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.