).  However, he does not take his observation to the next step and claim that all communication is rhetorical.  Non-verbal communication is extremely rhetorical, and it is constantly sending messages whether the sender intends to or not.  For example, wearing a Hawaiian shirt communicates a rhetorical message to everyone whether the wearer intends to convey that message when he or she put the shirt on or not.  He or she is consciously or unconsciously attempting to persuade others as to the character of the wearer.  The same applies for all non-verbal actions such as body language and tonality.  All messages attempt to convey something to an audience (whether present or absent).  In this respect, my philosophy of rhetoric more closely aligns with Kenneth Burke’s when Lindemann claims, “Burke’s major contribution to rhetorical theory is his attempt to broaden its scope and to connect all acts of language to the social fabric of the culture in which they occur” (55).  In this sense, rhetoric is unavoidable; it is constantly occurring, and subjects can be both conscious or unconscious of their rhetorical messages.