The art of rhetoric has long been heralded as one of the greatest tools of man. Rhetoric serves as the basis of many different disciplines taught in higher education today, namely law. Most everyone uses persuasive language and inflammatory writ on a regular basis. Many individuals who argue skillfully are seen as being intelligent, and indeed, it does require intellect and talent to master the science and art of persuasion. Often, people quip the saying, “the pen is mightier than the sword”.
However, I feel that this statement is very acutely wrong. The sword has become a great deal mightier than the pen in the modern day and age. While Rhetoric may have served Aristotle quite well in his time, it has now lost its usefulness to society. Argument is an ancient art. We should study persuasive language with the same motivations with which we study Latin, the motivation of an interest in classical society. The use of fear has replaced logical argument in today's society.
Media uses fear everyday to change peoples' minds. This technique is obviously highly effective. Fear created and used by the news leads people to make significant changes in there lifestyles. People stock their homes with gas masks and canned food in apprehensions of terrorist attack. American society has waited for nuclear holocaust for half and century, and the only thing that has changed is the enemy from which this threat derives. No logical reasoning could have ever created such nonsensical anxiety. Only through the consistent application of images and words used in all facets of culture to inspire fear could the people so constantly believe in the imminent catastrophe.
Politicians also use the tool of fear to push their agendas all the time. The phrase, “weapons of mass destruction”, by itself probably swayed a vast amount of Americans into seeing a war on a nation who posed no immediate threat to us as justifiable. Forget for a moment, examples on such a grand scale. Think on a more personal level. If someone holds a gun to a person's head and tells them that Citizen Kane was the best movie of all time, even if that person thinks the greatest movie was most definitely Casablanca, the person with the gun to their head will most likely agree.
Rhetoric served an important part in our history and still plays an admirable role in some situations. However, it has become outdated. In today's culture of fear, logic has no place. The advent of mass communication has enabled fear to be used much more effectively to alter the minds of society, and after all, anyone who has ever tried knows how impossible it is to argue nonsense with reason.
