In the “The Rhetorical Situation”, Bitzer elaborates on the importance of rhetorical situation. Bitzer believes that rhetorical situation is undervalued. In the reading, he discusses the importance of exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer continually notes the importance of rhetorical situation, as he relates it to everyday life. Bitzer at one point relates exigence to the weather. He states that examples such as “death, winter, and some natural disasters” are living proof of exigence. He relates  exigence to the people so the audience gains a better understanding on it. Bitzer states that exigence is a situation that can not be changed. The audience is those that are being persuaded by the rhetoric, and the constraints are the limits or the challenges that are placed on the writing. Every piece of writing involves rhetorical situation as the writer always has an intended audience and a point to be made. Rhetorical situation can be altered by any approach that the writer choices.

Personally, I believe Bitzer made good points on rhetorical situations. He did a great job explaining his definitions and relating the piece to aspects outside of writing. He relates it to the real world and thus acknowledges rhetorical situation in a broader scale. I like how Bitzer uses real life situations such as, “The Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Churchill’s Address on Dunkirk, and John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address”, and figures such as John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to support his claims. He did a great job engaging the reader and persuading them with his argument. Overall, I felt that it was a good piece and very helpful for the audience. One question that I would have for Bitzer is what elements of the real world can be altered by discourse?

In Emma Watson’s speech on feminism, her exigence would be for people to put an end to gender inequality. She believes that woman are fully capable to hold jobs that men hold and to take part in social activities, such as sports, just as men do. Her audience would be everyone at the United Nations, the media, and everyone tuning in. Her constraint’s would be the people that are against feminists, and another constraint was that she had to use real life examples in order to support her claims instead of her beliefs or bias. One example she used was how her friend had to quit sports because she was becoming too muscular.

Topic: Should gay marriage be legal?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-hamady/the-problem-with-gay-marr_b_1505858.html

Topic: Ray Rice punishment fair or foul?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ray-rice-video-wife-defends-player-blasts-media/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2014/09/16/why-the-nfls-indefinite-ban-of-ray-rice-wont-stand/

In the Fox video they are highlighting the situation in Ferguson; however, the news cast kind of circulates away from the topic. They don’t see it as an act of racism. Instead, they see it as a common conflict that has a headline that is appealing to the media. Unlike common shootings in Chicago, Fox News believes that the media is so drawn to this situation because it was a white man that killed an African American. They believe that there wasn’t enough evidence behind the situation to assume that it was an act of racism. At one point of the video, one of the newscasters states, that in a CNN interview, the one getting interviewed didn’t give her insight on the situation and what lead up to the shooting. Overall, their argument is that the situation isn’t an act of racism. The purpose of this is to enlighten the audience on their beliefs of the situation. They don’t see it as an act of racism, but instead they see it as a very intriguing headline because of the assumption that the shooting was an act of racism. The intended audiences are those that care of the situation, especially the ones that see it as an act of racism. Secondary audience is the people that are intrigued about the situation. Fox shows an appeal of ethos in the video. Ethos is shown when Kimberly states that people jump to the conclusion that it was an act of racism. You can see it in her face and hear it in her voice that this topic bothers her. The exigence in the Fox video is that the citizens, especially colored citizens, don’t trust the police or the government when it comes to their protection. In democracynow, their argument is that police brutality and militarism is evident in the black community in Missouri.They claim that the police is over using their power. The purpose of democracynow is to educate their audience on the police dominance in Missouri. Their purpose is also to urge the government not to just equip the police with advanced weaponry, but to give proper guidance on the intention and use of the weapons. The primary audience is the government and the secondary audience is anyone who cares about the news. The exigence for the piece is the increasing supply of weapons without proper limitations on the use of the weapons. These weapons are being misused and abused.

After reading “What is Rhetoric”, I believe that Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are essential in order to write an effective persuasive paper. I frequently use these rhetorical contents throughout conversations and in my papers. Mastering rhetoric is key to becoming a good persuasive writer.

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