Rhetoric, Composition, and Popular Culture II: Rhetorics of/and …

At a rally this past Veterans Day, Donald Trump made a campaign promise that, apart from a minor contradiction, could have rolled off the tongue of Mussollini or Hitler: "In honor of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we will root out the Communist, Marxist, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country." While Trump has consistently denigrated his policial opponents, this was the first time he used the dehumanizing language of fascists in a stump speech. Earlier, on September 27, Trump remarked that immigrants "poison the blood of America." Before that, during his 2016 campaign, Trump mocked a journalist with a disability, recalling the denigrating attitude of the Nazi campaign that targeted the mentally and physically impaired. Known for his unrefined and confrontational rhetoric, Trump has bulldozed through the norms of political discourse since his ride down the escalator in 2015. Analysis of Trump's discourse has led investigators such as Jennifer Mericeca to identify the rhetorical techniques he uses to both bind his followers to him and distance himself from his enemies. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has highlighted Trump's authoritarian gestures by examining his physical presentation and those who he praises in his speeches. Other investigators have drawn parallels with Trump's rhetorical techniques to those of fascists. This paper argues that Trump's rhetoric is indeed a modern example of fascist rhetoric from the past century because it pushes all the familiar buttons of authoritarianism, xenophobia, nationalism, and scapegoating. Trump's recent stump speeches and interviews show even more clearly show these hallmarks of fascist rhetoric. 

From the 1999 Robert Redford documentary "The Mystery of Chaco Canyon" to Timeline's "The Bloody Truth," investigations into the history and mystery of Chaco canyon astound us and still leave us baffled at what actually happened to the Native Americans who lived there. Chaco has become a location of pilgrimage for many who want to understand their own history or simply explore something bigger than themselves. But, what does the mystery of Chaco Canyon mean in the face of rhetorical studies? This presentation considers accounts of the history of Chaco Canyon - specifically why the area was vacated and so quickly abandoned - in terms of the rhetoric of forgetting. Why do we, as individuals and as populations, CHOOSE to forget some events, and how do we go about doing so? How is this done in an oral culture? What are the benefits or consequences of intentionally forgetting? In this presentation will combine information from existing historical accounts - documentaries as well as the work of Cheryl Avery and Mona Holmlund - with my own sonic, photographic, and pedestrian investigation to explore what Chaco Canyon means to us now and what it can tell us about a rhetoric of forgetting. 

Since 2007, writer-YouTuber-philanthropist brothers John and Hank Green have built up a following and audience through their presence on the internet. That following, made up of anywhere from 100,000 to 3.5 million "Nerdfighters" has been built around the concepts of "decreasing worldsuck" and "imagining people complexly," while always following the cardinal rule of Nerdfighteria: "Don't forget to be awesome." In 2023, John, made a video that asked Nerdfighteria to help with the fight against tuberculosis by reaching out to the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson and asking them not to renew their patent on the TB drug bedaquiline and thus allow countries with a high burden of tuberculosis to produce generic versions of the drug to help treat the disease. The pressure was so quick and so intense that within a week Johnson & Johnson announced a deal with the Stop TB Partnership to allow the production of generic versions of bedaquiline in these countries. Two months later, John again asked the Nerdfighters to turn their collective power on Cepheid and Danaher to pressure them to lower the cost of TB diagnostic tests. In response to the wave of pressure, Cepheid and Danaher announced cost reductions for one of their TB test cartridges in high TB-burden countries. In this presentation, I will explore the rhetorical force enacted by the Nerdfighters and the Green brothers' seeming understanding and utilization of both "viral" and "slow circulation" (Bradshaw) as well as their emphasis on education, storytelling, and engaged citizenship to build a fan base and community that are willing to quickly and decisively put their collective powers to use for a cause that likely does not directly affect most of them, and to apply that power in order to continue their mission of "decreasing worldsuck" in whatever ways they can.