Rhetorical Discourse Project
For my project I worked with Adrian to create a podcast about different viewpoints on climate change and how it can affect our world and the economy. We interviewed Travis Price, a very well known green architect. He gave us the conservative standpoint on how climate change can affect the economy. We then read some papers written by Grady James, a local friend and ski guide. He helped us to understand the effects climate change can have on the winters and water sources. Our original goal was to mess these two ideas together to create a podcast. Sadly this did not end up happening. We had technology struggles and problems with being able to work together during a pandemic.
My perspective on this idea has changed quite drastically. I had originally thought that the conservative side was gonna be that climate change is not happening and that humans are not destroying the world. This was not true at all. They for the most part accept that it is happening and that humans have something to do with it. There argument is that we will not feel the effects of climate change therefore we do not need to change anything. Also that changing over to renewable energy sources is costly and does not need to happen.
Throughout this project I have learned a lot about rhetoric and ideology. Before this project I had never even heard of these words. Rhetoric is a very common form of argument that when done correctly can be very effective. Ideology is a very complex set of ideas that a person or persons have developed through research personal experiences and the experiences of others. Lots of times this ideology that a person can hold is very hard to change or rewrite.
Rogerian rhetoric can play a very big role in democratic society because it allows both sides to have equal say.. It also gives both sides a chance where in a normal form of argument you only have evidence and ideas from on side. This does not work because both sides feel like they are heard and represented. This keeps people from going to the defensive side. This is where they are angry and that are not open to change. If every argument is posed on sides then no change will be made because no one will ever agree. Rogerian rhetoric could be a very good form of argument to convince people of new policies or new laws.
