In today’s society adolescents, adults, and the
elderly are very connected to social media. According to expandedramblings.com,
facebook had 1.19 billion monthly active users. The way in which the world
communicates today is vastly different from that of a hundred years ago. Today,
groups can be made in memory of those who have passed on, someone suffering
from a terrible disease, or someone’s wedding can be announced. A “hashtag” can
start a world-wide pledge to not text and drive or to pray for Boston. The
rhetoric of today places praise upon those who have down wonderful things and
blame upon those who have done wrong. The rhetoric of today is focused on the
present and on current conditions of the sick or the economy. The rhetoric that
is particularly dominant in today’s society is epideictic rhetoric.
| Blaming Obama (picture from google images) |
Epideictic rhetoric was defined in class as ceremonial speaking of praise or blame focused on the present. A speech that is an embellished statement of facts
with great vivacity to persuade an audience of praiseworthiness and
blameworthiness of a person, group, or idea. As the economy continues to
suffer, many pictures and hashtags are appearing to place blame upon someone,
anyone sometimes. The people want to have someone to blame for their problems,
which is where blameworthiness comes into play. Pictures, such as the one
featured to above, shows that the people want to place blame on someone.
They like to know that it’s not their fault. Due to this fact, epideictic
rhetoric is so dominate in today’s society.
| Johnny and Jeff finishing a race. |
Where blame is superior in society, so is praise.
Praise is a way to shine light on the good that is done. While the news tends
to be depressing, there is the occasional tear-jerking story that is praising
the good work of someone. A story about a man, Jeff, whose son, Johnny, was
born with cerebral palsy and couldn’t compete in sports. He bought a runners
bike for his son and began to train, pushing his son in the stroller and they
then began to compete in marathons. His son loved competing and feeling the
wind his face. They won numerous races and during their final race as a team,
his son walked across the finish line. His father has
a device enabling him to complete a task he thought was impossible. The media
praised this man and it was everywhere on social media,
spreading also by word of mouth. Numerous tags are shown below the video, which
can be accessed on espn.go.com.
Praise is something for society to focus on when so much blame and bad is
happening.
Epidictic rhetoric is very unique. It can focus
on a wide range of issues and stories. A quote from Bill Keane says
“Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why
it’s called the present.” This quote is very much a reflection of epideictic
rhetoric. Society focuses on the present and takes today as a gift. A large
statement was made that “You Only Live Once.” Epidictic rhetoric is
particularly dominant in today’s society because of the reasons listed above.
So as adolescents say today, YOLO.
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