scholarly journals Framed for Lying: Statistics as In/Artistic Proof

Res Rhetorica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Libertz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Social Process ◽  
The United States

A statistic can be a powerful rhetorical tool in political discourse, but it can also be quickly dismissed by a resistant audience. This article argues that the statistic’s association with Aristotelian inartistic proof (in Greek: pisteis atechnoi, Lat. probationes inartificiales) can, counterintuitively, encourage resistant audiences to be dismissive, to think that statistics “lie.” By drawing from the concept of framing in media studies, I explore how the language used around a calculation can better serve readers when it is more explicit about the statistic’s creation from a social process—that it is invented rather than used in argument. If statistics rely on interpretation, rhetors should invite their audience to interpret rather than insist on an interpretation. I use examples from news articles covering immigration in the United States to explore a frame that does such insisting and a frame that invites.

Plus ça Change: The 1922 U.S. Congressional Debate on the Balfour Declaration

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-106
Author(s):  
Khaled Elgindy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Palestinian Arab ◽  
The U.S

This essay looks at the hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in April 1922 on the subject of a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as well as the broader congressional debate over the Balfour Declaration at that crucial time. The landmark hearing, which took place against the backdrop of growing unrest in Palestine and just prior to the League of Nations' formal approval of Britain's Mandate over Palestine, offers a glimpse into the cultural and political mindset underpinning U.S. support for the Zionist project at the time as well as the ways in which the political discourse in the United States has, or has not, changed since then. Despite the overwhelming support for the Zionist project in Congress, which unanimously endorsed Balfour in September 1922, the hearing examined all aspects of the issue and included a remarkably diverse array of viewpoints, including both anti-Zionist Jewish and Palestinian Arab voices.

Savvy Surrogates and Rock Star Parents: Compensation Provisions, Contracting Practices, and the Value of Womb Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 398-431
Author(s):  
Hillary L. Berk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symbolic Power ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Medical Risks ◽  
Exchange Relations

Abstract:What is the value of surrogate labor and risks, and how is it negotiated by participants as they contract within an unsettled baby market? This article presents novel data on compensation, fee, and bodily autonomy provisions formalized in surrogacy contracts, and the experiences of actors embedded in exchange relations, as they emerge in a contested reproductive market. It combines content analysis of a sample of thirty surrogacy contracts with 115 semi-structured interviews conducted in twenty states across the United States of parties to these agreements, attorneys who draft them, counselors, and agencies that coordinate matches between intended parents and surrogates. It analyzes the value of services and medical risks, such as loss of a uterus, selective abortion, and “carrier incapacity,” as they are encoded into agreements within an ambiguous field. Surrogacy is presented as an interactive social process involving law, markets, medicine, and a variety of cultural norms surrounding gender, motherhood, and work. Contracts have actual and symbolic power, legitimating transactions despite moral anxieties. Compensation transforms pregnancy into a job while helping participants make sense of the market and their “womb work” given normative flux. Contracts are deployed by professionals without informed policies that could enhance power and reduce potential inequalities.

scholarly journals Dewey and Political Communication in the Age of Mediation

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-102
Author(s):  
Lance E Mason
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Sociopolitical Environment ◽  
The Way

The present sociopolitical environment in the United States is perpetually mediated and beset with information from innumerable sources. This paper argues that Dewey’s conception of communication as a mutual act of meaning-making holds insights for explaining the connections between pervasive mediation and political polarization, in addition to understanding why political discourse has become more degrading in recent years. It also points the way toward viable solutions by arguing for the reorientation of schools toward valuable living experiences that are becoming less pronounced in the broader culture, such as sustained face to face engagement on matters of social import.

scholarly journals Socio-economic Issues Related to Immigrants in American Political and Election Discourses

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Mubarak Altwaiji ◽  
Muna Telha
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
History Of ◽  
Common Man ◽  
High Level

Nativism is conceptually different from xenophobia. A xenophobe is not necessarily a nativist. Nativism can broadly mean binarism and racism together. This study traces the history of American politicians’ nativist rhetoric and its reflection on the life of the immigrants. In the United States, nativism has largely been a part of the leaders’ political and cultural agendas and motivated the Black-White racial binarism. Moreover, nativism continues to second this binarism and secure it from criticism by projecting it as a high level of nationalism. This paper investigates, firstly, how the nativist speech influences common man; and secondly, how the life of the immigrants is affected by this discourse. This study contrasts with many dominant theories, which hypothesize that American political discourse is controlled by the elites and directed by their nativist agendas. This study, however, finds that American political discourse is subject to the nativist pride of common white citizens who share this anima with the elites.

scholarly journals Practitioner Q & A: Chenjerai Kumanyika

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Kelly Chernin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Industries

Chenjerai Kumanyika is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies in Rutgers’ School of Communication and Information, where he focuses on the intersection of social justice and the creative and cultural industries. In addition, he is Co-Executive Producer and Co-Host of Gimlet Media’s podcast Uncivil, which explores the Civil War and the historical and societal constructs of race in the United States. He has also contributed to Transom, NPR Codeswitch, All Things Considered, Invisibilia, VICE, as well as being a frequent contributor to Scene on Radio Podcast’s Seeing White series. 

scholarly journals The truths and falsehoods of post-truth leaders

Leadership ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 757-764
Author(s):  
Sverre Spoelstra
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The World

Over the last three years, the idea of a ‘post-truth society’ has become a common talking point. Politicians from around the world, from Europe to South America to the United States, have been labelled as ‘post-truth leaders’, with Donald Trump being portrayed as the standard bearer for this new kind of political discourse. This article suggests that post-truth leadership is nothing new. Ever since Max Weber developed his notion of charismatic leadership in the early 20th century, Western societies have been infatuated with the idea that leaders ought not concern themselves too much with factual reality. In a sense, leadership has been post-truth all along.

What the Axis of Evil Metaphor Did to Iran

2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Heradstveit ◽  
Matthew G. Bonham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
State Of The Union ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Main Target ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article focuses on the Axis of Evil metaphor that was used by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address in 2002 to represent Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. After describing "axis" as a metonym for fascism and Nazism, and "evil" as a metonym for Satanic forces that implies an alliance of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea that is collectively responsible for evil deeds, the authors analyze the impact of this metaphor on Iranian self-image and politics. The data for this analysis are drawn from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 members of the Iranian oppositional elite. The interview results suggest that the Axis of Evil metaphor had an impact on political discourse in Iran and strengthened the rhetorical position of conservatives vis-à-vis reformers by reviving militant revolutionary language with the Great Satan (the United States) as the main target of the theocratic and conservative forces. The article concludes with some observations about the implications of using cultural and historical experiences for explaining differences between the ways in which Americans (and other people in the West) and Iranians have understood the metaphor.

Theo-political Discourse and Rock ’n’ Roll in the Reagan Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 223-236
Author(s):  
Theodore Louis Trost
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Rhetoric ◽  
Ongoing Study ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Rock N Roll ◽  
Theological Language ◽  
Reagan Era ◽  
Academic Discourses

Abstract Part of an ongoing study of religious rhetoric in politics and art, this essay identifies some of the uses to which theological language has been put in academic discourses about human relationships as they are ethically and politically constructed. It reviews the “Reagan Era” (1980–1988) in the United States through the works of certain songwriters who use theological language to critique the dominant politics of the era.

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