“Rhetoric is the art, practice, and study of human communication,” states Professor of Stanford University, Andrea Lunsford. We all live in a rhetoric world, but we’re too captured by the system to even notice it; Whether it is the music we listen too, the message that we give off from our appearance, or just the simple wave that we do as we say ‘hello’ to our friend. Rhetoric surrounds us one way or another and has changed society as a whole. Music, for example, is an important form of verbal rhetoric that has been around in our lifetime and made a difference in many of our lives. Some of us take music for its form and get inspired to pursue our dreams in the field of music, while most of us just let the tunes take our soul away while resting or at work. Without even noticing the effect each song has made in our lives. Every song, every lyric, and every word is seen differently in each of our minds, and yes that is the magic of music, but do we ever stop and notice on why we did something, said something, or even act a certain way? Those questions can sometimes easily be answered just by the genre of music that takes place in our lives. Our minds and emotions are driven from the deeper meanings and messages that we take from every song. We either thrive off of positivity or we suffocate from the negativity. Music communicates with the human mind in many ways and has flourished overtime through its rhetoric roots. Who knows where society would be without it. Another important form of rhetoric in today’s society would be the visual communication of tattoos. “What are they going to think of you when they see that on your body during an interview?!” Some of us might have heard those words throughout our lives, and yes there is a point to those words and an important lesson that person was trying to give, but look what society has evolved into. Back in the days, one with tattoos would be the negative image in people’s eyes. To this day, those who lived during those days still frown upon the idea of tattoos, but only because of the narrow mindedness that this country once was. Tattoos have now become a way of life to some of us, but in the general perspective, a way of expression and communication. It is now taking on a culture within itself because of the hidden gem in life that is now being exposed, art. Tattoos have now taken on a different light, whether being the tattoo artist that expresses his artistic ability onto a person’s body, or the tattoo itself which may have a deeper meaning than what is visible to the human eye. A tattoo’s story may go back 100 years or be described in a million words; that is the beauty of it. To have a tattoo, it not only expresses who you are, but it expresses the story of the tattoo artist himself, and that is what tattoos have to offer; Endless possibilities.
Before this essay, my thoughts on rhetoric were those of most, not knowing the multiple ways of rhetoric and how it is used in our daily lives. I have shown that it takes place in music and in the tattoo world, but the most consistent way that it is used in society is the bodily form of it. For example, during an interview what does the employer look at the most that effects his or her decision? Some may say that it is our appearance while others say it is how we speak.