Political Rhetoric-JF

The rhetorical situation in this picture is easier to find than in past situations. The text of the picture is the conversation bubbles coming out of the democratic donkey and the republican elephant. The audience would have to be anyone that sees this image (although I imagine that the intended audience would be republicans that are against the healthcare bill proposed by President Barack Obama). The author of the image signed it, but his or her handwriting is unclear if one simply looks at the image. The intended setting of the image would have to be in a deliberating situation between republicans and democrats. The purpose of the image is to argue that the republicans want the “greater civility,” for society, but they are against the health care bill which, according to the argument, is for the greater civility. I feel that the author did a good job at getting his or her point across, because when I first read it, I knew immediately what he or she was attempting to convey. I feel, also, that by using the visual image as well as text the author did the best job attempting to convey the message.

 

The oppressive language operates in this image in several ways. First, the oppressive language is implied by leading the audience to believe that all republicans are against Obama’s healthcare bill. This oppressive language, I assume, was not intended, and did not help convey the author’s intended message to the audience. Second, the oppressive language is stated when the republican elephant says, “…soviet-style, job-killing, death-panel-loving Obamacare…” Although those words being used to describe the President’s bill—or Obamacare as used in the image—are not typically considered oppressive, they qualify in this circumstance because they are being used in a negative connotation by associating those negative connotations with the Russian government. I think that by using the oppressive language the author succeeded in communicating his or her message by way of assigning it to his opponent. It would not have been successful if it weren’t the republican elephant saying the negative words. Overall the author’s use of oppressive language in this image advanced his or her purpose in this rhetorical situation. I feel that by assigning the opponent the oppressive language, the author attempts to illustrate that his or her opponent is abrasive and offending; therefore the opponent’s ideas are abrasive and offending as well. I feel that democrats and republicans alike can look at this image and understand it’s meaning regardless if they agree or not.

Word Count: 422
Picture Count: 1
-Jon Faw

http://www.laprogressive.com/gop-rhetoric/