"You look really Liberal"

I never really thought clothing had too much to do with politics. Well, apparently it does. Supposedly I have this "sort of hipster" thing going on, although that's not how I like to describe myself.  In order for this story to make sense, I guess I have to explain what exactly I was wearing. Today, after waking up 8 minutes before class started, I threw on yoga pants, high socks, military boots, a sweater, fingerless gloves and a necklace. After making my way through two classes, I made my way to Sackett to get ready for my German oral exam.  I greeted my other classmate, who was also studying her note card cautiously. 
"So wanna hear a cool story," I heard Jen (that's what I'll call her for the benefit of story telling) say, "well maybe you won't think it's cool, you're kinda hipster so I mean.. you look really liberal."

"I'm sorry... what?" I replied, not trying to show any emotional response to her seemingly passive aggressive comment.

"Well, I mean, you obviously aren't conservative, and most liberals aren't exactly 'into' politics" she casually responded.

I sat there dumbfounded. Really, liberals don't care about politics? Hmm okay.

"I mean, I am an international politics major.. so I follow everything I can" I snapped. There goes that whole 'not trying to show any emotional response' thing.

"I was at this Republican lunch thing today..." she started her story with and telling me in excruciating detail about how she's about to become "DC's next big sandal" or something like that.  She finished her story with "I guess you wouldn't really understand anything about the republican party though.

Newsflash, I already told you I follow politics. So yeah, I do know a thing or two about the republican party, so I proceeded to tell her: "Actually my parents are republicans, so I've been keeping up with the debates and primary elections."

"Awe, you're in the rebellious period!"

I'm sorry what did you say to me? Because no. I'm not. I've known my political views for a while now. So I told her that. Thank god my professor came and got me before she could even reply to my comment.

This led me to a few questions:
1. How can you possibly guess someones political opinions based on clothing and
2. how did she become so good at belittling a person using rhetoric?

We discussed something similiar to this subject in Geography 124.  Women are judged solely on their clothes. Although what I wear has absolutely nothing to do with what I believe, how smart I am or anything of that matter. So lay off what I'm wearing, because I could judge you by your sweatpants, stringy hair, tennis shoes and Vera Bradley backpack, but I have the respect to keep from doing that.  Your terrible personality gave me enough to judge you on.
I think this was the first time since I got to school that I can truly and distinctly remember someone acting like this towards me. When class first started, I couldn't imagine that rhetoric was really used in negative way, it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with it. But today, I became part of a first-hand attack of rhetoric gone bad.  Frankly, I never want to be in that place again.  It makes you feel pretty bad, and I really had no reason to feel that way. It was rude, unnecessary, and maybe she thought she made herself sound really smart, but to me, she just sounded uneducated. 

It wasn't even just the words she used. It was the tone. I think that was the worst part of it. I could tell she was enjoying tearing me down, even though it was completely off base. To me, that's pretty messed up. How could someone enjoy doing that to another person? That's not exactly how I like using rhetoric.

Sorry that you think you're better than everyone because you're a senior, but I could just as easily use rhetoric to belittle you too.  It doesn't make you better than anyone, frankly it just makes you worse.

When Debates Get Out of Hand

I call myself a Democrat, but being an International Politics major, I still have a pretty big interest in politics.  This November will be voting in my FIRST election, and I want to make sure I do it right.  Although I agree with little that the republican candidates have to say, I enjoy watching the debates. In the past week, I have watched two debates, both happening in Florida.  The questions have been so interesting, my personal favorite was when the candidates were asked about a national language, talking about how all of them want English to be the national language, but how Gingrich and Romney are sending out campaign advertisements in Spanish. Check out the responses below:

I think the video makes a good point, and says a lot about rhetoric.  Usually in debates, you see candidates biting each others heads off. But this is one of the few examples where the actually agree. After listening to Gingrich speak, Romney quickly agrees with Gingrich. Hold on to your seat kids, this rarely happens.                                              

I was pretty interesting to see if all debates have been like this, because well, I can’t lie, this is the first week I’m REALLY trying to follow them.  I guess it’s hard to follow something that I’ve never really had any reason to think about before.  So I started doing some research.  During the Iowa debates, which occurred around the Christmas season, show something of the exactly opposite behavior.  Check out this next video:

Republicans' mudslinging turns off voters - Americas - Al Jazeera English

 

So most of the debate has been completely negative.  This just once again proves how modern rhetoric is the dominant type.  No one listens to each other, except when it's convient too.  To me, that doesn't make me want to vote for any of them.  They all need to step back, think about what others are saying, and try to make this election less negative-because in the end, the least negative candidate probably has the best shot at winning.

Rhetoric In Rehearsal

Getting ready for a show in two weeks cannot really be described using any other word than the word hectic.  All of the time we spend together setting up, rehearsing, and tearing down the set has led to a lot of talking—and a lot of debating.  Half of the cast is from Pittsburgh; the other half from Philadelphia. Most of the arguments are about who has better sports teams, if Wawa or Sheetz is better, which city is cleaner, accents, and thousands of other things that don’t even make sense.  No one really even listens to the other talk.  We take sides, yell over each other, and when someone says something rude about the others hometown, we get really offended.  Basically it just becomes a roast of what the other loves.

All of this just demonstrates how rhetoric really is used today.  It’s not about opinions, it’s not about listening, and all we care is saying what we want and not paying any mind to what anyone else has to say.   This also relates to the video what we discussed in class, as the debates demonstrate how we link our opinions to our personalities.  As cliché as it is to say, most of us can dish it out, but few of us can really take it.  As the book says, we no longer use rhetoric or debates to discuss others opinions, or learn new things, we use it as a way to get out our own opinions, without caring at all about what other people have to say.

Although most see rhetoric in a political and negative tone, the recent debates my cast mates have been partaking in has only showed me how rhetoric can really be used in any setting.  Even though most people tend to see rhetoric from a serious viewpoint, it is actually a something that can be used in an entertaining way—and has definitely made the long rehearsals so much better.

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