Response Post

I think you have a pretty solid definition here. Just when you think you have the definition down (i.e. planned out your future), things happen. Plans change and so does your definition of rhetoric. Just as we don’t really know our futures, no one can really define rhetoric. The definition is always lacking, demanding more.

I also love the idea that “rhetoric is much more than just writing. It is all of the planning and organizing that leads up to the final result,” and yet we can never expect how our final drafts will turn out. When I write, I try to plan. I’ll start with a thesis statement and an outline. I never even finish my outline, or if I do, I never follow it all the way through. Sometimes I don’t even use the thesis statement that I come up with. That is just the phase of churning ideas like butter in an urn. Really cool!

My only question is, what do you mean by “good rhetoric”? Can there be good and bad rhetoric? Might be interesting to mention in class on Monday.