Critical Discourse: Rhetoric, And Sustainability

All things communicate in some way. Trees communicate through their root systems, atoms through their electron clouds, neurons though electromagnetic pulses and animals through their unique calls and emotions. Communication is the thread in the seam of life. Over the past few weeks, I have had the joy of becoming more familiar with communication. Specifically, I have studied the connection between humans, rhetoric and sustainability. The course has done a remarkable job at teaching me countless theories and ideas, but there are a couple ideas that have resonated with me, which I will discuss shortly. I have also been challenged to think about how I view the environment and the role life plays in it. Some of these challenges have created knew
This is the “reoccurring ways of speaking that challenge societies taken for granted assumptions and offer alternatives to prevailing discourse.”(Cox 68) Critical Discourse challenges socially dominant ideas or beliefs. The value comes from the timing in which I learned it. During election season, I was looking for someone to challenge many of the ideas that have become dominant over the past few decades. Unfortunately, neither candidate did much to appease that desire. For instance, sustainability was yet again a “boring” topic to our media and did not get the airtime and attention it warranted. However, it is encouraging that one can slowly start to see more of this Critical Discourse in other parts of the media. Conversely, Critical Discourse has caused massive division in the American community. People have used it to contest everything that does not agree with their dogmata, but the problem comes when one disagrees without knowing what they are fighting for. Discourse in America is more important now than
Certain advocacy groups use “strident language, obscenity, and actions”(Cox 212) as their chief form of rhetorical strategy. This is not necessarily respectable. Confrontation is a part of society, but one should not actively go out and create it. For instance, PETA members put themselves on a dingy directly in front of a sizeable whaling vessel. This is not the best way to accomplish something. Although, sometimes Confrontational Rhetoric is the last option people have to create change. In the future, I will be able to understand why people use this form of rhetoric and also the importance of it. It has also allowed me to decide what truly is Confrontational Rhetoric and what is just