Reflection #1 - What the Hell....?

Classical Literary  Criticism, "Intro"
Gorgias, Enconium of Helen
Plato, Republic Books I, II, X

What is "Classical Literary Criticism" ?
-Don't ask me. Because if you did; I'd just say that it's a bunch of old men trying to explain what literature means to who, what, where and when. However; our book tells us that the foundations of theory lie within Plato, Aristotle and Horace.  Rhetoric has been revived through the works of Gorgias and Quintilian.

      In Gorgias, Enconium of Helen, it is argued that someone who uses their words persuasively, whether they are right or wrong, is a rhetorical genius.

"If speech (logos) persuaded and deluded her mind, even against this is not hard to defend her of free her from blame, as follows: speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body" (pg.39, our textbook).

     This is very true, take for example, lawyers. Whether the person they are defending is innocent or guilty, they are able to persuade a jury by speech in to convicting or not convicting someone of their alleged crime. We can also apply this to our history of diplomats and presidents who used their persuading speeches in convincing countries to go to war. A good example of this would be Hitler, he was able to use speech and specialized rhetoric in having the people of Germany (and other parts of Europe) in to believing that not only were they a special race but that Jews, criples, gays and other non-anglo saxon whites were infecting their country, inevitably leading to one of the worst genocides of our lifetime. Another more modern example would be the speech used by our two-party systems (GOP vs. Democrats).
       One perceives that the GOP uses particular speech in persuading not only their colleagues in the house but also that of the people. For instance, they reference the new health care bill as, "the job-killing health care bill", during a time where the American people are in the most struggling financial position since The Great Depression. By implying that such a bill "kills jobs" would only convince the people that this is not a good bill, without even really showing the facts. This is just a small example of how speech and/or words can be used to persuade without really being materialistically true. Oh and John Boehner  (Our House Speaker) has a great way of using, "The American people have spoken...", "The American dream...." and crying as tactics to get what he wants out of "The American People".
I'm just saying.....
           Plato has an interesting argument on different accounts; The Allegory of The Cave, being one of my favorites, can probably speak to us now and in the future. It's all about perception.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.....