Blog Post #2

I think that seeing all language as persuasion could be correct. No matter what we do or say you can point it in a direction of persuasion. I think seeing the world this way can help us better understand each other, but I also think it could pull us away from simple interpretations. We might over analyze everything that someone is saying or doing if we only view it as persuasion. Just because I say “Hello” to someone I don’t want them thinking in their mind, “Oh she is trying to persuade me that she is a member of our society”. However, getting students to understand this can help with composition. I think it can help show them how important language is in our lives. The example of Joseph really showed me how language, something so simple and overlooked, could truly impact our lives if we did not have it. I know a common question of students is, “Why do I need to learn this?” I think the examples of rhetoric and Joseph are a great way to answer that question for students and put them on a path of understanding composition. Showing them that life is completely altered without language would put into perspective how important it is. Showing students how persuasion and rhetoric affects our society would do this as well. I think it is important that all students learn this early on in their educational careers and maybe they would understand the importance of their Language Arts classes. I know discussing all of this has really put a new light on how I view language and composition, and I understand its importance much more than I ever have before.

Blog Post #1

I found last class' discussion quite interesting. I never really pondered the idea as to why composition and language are so important to our society. The idea that humans are not cannibalistic never really crosses your mind. However, when observing our closest relative, the chimpanzee, you can’t help but wonder why we did not turn out a cannibalistic species. It is easy to say that because we are a compassionate species that possess morals we have strayed away from the cannibalistic path. However, when given the example of Dolphins killing babies one must wonder is our compassion truly the reason? I remember watching a documentary about Dolphins. They were compared to humans because it was discovered they possess the same area of the brain, as humans do, that sparks compassion. Yet, how are Dolphins still able to kill babies for survival if they are compassionate? Perhaps the answer is that we have language. We are able to communicate feelings to each other about certain issues. If one of us look down upon cannibalism and we communicate that to someone else we are able to sway them to the same opinion. Composition might also help with this. Many compositions can sway people’s opinions on certain matters. Our ability to communicate with each other could possible be why we stray away from cannibalism instead of inheriting it from our relatives the chimpanzees. It is interesting to see the importance behind language and composition through this topic.