Rhetorical Tricks Research Articles

Rationality Now!

Rationality Now!

THE ANTI-OLIGARCHY POPULAR CONSTITUTION

THE ANTI-OLIGARCHY POPULAR CONSTITUTION

The Rise and Fall of Morris Ernst, Free Speech Renegade by Samantha Barbas

Reviewed by: The Rise and Fall of Morris Ernst, Free Speech Renegade by Samantha Barbas Joseph M. Hassett (bio) THE RISE AND FALL OF MORRIS ERNST, FREE SPEECH RENEGADE, by Samantha Barbas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021. 424 pp. $35.00 cloth, ebook. Morris Ernst (1888-1976) was the lawyer who developed and presented arguments that won judicial determinations that James Joyce's novel Ulysses was not obscene. These victories fundamentally changed the law of obscenity in both the United States and England and established authors' right to present the world as they saw it. Ernst's life merits this wide-ranging and fascinating biography by an author with the impressive credentials of Samantha Barbas, who holds a doctorate in history from Berkeley, a law degree from Stanford, and a professorship at the University at Buffalo School of Law. As told in this biography, Ernst's life is a testament to what an individual can accomplish through talent, hard work, and a desire to make public and private institutions deliver a better and freer life for everyone. Barbas shows how Ernst used his considerable abilities to advocate for social reform and civil liberties in court, before legislative bodies, on committees, in the press, during dinners, and on many other occasions. He was a whirlwind. Barbas deftly situates Ernst's accomplishments in the context of the social and political history of his times. Reviewing the book foregrounds the problem faced by one of Ernst's contemporaries in trying to write about him: "There are too many facets, too many angles, and I keep floundering around simply trying to decide which one to grab at next" (292).1 This review deals with the problem by focusing primarily on a subject in which readers of this publication will be particularly interested: the book's account of the Ulysses litigation. The subject merits careful attention because the struggle for authorial freedom is never over, and the arguments that worked for Ulysses will be needed again. Those that failed should be avoided. In this context, Barbas's treatment of litigation forming the backdrop against which Ernst achieved his victories is troubling. The earlier case arose in 1920 out of the publication of episodes of Ulysses in The Little Review. The magazine's editors, Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap, were prosecuted on obscenity charges in a New York City court for publishing part of episode XIII, in which Leopold Bloom ejaculates while looking at Gerty MacDowell's exposed "nainsook knickers."2 Barbas's authoritative voice tells readers that New York attorney John Quinn made a "persuasive argument" by urging that "Ulysses was so dense and convoluted that no one could possibly understand it, much less be debauched by it" (152). [End Page 726] In fact, Quinn's argument was not persuasive at all. The first judicial officer who heard it, Magistrate Joseph Corrigan, promptly ruled that the passage "where the man went off in his pants" was unmistakable in meaning and obscene within the meaning of the statute.3 More importantly, it was a disservice to Joyce and the cause of free expression for Quinn to ignore the beauty and truth of Ulysses in favor of the false assertion that the years Joyce devoted to creating a masterpiece resulted in an unintelligible text. Joyce himself did not find Quinn's argument persuasive. After reading reports of Quinn's performance, he wrote to Harriet Shaw Weaver that "the offence is less grotesque than the defence!"4 The important lesson of Quinn's loss and Ernst's win is that an articulate explication of the societal importance of literature was needed—not rhetorical tricks. This biography's use as a guide for protecting speech is also limited by its uncritical repetition of Random House founder Bennett Cerf's account of how Ernst found a way around judicial "resistance to hearing expert testimony in obscenity cases" (156). In this telling, the key to defeating obscenity charges was to paste favorable reviews onto the book that would be mailed into the United States. The theory was that the book itself "would be introduced as evidence" (156) in proceedings that followed its seizure by customs officials. Readers may scratch their...

Confounded Dwelling: Architectures of Association in W. G. Sebald’sAusterlitz

Confounded Dwelling: Architectures of Association in W. G. Sebald’s<i>Austerlitz</i>

«БОРЬБА ЗА АУДИТОРИЮ»: МЕТАФОРЫ В ТЕКСТАХ РУССКИХ КОНСЕРВАТОРОВ К. XIX – Н. ХХ ВВ.

The article presents an attempt to reconstruct the system of thinking of Russian conservative nationalists of the late Empire period based on a comparison of the formal and substantive features of their texts, which were dedicated to the "Finnish question". Taken together, these texts constituted a single "anti-Finnish discourse" created in order to influence the government and public opinion on the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, they were united not only by origin and content, but also by common formal characteristics such as rhetorical features and tricks, vocabulary, and syntactic constructions. Metaphors were the most important formal element of this discourse. They can be combined into four conventional metaphorical models: historical, military, criminal, and physiological. The analysis of metaphorical series allows us to make conclusions not only about how well publicists commanded methods of propaganda influence on the audience, but also about the logic of their thinking. With the help of metaphors and auxiliary linguistic tools linked to them, “one’s own” and “alien” social strata were marked, an ideal society was described, and discourse authors’ attitude to the current situation in the country was demonstrated.

Propaganda, obviously: How propaganda analysis fixates on the hidden and misses the conspicuous

Propaganda analysis has long focused on revealing the rhetorical tricks and hidden special interests behind persuasion campaigns. But what are critics to do when propaganda is obvious? In the late 1930s the Institute for Propaganda Analysis faced this question while investigating the public poli-ticking of A&amp;P, then the largest retailer in the United States. While contemporary critics lambasted A&amp;P for their secretive campaign, particularly their use of front groups, A&amp;P used many relatively overt methods of propaganda to win political victories. Propaganda analysis then, as now, fixated on the concealed, failing to adequately critique conspicuous communicative power.

Joey + Rory

Joey + Rory

"Coletamos dados para o seu bem" O truque retórico do imaginário sobre o dado digital promovido nos termos de uso, documentos de privacidade e relatórios de investidores da plataforma Fitbit

O artigo mapeia o significado e as qualidades atribuídas ao “dado” nos documentos destinados aos usuários e investidores da Fitbit, terceira maior plataforma no setor global de vestíveis. Foram analisados o relatório financeiro (IPO) do primeiro ano da marca no mercado de ações, os termos de uso e privacidade. Os documentos foram explorados no softwareAtlas.ti. Os resultados indicam que, embora os discursos endereçados ao cliente coloquem o dado como um benefício para o usuário, as narrativas dirigidas aos investidores destacam como riscos para o negócio: a garantia de segurança e privacidade dos usuários, os interesses governamentais no acesso aos dados e as políticas de regulação. O nosso argumento central é de que as narrativas oficiais constroem um imaginário do dado enquanto truque retórico, ocultando a rede político-econômica da marca, os riscos e as agendas de interesse ao passo que enaltecem as práticas de dataficação necessárias ao modelo de negócio da plataforma

Gender in educational and public discourse of the Church. Analysis of the Pastoral Letter on the Feast of the Holy Family

Kasiak Mateusz, Gender in educational and public discourse of the Church. Analysis of the Pastoral Letter on the Sunday of the Holy Family. Culture – Society – Education no 2(16) 2019, Poznań 2019, pp. 289–312, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2019.16.19.&#x0D; Gender as a category of cultural gender and gender identity appears not only in scientific discourse as a topic of research, but also in public discourse, as a subject of various debates and disputes. This concept was also included into the discourse of the Catholic Church. Its creators – church leaders – embarked upon a public reinterpretation of the concept of gender, thus inserting their point of view into the broader political and ideological dispute. The aim of this paper is to review the postulates of the church concerning gender in the Pastoral Letter on the Feast of the Holy Family, which seems to be a leading programme paper concerning this issue. In this paper, gender as a research and scientific category is isolated from the scientific discourse and appropriatedby the educational discourse of the church, where it functions as a scare tactic. Structural modifications in the text and style of the letter, stylistic and rhetorical tricks, as well as pragmatic mechanisms, make the text of the pastoral letter a persuasive political argument.

Figs and kippers

This article aims to connect three topics: Brexit, Boris and the decay of democracy. What connects this trio is talk, talk, talk. Language and politics are tightly and necessarily intertwined. Indeed, as the Greeks thought, language is intertwined with democracy itself. The twenty-first century has brought unprecedented complexity to human ways of communication, and yet the old rhetorical tricks and oratorical stunts, first described and practised in the ancient world, are still capable of turning heads. As we learn more about how human language works in social and political settings, we can see even more clearly a few of the factors that enable lying politicians to acquire power. But we are still far from drawing practical lessons that could be relevant to our current political crisis.

The polemical practice in ancient Epicureanism

The article explores the presentation methods of a philosophical doctrine in Greek and Roman Epicureanism; it is shown that for the ancient, middle, and Roman Epicureans a controversy with representatives of other philosophical schools was a typical way of presenting their own views. The polemical practice, in which the basic principles of Epicureanism were expounded through the criticism of other philosophical systems, first of all, Academics and Stoics, was considered not only as the preferred way of presenting the own doctrine, but also as the most convenient rhetorical device, which had, among other things, didactic significance. The founder of the school, Epicurus, often included in his texts the terms used in other philosophical schools, giving them a different, often opposite, content. While presenting his teaching in the treatise “On Nature” or in letters to his followers, Epicurus criticism of his opponents, often without naming them by name. His closest students and later followers — Metrodorus, Hermarchus, Colotes, Philodemus, Lucretius, Diogenes of Oenoanda — continuing the controversy with the Academics and the Stoics, more frankly expressed their indignation about the “falsely understood Epicureanism” or erroneous opinions. In their writings, satirical techniques and angry denunciations were often used to criticize opponents. The focus of the article is on the controversy of Epicurus with Plato; the interpretation of the concept of “anticipation” in Epicurus and the Stoics, the polemic controversies and the use of the principle of “refraining from judgment”, drawn from the Stoics, to criticize Academics. In addition, the article analyzes the rhetorical tricks of Philodemus, who believed that frank speech is not only the best way to heal the soul, but also a method of philosophical controversy.

Język wypowiedzi publicznych Jarosława Kaczyńskiego w latach 2007-2010

This paper discusses Jarosław Kaczyński’s public utterances from 2007 to 2010. It explains the typical features of a language, political language and the language of opposition. J. Kaczyński’s political language was the language of a leading oppositionist. Populism, performative speech, thematic persistence, labeling, verbosity, prolixity, rhetorical tricks, neologisms, sense of efficacy, arbitrary description of reality are all the examples of his public utterances. The statesman denied many elements of Polish political system However, the democratic foundations of the III RP as well as the legitimacy of PO-PSL coalition were not questioned.

Elements of logic, rhetoric and eristic for expert witnesses giving oral opinions at court hearings.

The aim of this article is to provide expert witnesses, especially psychiatrists, other physicians, as well as psychologists, with basic information on logic, rhetoric and eristic, useful in their professional practice. The reason is that these skills, undoubtedly belonging to the classical education, are not standard elements of teaching professionals in the fields mentioned above. Having the expert knowledge, ability to diagnose, to conduct a therapy and to prognosticate does not indicate the ability to conduct effective arguments. This work is based on Cardijin's method (See - Judge - Act). It sometimes happens that a well-prepared expert opinion (psychiatric and psychological) is discredited for non-substantive reasons due to some eristic and rhetorical tricks. Having such experiences, some expert witnesses resign from giving opinions. To help avoid such situations, this work presents the most important definitions of logic, rhetoric and eristic. Examples of propositional calculus, selected models of reasoning, rhetorical figures and eristic tricks can be used in presenting professional expertise. These examples are accompanied by propositions of responses to arguments used by persons willing to discredit expert witnesses' opinions. Furthermore, this work offers a scheme of answering questions and doubts of the parties in court hearings.

French Immigration—Demography Meets Politics: A Review Essay

French Immigration—Demography Meets Politics: A Review Essay

Migrace a porod: sociální aspekty prolínání dvou životních změn ve výzkumu perinatálního zdraví žen

When the experiences of migration and becoming a mother intersect, the context and conditions of this have implications for the health of the women and their children. This article presents an overview of social-science research on health and pregnancy among migrant women and on the perinatal and postpartum care they receive. Research on 124 studies on this subject revealed that there are three main themes associated with maternal health in this context: (1) How women are defined and categorised as migrants: This is often based on a single indicator, country of origin or birth. This creates a simplified and homogenising category that then also serves as the basis for the use of more complex categories. (2) The significance of social support for families, especially with respect to informal care, and the fundamental role of language and language barriers in health care. The relationship between migrant women and health-care providers is impacted by cultural differences, which leave women in a vulnerable position. (3) Macro-sociological and epidemiological factors. These are discussed mainly from the perspective of the 'epidemiological paradox', which the authors here deem a rhetorical trick because it conceals the variableness of the findings obtained from perinatal health indicators.

الهيمنة الثقافية وسطوة الإمتاع : قراءة مخالفة لديوان تاريخ يتمزق في جسد امرأة لأدونيس

Cultural criticism is monitored by texts with their rhetorical and aesthetic tricks through the modelling of deception by using what is rhetorical, beauty or metaphorical, which requires a revealing reading of the concepts beneath the cloak of the texts, and what cultural practices related to certain perceptions of certain attitudes, especially as societies now can undergo shifts caused by the movement of modernity to societal changes in which there can be a clash or divergence of perspectives. Adonis espouses a thinker and theoretician with visions and conceptual insights that he embodies in his poetic speech, once and for all. Other, his speech in the Diwan (a date torn in the body of a woman) is like a counter-writing, which is stripped or reveals some of the modesty of the a community culture of systems or patterns specific to certain themes such as religion, women, race and history, so the richness of the literary text with racial or ethnic cultural formations, which are overshadowed by the shocking irony of their presence in response and denunciation, even if An individualized character, but if combined with other visions that have shaped a general pattern--which captures inherited problems but which are far from being developed--that requires the cultural monitoring of cash to detect and declare the hacker and infiltrator within the text.

Democracy, Translucidity and Accountability: The Eurozone vs. The Democratic Right to Know

Democracy, Translucidity and Accountability: The Eurozone vs. The Democratic Right to Know

On Rhetorical Tricks and Overloaded Concepts

On Rhetorical Tricks and Overloaded Concepts

What Is a Good Skeptic to Do? The Case for Skepticism in the Media Violence Discussion

The discussion about violent video games tends to engender extreme positions, each of which are deserving of deep skepticism. Ferguson’s (2015, this issue) claim that humans can do something repeatedly with no effect on them should be examined carefully, especially as it violates most established psychological and learning theories. In this commentary, we examine three aspects of Ferguson’s claim. First, it is a typical rhetorical trick to sow doubt, but it is valuable to examine the doubting claims. Second, it is good rhetoric to direct attention in only one direction, but it is valuable to examine that direction within its broader outlook. Third, it is good rhetoric to imply bias on the part of one position, but it is valuable to examine the potential biases on all sides. Good science definitely requires skeptics. The problem with the violent video game debate is perhaps that we have not been skeptical enough.

‘No learned rhetorical flourishes!’ Anti-rhetorical narration and metaphorical agency in Raabe’s Celtic Bones

As Monika Fludernik (2011) points out, creative metaphors receive less attention than conceptual metaphors in cognitive studies. The complex role of metaphor in literature and its narrative function needs to be further explored. Realistic novellas do not display a predilection towards elaborate creative metaphors. They contain other figures of speech and more conventional figurative forms such as symbols, allegories and similes – the latter to approximate an experience or perception. My hypothesis is, however, that in realistic texts metaphorical agency is often contained and instigated by virtual micronarratives (digression, memory, association, imagination and dream). How does metaphoricity relate to virtual parts of the storyworld? In order to investigate this question I use Wilhelm Raabe’s poetic realist novella Keltische Knochen ( Celtic Bones, published 1864) as a case study. Raabe’s travel account shows how virtual passages can receive and entail a metaphorical dimension. In Raabe’s novella the narrator witness claims that it does not manipulate reality by rhetorical tricks and metaphorical transformations, and therefore makes a clear distinction between the virtual and real parts of the storyworld. At the same time this distinction is undermined because the virtual events interfere with the real events and transform them into metaphorical sequences. The metaphorical sequences open up alternative segments of the storyworld that can be coined as paranarratives. The case study exposes the negotiability and the co-text dependence of literary metaphoricity and contributes to the exploration of the narrative potential of figurativeness in literary texts.