Professor Mc. Closkey's Lecture

I had previously taken a class on rhetoric, which in turn, leads to my fascination with professor Mc.Closkey’s lecture. Although rhetoric can get confusing at times, the idea behind this concept can be very engaging. If carefully examined, our daily existence is based on the art of persuasion. From the food we consume, to our daily activities, we are subconsciously persuaded to make the choices that we make. As a society, we have been programmed to take part and act upon this concept. Today’s media has a profound impact on the younger generation. For example, young girls are being taught that image is everything. Girls fall into the agonizing peer pressure of having the “perfect” body because the media often portrays the perfect body to be a size 0. Who is to say what the perfect size is? Yet, shockingly we fall into the illusion that this is acceptable. 


Furthermore, I found Professor Mc. Closkey’s comment regarding work ethics very interesting. She mentions that one cannot be taught to be a hard worker, but rather one needs to be persuaded to succeed. Although, I have never thought of this from Professor Mc. Closkey’s perspective, I cannot help but agree. One of my family members manages a very large dealership and one thing that I have learned through his story telling is that this business in particular is mostly based on persuasion. The employees must be taught that in order to succeed they must be able to present the buyer with the perfect sales pitch. They must be well informed and knowledgeable of their products to ensure that the buyer will not feel any uncertainty and continue to shop around. Once they succeed in persuading the customer to invest their money with their dealership, they then have effectively earned their way toward a financially positive outcome.


 Lastly, Mc. Closkey’s mentions the idea of “prediction,” which was one of my favorite parts of the lecture. Until today, I never thought that those individuals who claim to predict an outcome are simply persuading one’s thoughts to veer toward a result in their favor. We educate and inform ourselves on daily events enough to persuade our logical thinking into believing that and outcome will occur. This is not a prediction but rather a way of taking all of the gathered facts and believing that whatever the information that we are presented with will lead to an outcome. Ultimately, communication and the art of rhetoric is the key to success.