Everyday Rhetoric – Elias Avila

Everyday Rhetoric

Rhetoric is a linguistic skill that we acquire at an early age.  We learn how to influence people while obscuring our intent.  As I look back I can recall a crucial moment in a young man’s life when rhetoric played a huge roll.  The young man was a student in high school when he gotten his girlfriend pregnant.  They had to sit down and discuss their next step.  His first thought was to persuade her into getting an abortion, but he knew that he would be seen as cruel and insensitive.  So he asks her the following questions. What do you want to do? Are you ready for a baby? How would your parents feel? Do you think you can finish school?  In her eyes he is being her friend by  putting her feelings first.  This was just  his tactic to make her feel guilty, and reconsider having a baby.  He was able to appear to be compassionate while selfishly accomplishing his objective to abort the baby.