First Topic Proposal

The narrative I will write will be about some special moment with my mother because she just recently passed away. Writing about a special time with her would be very meaningful to me.
The purpose of the narrative will be to give an example or to support a thesis. I want people to look more closely at their lives and not take for granted the people they love as well as all the blessings they have been given.
The audience I have in mind are people who don't really appreciate the people in their lives or people who are dealing with a loss as well.

Response to The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle

Burke looks at Mein Kampf from a rhetorical perspective because he wishes to examine how Hitler used rhetorical devices in order to convince the German people. By examining these devices, the author hopes to identify a pattern or model that Hitler adhered to. With this knowledge, Burke wishes to prevent similar politicians from having the same effect on a certain group of people.

For Hitler, the rhetorical exigence, or problem to be resolved or changed, was the poor state of the economy, and just life in general for Germany. After the loss of the war, the country was in serious turmoil. He wanted people to believe that Jews were the cause of the country’s misfortune, although the notion was completely untrue.

One strategy that Hitler used to appeal to the German people was the creation of a single “enemy,” or the Jewish people. Taking a distorted twist on Christian religion, Hitler took advantage of the idea of a common evil, or devil, that the people could all rally against in unison. Hitler also appealed to the German people’s desire for a scapegoat. People do not to like to admit that they are to blame for certain misfortunes, and in this situation, Hitler exempts the German people from blame and the fault falls upon the Jewish people. Also, by suggesting the Jewish people were inferior, Hitler appealed to the Germans’ desire to feel superior.

One piece of recent propaganda that I don’t care for, but is popular nonetheless, would be Obama’s “change” slogan. After having George W. Bush for two terms, the American people were ready for something different. Obama fed into this desire by assuring Americans that he was “change;” he was the embodiment of it. In this example, the exigence would be considered the old ways of Bush and the Republican Party. Obama’s rhetoric would appeal to those who did not particularly agree with the decisions made by President Bush in the past. Liberals would probably be most sympathetic towards Obama’s argument.