The Lost Art Of Rhetoric
Over the years I’ve tried many sites. I’ve learned about loads of different niches and I’ve written about different subjects ranging from construction to the possible side-effects of make-up.
One thing I’ve advised people to stay away from when it comes to their projects is talking about politics.
In theory, we should all be well-versed in politics, and so writing a political blog or starting a news site should be a beneficial thing.
It isn’t though.
Everyone who I’ve known who has tried to go into political writing has, in some way or another, come out worse for it. It needn’t be Twitter mobs and rabid opponents doing underhanded stuff to ruin your life (literally in some cases,) but it’s just stressful and you’re appealing to an audience that is often negative if not baying for blood.
(Of course, you might be the one person who is destined for political writing. Don’t let me stop you… it’s just my opinion, man.)
Anyway, I’ve thought this for a while, but couldn’t quite put my finger on why it was. This has led me on a bit of a tangent, which luckily has very little to do with politics (if it had have been about politics, I wouldn’t have written this article.)
That tangent is about rhetoric, and its disappearance from society (and later, how you stand to gain from this.)
Why The Art Of Rhetoric Has Disappeared… A Pet Theory Of Someone Who Doesn’t Know What They Are Talking About
This is my personal theory… and I don’t really know what I’m talking about here.
Rhetoric is the art of using sophisticated language to present an argument and thus make your listener more amenable to your suggestions. In previous eras, people would have listened live to debates. People would also have had to remember their arguments with all their supporting evidence.
Later, people would read speeches or newspaper articles that would have had a lot of time to get their point across.
Rhetorical arguments have fallen by the wayside with the advent of television – and particularly the “soundbite” nature of current news shows. The medium has changed so that long, rhetorical-device based speeches have given way to short bursts of slogans. (Think about the last election in your country… chances are you’ll remember the three word slogans of the various politicians who were running.)
Essentially, rhetoric has fallen by the wayside because people are optimising for tiny soundbites at the expense of more nuanced, longer arguments.
Rhetoric And Copywriting Are One And The Same
Rhetoric is the art of persuading people with your words. The goal of persuasion is something that copywriters are all chasing. So you could probably do worse things than learn about rhetoric.
(P.S. If you want to get started in copywriting, check out my How To Start Copywriting article.)
When you’re writing sales letters, you aren’t trying to copy an advert on the television, with its fifty word dialogue and snappy video of a Dad forgetting where he put his car keys or something; instead, you’re trying to copy the persuasive techniques of a master of rhetoric.
Luckily, before the advent of ten second soundbites, there were thousands of years (That’s no exaggeration) of study into rhetoric. It’s also largely untapped territory for copywriters.
There are huge lists of different rhetorical devices like “amplification” and appeals to different audiences which are novel ways of looking at the same thing that copywriters look for.
In short, there’s bound to be useful information that you can directly put into your copywriting efforts which will help with getting readers, sales and all sorts of other good stuff.
How To Learn About Rhetoric
It’s my opinion that I could have gotten more of an education from learning about two things than I did from my inflated-tuition education.
Those two things are logic and rhetoric.
Logic is the art of analysing the world around you and distinguishing facts, evidence and arguments.
There’s a great book which I’m working through for logic called A Concise Introduction To Logic. It’s a fantastic book which will burn holes in your brain and realise that you don’t really know what your opinions are half the time. (Incidentally: I’ve posted a link to Amazon, but you should probably find this in a used bookstore (which is what I did.) The Amazon price is insane.)
I’ve not found a book about rhetoric which is quite the same as the one above.
Rhetoric is, as we’ve discussed, the art of presenting evidence and opinions in order to persuade an onlooker.
So, here’s how I’m going about learning rhetoric:
- Read Wikipedia’s article on rhetoric.
- Read Wikipedia’s article on rhetorical devices.
- Read Wikipedia’s list of rhetorical devices.
Then, once you have a general understanding of what rhetoric entails and how devices are used, start reading speeches and other things like articles and highlight devices when you come across them.
Finally, go through the list of devices and write out arguments about stuff you know about until some of them get stuck and you actually understand them.
I’m new to this, and it’s a tangential learning experience, so I’ll leave it there.
P.S. This might seem like a nerdfest of an article. It probably is. But it’s a useful nerdfest and it has saved me from spending the past forty-five minutes reading about politicians, so it’s been worth it.