Public Communication - Essay Example

Introduction Public communication is highly popular in modern societies. Public communication campaigns are widely seen in the contemporary world, which could be on various issues ranging from environmental, political to religious. There are different types of public communication campaigns. The prevalence of market in modern social life necessitates the existence of public communication campaigns. Political rhetoric is one of the distinguished means of public communication in modern society since they are, by and large, charecterised by mass politics. As a modern democratic society, the United States has seen enormous number of public communication campaigns. American presidential campaigns have their own distinct and influential position among them due to the sheer scope and range of such campaigns. Since American presidential campaigns are of long duration and watched by a large audience, they become the stage for the unfolding of most sophisticated communication strategies and tactics. Political rhetoric has profound influence in the making of the United States presidential election results. For a deep rhetorical analysis, a selected study in the context of American presidential elections would be an ideal choice. Thesis Statement Michelle Obama, the American Lawyer and the wife of the 2008 Democratic nominee for the President of the United States of the America, Barack Obama. Michelle has been in a number of controversies since she sarted involving in the presidential campaigns as the prospective next first lady of the United States. In her famous August 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech gives a good portrayal of political rhetoric as a tool for disseminating a social construct, a built-up myth through a well crafted verbal image which is grounded on and legitimized by a prevalent, dominant ideology. In the speech, she presents a carefully constructed verbal image that sought to portray Barack Obama and her family as an embodiment of the American Dream, by forcefully putting forward the success story of her family. Theoretical Background Simply speaking, rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Rhetoric involves constructing ideas that could effectively symbolize what is advantageous to us. It implies that language is deployed in a particular way to achieve a determined response from a targeted group. Rhetoric is not only a real practice but also the theoretical study of discourse. It could be for leading them to a particular set of actions, to restrain them from something, to alter their beliefs or to inculcate new beliefs in them. Conventionally, rhetoric is considered as argumentation and persuasion. In the ancient world, it is important to note that rhetoric was major branch of academic learning along with grammar and logic. "In the Renaissance, rhetoric was regarded as a practical field of study for those interested in politics and law" (Edgar and Sedgwick, 2004, p.340). "Then in the 20 th century Kenneth Burke, Stephen Toulmin and Chaim Perelman with Lucie Olbrechts- Tyteca extended Aristotle's suggestion that: "Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic" (Mackery, 2005, p.2). There is a strong relationship between ones ability to influence the society and his/her ability to realize personal goals. Traditionally, Aristotle conceived rhetoric as an art of persuasion and its study as an effort to identify what is persuasive in a given situation. For Aristotle, messages become persuasive due to three proofs or appeals, namely Ethos, Pathos and Logos. The credibility of the speaker, referred as ethos, is an important factor in making a speech persuasive since listeners would not take a speech seriously if they doubt the credibility of the speaker. It is true even in the case of forceful speeches. Pathos denotes the emotional appeal present in a speech. The factual basis or logic of the argument provided by the speaker is the subject matter of Logos. According to Aristotle, what makes a speech persuasive is a fine balance between credibility, passion and logic. Moreover, the mix of this balance could vary in accordance with the peculiarities of a given occasion or the audience. Herbert Simons' R-P-S model helps to analyse rhetoric through a thoroughgoing examination of requirements, problems and strategies. Besides, Kenneth Burke's pentad or five point grade too is analytical tool for understanding a political rhetoric. It involves the theoretical elaboration of the purpose, the act, the scene, the agent and agency. Theorists such as Paul De Man have developed a form of deconstruction that analyses the functions of rhetorical language in a given text, especially to develop a critical approach to it. The fact is that we do not see the world as it is with the help of our senses and faculties. Rather, "rhetoric constantly constructs the world which we see" (Mackery, 2005, p.6). The Verbal Image of Obama family as an Embodiment of American Dream Most importantly, Michelle Obama came down to the Democratic National Convention, in her own admission, 'as a wife who loves her husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president'. Her starting premise is nothing but Family. At the occasion, she was introduced to the audience by her brother, Craig Robinson. His very introduction itself set the terms of her speech as it centered on an overwhelmingly glorified and romanticized notion of family that is carefully constructed for the purpose of propaganda. In a single sentence, he gives a meant-to-be- fascinating picture of Michelle's roles in the family as a little sister, wife and mother. It seems that, for him, she is nothing more than an innocent little sister, lovely wife or a great mother. Here, the family becomes the norm, the soul of one's existence. As if, one's family life is the sole criterion to judge his/her social commitment. After all, the family is presented as a greatest utopia. In her speech, Michelle is talking the language of a highly gendered- patriarchal audience with the help of equally gendered gestures, tonality, images, dreams and dominant beliefs. She labors hard to prove her identification with the gendered aspirations of her audience. Her success in this effort lies in the simple fact that she is not coming up with any ideas of her own, rather articulating the gendered wishes of her audience. Therefore, the spectators hear none other than themselves when she speaks, a perfect identification. The ideology of American Dream is deeply rooted in the social consciousness of the people of the United States. It upholds the popular belief that whatsoever the conditions one is born into, he/she can attain success in life through persistent hard work. Along the lines of Barthes notion of 'readerly text', it is possible to argue that the verbal image of Barack Obama construed in the speech of Michelle Obama is a 'closed text' that imposes a particular, ideological social construct of Barack Obama as an epitome of the American Dream in the minds of the audience and thereby, limits their imagination by making them to see Barack Obama as (inevitably) the next president of the United States. Washed away by speech, the audience comes to believe that the verbal image of Obama family as an ideal type of American Family that is conceived in terms of the American Dream is a legitimate truth. "So, when we think we are seeing the world clearly, what in fact we are seeing is a world filtered through a particular metaphysics - a particular way of seeing the world - a way which has been set up for us by the discursive or rhetorical activity which has shaped the culture into which we were born and by which we were and continue to be educated" (Mackery, 2005, p.7). The rhetorical activity of Michelle Obama transforms a verbal image into reality by encoding the cultural and social aspects of American life through her systematic arrangement of a set of chosen signs. She champions a number of rhetorical strategies to consolidate a perceived American family (one nation) behind her husband by invoking the glory of her own family. The image of 'improbable journey' that she constantly evokes in her speech is nothing but an apparent reference to the history immigrants to the United States that is so integral to the American Dream. Not incidentally, all the male characters in her speech are presented as protectors and guardians not only of the women in the family but also the society in general. Furthermore, they never let down others( especially the women and children) even if they are trapped in such adverse conditions. As ideal types of the Great American Dream, they inevitably realize the impossible through hard work, without ever loosing hope. Not only the patriarchs never loose hope, they would always impregnate the society with hope. Thus, Michelle Obama's vivid picture of Barack Obama as one who is great success in a family that is composed of all the ingredients of the American Dream appeals to the audience to make him the guardian of the consolidated American family, i.e. one nation. Conclusion What Michelle Obama tries to do in her speech at Democratic National Convention is to present a picture of Obama family as an embodiment of the celebrated American dream. It helps her to identify with her audience who too find it to be glorious to actualize the American Dream. The portrayal of family as greatest virtue and the hard-working men as the mainstay of the family is meant to evoke the patriarchal aspirations of the audience and thereby draw legitimacy for her husband. The verbal image construction strategy of Michelle Obama helps her to mesmerize her audience through a vivid narration of carefully crafted story of Obama family. . BIBLIOGRAPHY Aristotle. (1991). The art of Rhetoric. Translation by H. C. Lawson-Tancred. Harmondsworth: Penguin Burke, K. (1969). A Rhetoric of motives. Berkley, CA: University of California Press. Collins, C. (2001). Encyclopaedia of Rhetoric. New York: Oxford University Press. De Man, P. (1989) Blindness and Insight: Essays on the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism, London, Routledge Edgar, A. & Sedgwick, P. (2004) Key Concepts in Cultural Theory (ed.), London, Routledge. Foss, S., Foss, K. & Trapp, R. (Eds.) (2002). Contemporary perspectives on Rhetoric. Illinois: Waveland Press. Machery, S. (2005) Rhetorical Theory of Public Relations: Opening the door to semiotic and pragmatism approaches , Accessed on 22 Aug 2008, Available at: http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/ANZCA/FullPapers/01PR&CommunityCom.pdf. Obama, M. (2008) Michelle Obama at the 2008 DNC, Accessed on 20 Aug 2008, Availble at: http://in.youtube.com/watchv=sTFsB09KhqI Read More