Rhetorical Reality

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. No matter your message, you can sell it better if you master rhetoric. It is studied and taught, admired in great writers and orators. For those watching the Democratic National Convention this week, rhetoric has been out in force.

But here’s the thing: rhetoric is a tool. It can make a strong argument compelling and a weak one sympathetic. Rhetoric enhances, but it only transcends when the message rings true. The core of persuasion is not rhetoric but resonance. Artful phrases provide acoustic warmth; meaning is the music.

The human brain processes information by comparing what it already knows. We fill in the gaps, provide context, evoke previous experiences. This is why a great piece of music rewards repeated listening — we know when the good parts are coming, we anticipate, augment. It is also why we understand speech patterns of our social group more easily than those of others; why we recognize the facial features of our own ethnic or racial group most easily. Think of those Facebook posts with all vowels replaced by the letter Z. If it’s written in your native language, your brain fills in the proper sounds. For less familiar languages, you won’t know where to start.

The best way to persuade, then, is to connect your message with what your audience already knows. If you live in Miami, you will believe me when I say it will rain this afternoon. If I tell you to expect snow, you’ll laugh. It is not hard to persuade people to agree with their own beliefs. But the key is to connect your new message with experiences that your audience know well.

The dichotomy I present between rhetoric and resonance is misleading, though. Rhetoric enhances, but resonance itself is akin to the state of already being enhanced. That sounds vaguely tumescent, but you get the idea. Drawing connections between a listener’s “knowns” and your subversive disruption of those knowns requires quite a bit of rhetoric. Patterns of phrase, allusion, parallel metaphors — a skilled persuader can connect their message to your life. With research and empathy, rhetoric can seem to create resonance out of thin air.

Persuasion is a lot easier when you don’t have to try so hard, though. The most soaring, powerful rhetoric takes the uncertain, nagging thoughts in the back of our head and puts them into words. It tells you how to say what you have been trying to express. Rhetoric coalesces. It makes you Oh! Not only do you understand, you feel good about it, relieved that someone finally understands. Rhetoric has come into your life and made it better. It has formed a bond.

So back to the convention in Philadelphia. We’ve heard soaring rhetoric from the President, Vice President, First Lady, and others. Their speeches have not just been well-crafted: they have been resonant. Presenting an alternative vision to Donald Trump’s dystopian hatefest doesn’t sound too hard, but the stakes are so high. When put in a position where you are set up and expected to succeed, it is easy to come up short. And it is possible to transcend.

Michelle Obama wakes up every day in a house built by slaves. That’s real. It resonates — simple, shocking, moving, true. You might not have thought about it that way before. Now you have. In America, we might get the little things wrong, but we get the big things right. Eventually.

Joe Biden says, listen: Donald Trump bets against America. He fires people for fun. He lies about everything. He is not your friend. In a night defined by deep Catholicism (a commercial for this site was running on repeat during MSNBC’s convention coverage) the Vice President eviscerated the false idol of Trumpistan. It was a veritable carillon of resonance, calling the flock back to safety.

And then the President. Soaring rhetoric, you say? That is a given, especially in these circumstances. Fortunately for us, presidents rarely need to defend our democracy from domestic threat. Fortunately for us, Barack Obama was born for this moment. And fortunately for us, he put rhetoric and resonance on full display. “That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadis or home-grown demagogues will always fail in the end.” Talk about connecting something we already feel with a controversial statement. “We don’t look to be ruled.” Miserere nobis!

It is hard to fight against reality. It is harder still when that reality is rhetorical too. The stars are aligned in Philadelphia. May they guide our better angels.