If we learn how to disengage from communication circuits that lay the groundwork for fear and aggression, we have a better chance of managing conflict constructively.
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Articles on Rhetoric
Displaying 21 - 40 of 102 articles
Rioters at the Capitol represented a ‘dagger against the throat’ of American democracy, President Biden said in an address laden with imagery.
Billed as a speech from a leader making daring decisions to fix the nation, the prime minister’s conference appearance rapidly descended into jokes about beavers.
When there is nothing new to say, pegging news stories to the anniversaries of the deaths of Black Americans objectifies the victims and helps make violence ordinary.
We ought to worry that the pandemic has made it even easier to reduce teaching to disseminating knowledge.
Metaphors are not used for their own sake in politics, but as part of a strategy to persuade a particular audience to accept a point of view, and act accordingly
For many extremist groups, a primary goal is to spread their ideology. Costumes and uniforms – even ridiculous ones – are a form of spectacle that can garner attention and interest.
Researchers find that the most devoted fans take their team’s defeats personally and often blame losses on the refs or cheating. Sound familiar?
The president’s language sounded less presidential and more inflammatory in the weeks leading up to the riots.
In his January 6 speech in Washington DC, Donald Trump urged his supporters to force their way onto Capitol Hill, is a perfect compendium of his inflammatory populist rhetoric.
Words have consequences. And decades of research supports the contention that Donald Trump’s words could in fact incite people to mount an insurrection at the US Capitol.
As the raid on the U.S. Capitol has shown, some kinds of rhetoric can set fire to the world — and it exists in Canada, too. Here’s how to tamp it down and focus on positive forms of rhetoric.
Media outlets used visual metaphors to explain to the public how election results would emerge.
False premises, fear-based reasoning and mob thinking are baked into the platform, allowing misinformation to thrive.
Donald Trump said followers of conspiracy theory ‘are very much against pedophilia.’ What he didn’t mention was the demonic imagery and language that peppers QAnon posts.
Some have equated the German word with small-minded cruelty. But the word’s meaning is more nuanced.
Trump uses more religious terms in his set-piece addresses than any other president in the last 100 years.
Because dramatic tension fuels attention, Trump’s words work to generate tension, anxiety and conflict. We need to react with civility, care and calm to undo the cycle of attention and persuasion.
A politician who wields a comeback with skill can use it as both a bludgeon and a shield, damaging the opponent without hurting their own popularity with voters.
The conservative cable news channel particularly favors the term when explaining opposition to Donald Trump. This framing of the news can lead Fox viewers to see the world as us versus them.
Top contributors
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Professor, Department of Communication Arts, University of Waterloo
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Professor of Communication and Journalism, Texas A&M University
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Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis
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Assistant lecturer, CY Cergy Paris Université
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Assistant Professor Rhetoric and Communication, State University of New York, College at Geneseo
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Adjunct Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
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Chair of Academic Board, Victoria University
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Professor of Communication Studies, Colorado State University
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Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Communication Consultant, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative Literature and Culture, Queen Mary University of London
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Senior Lecturer and Senior Digital Learning Developer, UCL
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Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Professor of American Politics, Fairleigh Dickinson University
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Professor, Australian National University
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Emeritus Professor of Classics, La Trobe University
