Is anybody truly evil? Is Hamas? Am I? Are you? Or are we humans evolved — created? — to be sometimes kind, sometimes cruel? Read more.
rhetoric
Why Do ‘Those People’ Make Me So Mad? A Philosopher Sheds Some Light. Sheltering at Home Week 20
When we address “those people,” do we really want to be heard? Or do we just want to get mad, feel righteous and force our desired outcomes on those “other” people? Read more.
I Decided to Stop Bad-Mouthing Donald Trump. But Will I?
Last Tuesday night I made a decision. I decided to stop bad-mouthing Donald Trump. I would give him a chance. I’d keep an open mind. But could I? Read more.
Which Way America? Compassion With Francis? Or Vitriol With Trump?
Pope Francis and Donald Trump couldn’t be more different — in the way they respect (Francis) and disrespect (Donald) their fellow human beings. Read more.
The (Two-Year-Old) Rhetorician at Our House
The Rhetorician in the White House — Or, How I Learned to Love the Passive Voice
The passive sentence gets a bad rap — it’s weak, it’s vague, it’s passive. But sometimes a neatly turned passive sentence is just what our ever-shrinking world needs. Obama’s Cairo speech is an example. Read more.
What’s Rhetoric? Let My Two-Year-Old Enlighten You
My daughter Christina discovered the art of rhetoric when she was being weaned from baby bottle to plastic cup. She’d say, “I want milk and I don’t want it in a cup” — an elegant illocutionary statement that usually got her what she wanted, her bottle.