Rhetoric

What initially caught my attention with Deirdre McCloskey’s lecture was when she made the statement of how rhetoric is bullshit.  While it became evident through her lecture that this wasn’t actually her belief, I connected to this blunt statement. When I transferred to UIC and switched my major from Psychology to Communications I felt that I received a fair amount of flak from people who considered communications a “bullshit” major. Even my doctor jokingly made a comment about communications being a useless major. However, after watching Deirdre McCloskey’s lecture, I felt a sense a reaffirmation in choosing to pursue this area of study.

            When McCloskey began speaking of economics, history, and rhetoric I was skeptical that this lecture would significantly relate to my academic interests. Economics is possibly one of my least favorite subjects and the connectivity between economics and rhetoric was something that I had never even begun to consider before.  After watching this lecture I felt that my perception of economics was reshaped. Just as McCloskey accuses economists of disassociating themselves from the communications field, I feel I was close-minded to the connection between economics and communications. I’m not going to lie and say I’m completely fascinated with economics now, but I appreciate the ways in which communication and economics can be viewed as intertwining.  Rather than adhering to the rigid dichotomy between these studies that McCloskey addressed I now see what McCloskey means when she talks about how not just economics, but traditionally quantitative areas of study in general, relate to communications.

            Persuasion was the key word that I drew from this lecture. In class we discussed the distinction between power and dominance. This reminded me of when McCloskey was talking about persuasion as sweet-talking. Rather than forcing someone to agree, which I associate more with the idea of dominance, individuals are in agreement with the persuasion, which I associate with the idea of power. This also made me think about the term hegemony, which was discussed in a media class that I took. Hegemony is essentially the idea that individuals are willingly being controlled in some sense by another group. In this way I see sweet-talking as persuasion as being comparable to this concept of hegemony.

            McCloskey further addressed in her lecture how she doesn’t believe entrepreneurship can be taught. In many ways I agree with this statement. I know a couple of people who were successful in starting their own businesses. The ability to persuade is an essential component when considering the success of businesses. When speaking of persuasion, Malcolm X also comes to mind for me. I’ve watched a number of his speeches and read about him and am reminded of the importance of rhetoric and the power of persuasion. McCloskey stated that, “the mastery of communication makes us rich, wise, and educated.” I completely agree and believe this statement articulates the value of continuously seeking to improve communication.