I'm supposed to be writing a critique on President Obama's Address on Libya.
I'm supposed to be finishing my presentation on Burke's Dramatic Form Critcism.
Instead, I'm commenting on political blogs and Facebook regarding the lack of our (Americans) ability to engage in civil debates without resorting to 'snarkisms', broad generalizations, scathing indictments and 5th-grade name-calling. It's jaw-dropping to read through some of the posted comments. Disheartening, discomforting and really, JAW-DROPPING. Where do these people come from!? HOW were they raised? I attribute the latter question to my Chinese upbringing, where how one behaves as a person is a direct reflection of the manner in which they were raised. To that end, I think they were raised poorly. SEVERELY poorly.
Thanks to the class I'm taking this Quarter, I have rhetoric on my mind, regardless whether I'm awake or asleep. Sure it's been a nice jolt to the left side of my brain after a nice long period of la-dee-dah-ing but hyperactivity is not doing anything for my ability to get a good night's rest. Reminder to self, rhetoric is not empty. Rhetoric is not just excessive words. Rhetoric is, as defined by my textbook, "the strategic use of communication - oral or written - to achieve specifiable goals." To that end, I am NOT wasting precious time over-thinking this stuff. I am learning. I AM learning. I AM LEARNING!
