{"id":1671,"date":"2008-10-12T02:13:47","date_gmt":"2008-10-12T02:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/?p=1671"},"modified":"2017-08-18T02:25:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T02:25:58","slug":"the-west-wind-is-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/the-west-wind-is-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"The West Wind is Rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe\u2019s an Arab,\u201d she said of Obama.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0And poor Senator John McCain quickly took away the microphone, shaking his head.<\/p>\n

Senator McCain then did exactly what he needed to do: he described Obama as a decent man with whom he had drastically different opinions.\u00a0\u00a0Sadder still, the Republican crowd booed his remarks.<\/p>\n

In my last post,<\/a>\u00a0I wrote, that \u201cthis much seems certain: in language lies consequence, our wills, our selves.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0By this I meant that when we are confronted with the responses to our words, we have no one to blame but ourselves.<\/p>\n

Some months ago, Obama promised a campaign free of negative campaigning.\u00a0\u00a0Too short-lived was this promise: just last week he presented a\u00a0website and 13 minute video<\/a> linking McCain to the infamous Charles Keating savings and loan scandal.\u00a0\u00a0His rhetoric is increasingly negative\u2014that he keeps most of it off of his main website does not mitigate it.<\/p>\n

When will Obama face the delusional voter on camera, also full of ignorance and hate?<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, I know the story.\u00a0\u00a0Voters across the country decry the negative ads and call for issues.\u00a0\u00a0And I know that campaign strategists clearly see that polls and votes are swayed by mudslinging anyway.\u00a0\u00a0Voters say one thing but are moved by another.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m not talking about persuasion here; any rhetorician or ad writer can move crowds.<\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019m talking about conscience.\u00a0\u00a0Do we want our end results because we\u2019ve won people with our sincere ideas or do we want it because we\u2019ve deluded them, played to their ignorance, made them hate?<\/p>\n

Whatever we believe of our next president, we must also believe that he (and his running mate) moved some votes by manipulation over idea, by compromising ethics in order to achieve power, by consciously working to polarize honest debate into something duplicitous.<\/p>\n

I, for one, was glad to see McCain take away that microphone and\u2014to me\u2014he appeared honestly regretful.\u00a0\u00a0The political machine will do terrible things to honest men and women who seek office.\u00a0\u00a0In the end, after the election, those politicians must still face themselves as moral humans.\u00a0\u00a0They must exert their wills, write themselves.<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019m not na\u00efve about how politicians work, about power and ambition.\u00a0\u00a0And I\u2019m not so innocent as to believe that some politicians see their mirrored reflections each day without a moment of concern.\u00a0\u00a0But that is where this consequence is tragic, where it creates an ugly America.<\/p>\n

Voters are moved this election season, and they can be motivated by ideas or they can be pushed to thoughtless words and ignorant action by prejudice and hate. Let both our candidates face what they\u2019ve wrought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe\u2019s an Arab,\u201d she said of Obama.\u00a0\u00a0And poor Senator John McCain quickly took away the microphone, shaking his head. Senator McCain then did exactly what he needed to do: he described Obama as a decent man with whom he had drastically different opinions.\u00a0\u00a0Sadder still, the Republican crowd booed his remarks. In my last post,\u00a0I wrote, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,256],"tags":[561,512,559,560,562],"class_list":["post-1671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-politics-and-ethics","tag-hate","tag-language","tag-mccain","tag-obama","tag-responsibility"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/mccain2.jpg?fit=432%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1679,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/by-any-other-name-ii-ii-1-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":0},"title":"“. . . by any other name” [II.ii.1-2]","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2008 Dec 14","format":false,"excerpt":"On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. will be inaugurated.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s Hussein.\u00a0\u00a0Tune in to any number of news channels and watch the pundits argue over the public use of his middle name.\u00a0\u00a0Somehow\u2014despite its being tradition for the full name to be used\u2014it has become a minor scandal. I\u2019m curious, though,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/obama-osama.jpeg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":804,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/unique\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":1},"title":"Unique","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2008 Sep 9","format":false,"excerpt":"I was as surprised as the next guy at seeing a too-familiar phrase on the entryway to ROHS this fall.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, there\u2019s still a little sting we feel when we see something which feels uniquely Kimball or uniquely Dondero: three years later, and we still step carefully around each other\u2019s loyalties\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/030209_0334_MeasuringSe8.jpg?fit=367%2C276&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1674,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/feedback-loop\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":2},"title":"Feedback Loop","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2008 Nov 16","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently I mentioned in some of my classes that, psychologically, we are the stars of our own movies.\u00a0\u00a0By this I meant that we first of all see ourselves as the protagonists of a story, the main characters, the ones we imagine must win or succeed in the end.\u00a0\u00a0This is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/mythusa.jpg?fit=533%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/mythusa.jpg?fit=533%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/mythusa.jpg?fit=533%2C300&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1768,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/on-james-berlin\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":3},"title":"On James Berlin, Yahoo News, and the War on Christmas","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2010 Dec 19","format":false,"excerpt":"I still remember my direct encounter with Neo-Marxist philosopher and rhetorician James Berlin (1942-1994) during a presentation I made at the Michigan College English Association conference. I was horrified and embarrassed at the time because, an honoree at the conference, he sat down in the front row of my presentation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/berlin-christmas.jpg?fit=452%2C301&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1901,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/shoot-into-the-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":4},"title":"Shoot into the Wind","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2017 Sep 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida is a Stand Your Ground state, after all. And while it seems a small and innocent bit of satire amidst the ongoing destruction, it should not surprise us that Americans are--indeed--shooting at the storm. How many do it in an earnest desire to drive away the wind?","rel":"","context":"In "Culture Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Culture Criticism","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/culture-criticism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/09\/kitten-fake-news-1.jpg?fit=403%2C302&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":828,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/on-daggits-and-darfur-obama-and-adama\/","url_meta":{"origin":1671,"position":5},"title":"On Daggits and Darfur, Obama and Adama","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2009 Mar 21","format":false,"excerpt":"Truly, my first thought when I heard that the cast of\u00a0Battlestar Galactica\u00a0was debating at the real United Nations was that we've finally lost our sense of reality. And, on reflection, I admit I don't think I'm wrong. If you are not following all the latest news from the world of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/04\/032209_0251_OnDaggittsa1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1673,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1671\/revisions\/1673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}