Friday, August 2, 2013

Invitational Rhetoric


Multimodal Writing

 “Beyond Persuasion” a text by Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin. An analyses of  the concepts of invitational rhetoric. Reading Beyond persuasion has given me a better insight on invitational rhetoric and I find it very intriguing. Though to me this style or approach of communication has been in existence for quite a while but basically on the masses level not in the formal or academic circles. People use it on daily basis, so I will presume that the feminists are proposing or aiming for it to proliferate into the academic circles by giving it a better structure.

Invitational rhetoric espouses communication based on understanding perspectives and thinking through each other’s point of view with no aim to persuade but rather communicate on neutral and non-hierarchical grounds. The relationship between the rhetor or speaker and the audience is an equal one that allows for the rhetor to meet the audience at whatever level they might be on and learn about the complexities of issues from each other’s perspective. It is an alternative way of communicating as in contrast with theories that posit persuasion as the goal of communication like the traditional rhetoric with its main purpose of communication being to effect change.

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Memes of both traditional and invitational rhetorics
Another thing I deduced based on my reading is that invitational rhetoric denounces the use of force or persuasion to alter perspectives. Rather it says; This is my point of view, show me yours and lets discuss through, I will think through your point of view with the aim of understanding you better and enlightening myself if necessary, you may also do same. If in the process of discussion change is attained, fine if not that is also fine because it posit dialogue as ethically superior, so with the mere beginning of dialogue its purpose is partially attained.

People want to have the flexibility of making decisions without been forced, so for me this style of communication is legitimate, you communicate about an issue without only looking at its merits and demerits but rather you deal with the issue on a broader spectrum  and analyse complexities that comes with it.  Through these complexities, other angles of ideas and options are generated which gives justification to the topic that is being explored.

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 These are some of the basic principles of traditional and invitational rhetorics.
The invitational rhetoric style of communication of course comes with its strengths and weaknesses, for instance how do you get a point of views across without being overly conversational. It can be quite difficult to put your claim across or even for the audience to better understand your standpoint on the issue.  I found this YouTube video that I think rightly represents the theories of invitational rhetoric. This movie shows a board room where conversations about the state of affairs of a nation takes place , in their conversations they all had different views and opinions about Cuba launching an air strike on America. I think the grounds and levels of discussions were quite interesting. Enjoy the video and let’s continue the discussion after.

In the video the board members did not argue or use a confrontational approach but rather, they all presented their opinions in a conversational way. Others took in the views of their opponents and gave new perspectives and assumptions based on their point of view.

They also presented their information in a multimodal form with substantial amount of facts to back their claim, they showed images of their opponents’ nuclear weapons and the pace at which the worker over there go about their duties.  They also showed map of US soils that might be in the targeted range in case of an airstrike. The multiple modes of presentation within this video helps to better understand the issues been discussed.

The piece is structured in a way that a specific point of entry is irrelevant, if you didn’t watch the full video and probably just start watching when it’s nearing the end you can still grasp the meanings of what they are trying to say or do because it’s presented in a non-linear way.  They break down their language to meet the needs of those they assume might not be able to digest some vocabulary usage for instance breaking down the conversation that a blockage is tantamount to an act of war. This shows an example of how a rhetor will meet his or her audience at whatever level they might on and have enlightening conversations without barriers.

In the video the man mentioned that “don’t make the aggressor more aggressive” meaning that they have to find a way to have common grounds without necessarily using force. This is totally in line with the invitational rhetoric notion of nonviolence act.   In the end of the conversations one group proposed quarantine measures while the other proposed airstrike measures, however no unanimous decisions were made but preparation were made to favour both scenarios. This video in my opinion is a perfect example of how invitational rhetoric works.
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CULTURAL NEW YORK THROUGH MEDIA



Just another view of New York City through the eyes of media...

 An interesting video of 

    
In this blog post we are working in pair to create a remix about the city of New York and various cultural phenomenon that are in play. Our main aim is to look at New York in a broader spectrum and highlight on media culture and how media engages us to think about the city and guide us in creating our perspective of the city.
The city of New York is one of the epic centers of modernity with hegemonic ideologies of human progress through social and cultural constructions of how people should think and do things ”natural” through the proliferation of mass media, Increasing role of science and technology, Urbanization, Capitalism, Surveillance, and Consumerism. The city through media has portrayed itself as the greatest city in the world, where almost everything happens, from sky scrapers, great architecture, good businesses, great financial markets, fashion houses, theatres, huge population and a multicultural life experiences.

There is a growing desire from people in other lands and even within the United States to migrate to New York and live in the thick of the urban populace, these desires are modified by popular currents that capitalist society, mass media specialize in formulating and conveys an image of the city as a city that strives for success for its people through various mediums such as advertisements, music lyrics, imagery and business opportunities . Hence the city’s nick name ”The Big Apple” ”City of Dreams” among others. It’s believed that if one can make it in New York, then one can make it anywhere in the world. Base on this ideology the movie titled “New York, New York” in which Liza Minnelli sung the song ”New York New York” in 1970s was made. Then the song was re-sung by Frank Sinatra a few years later which made the song even more popular. Through out the transition and remixing of the music, the main theme of the song was kept, conveying the same message as New York being a great city with hopes and dreams that one want to be a part of. Alicia Key also recently re-sung the same Song and kept the theme so that it’s easily recognizable, conveying the same message as predecessor. Passim these times the view of New York as a city of dreams still stand firm. People still have the same perspective of New York as it was in the era of modernity. In today’s society the western culture are still the information society. It is not only through the music that we got a perspective about New York but also through other media forms, information is passed on to other parts of the world that gives a clear linear perspective of how New York should be perceived. It’s an example of how society transcends its hegemonic cultural ideologies on to the masses and creates a narrative that other worlds follow.


There is some sort of media form every where in the city space of New York, from bus terminals to bill boards, everything can be a form of advertisement. New York is one of the biggest cities in the world. They say that New York never sleeps and it is lively even during the night due to neon bill boards and night life. How has New York City changed with the time? New York itself is a kind of remix and consists of many cultures. It has changed from “melting pot” to “salad bowl”. Media play an important role in New York City in terms of public sphere and consumer culture as media advertise in the city. Media events can be simultaneously local, national, and global, they can involve an extraordinary range of producers, sources.
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Our remix also shows some of the media culture that connects us ”cultural others” to the city of New York and make us feel as if we are culturally inclined to the city. Movies such as “The Godfather” etc are timeless classics that has been watched by various people from different countries which gives them a perspective of the good, bad and historical life of New York city, a series such as “Wall Street Warriers” are also one of a kind that gives us an inside view of what goes on within the cultural setting of a trader’s life and what the pros and cons of trading is like. Though they are just movies and series or TV shows, to a very high degree they are a representation of what the society is like and what one should expect to see in the society.
A view of the city space of New York shows brands and advertisements. It’s interesting to note the social impact of the expansion of mass media from forms such as print and voice (such as black-and-white text-dominated newspapers and radio) into media that combine image, color, movement, text, and sound. These advertisements in city spaces are unavoidable as one is confronted with variations of advertisements from street food to fine restaurants, consumer goods, food chain store, clothing line chains, Businesses, all sort of products and services through various media form such as newspapers, magazines, television, movie theaters, billboards, public transportation systems, website, and in many other contexts in which we may not even notice. These advertisements are in a range of things we need and thing we might never need in the course of our lives. The ideas of these products are sold to us and we buy into the ideologies of the advertisements with the aim of raising our social status, or making ourselves look or feel better or just for buying sake. With such advertisement decorations on city spaces, capitalism is at its, best people tend to buy and buy in the name of being trendy. These are the kind of images and ideologies that media sells to us consciously or unconsciously we buy into them and appropriate our lives to conform to these media cultural ideologies. We are controlled by the media culture that present products to us and the culture is controlled and manipulated by governmental powers. This posses questions such as are we really in control of what we buy? How true are the perspectives that we have on things? Are our ways of reasoning mediated by what we see around us, if so then how can we say we are in control of our own lives?
Its very interesting to know how media culture is  embedded into us, making it blurry to even know when something is one’s own idea, for this reason, I think  the next time we want to buy new Converse sneakers we will think about it deeply and analyze whether or not we are propelled by media.
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