Saturday, February 23, 2019

Political Rhetoric Assignment


  1.            The four main persuasive strategies stated by Condor are: Taking and Avoiding sides, explicit appeals to Common In-group Membership, Constructing Aspirational Identities, and Implicit displays of rhetorical alignment. There were also a few supporting strategies mentioned in the readings such as: The flexibility and vagueness use of pronouns, using pronouns to display complex political allegiances, and using the first person plural nouns to convey ideological messages. I did not consider the last three as main strategies as they merely support the statement of the fourth.
  2.        I have seen the four main persuasive strategies in every campaign material. But to cite examples I would like to use Bong Go’s and the Otso Diretso Campaign. First take a look at this photo:                                                                                             

-        In this ad, Bong Go is shown as interacting with the ordinary Filipino family. Taking and avoiding sides is seen in this picture when you put things in the context. It is not new to the public that the campaigning senator is loyal to the president. In order to preserve that loyalty while campaigning to the mass public, he opted to go for the ordinary citizens. While a lot of candidates have done such, he is one to be the most prominent of all. Another persuasive strategy here is that we all know that Filipinos have a familial culture. It is evident in our media as well as in our daily lives. By catering to the public that he is a “family man” or someone who values the traits of familial mentality he exhibits the explicit appeals to common in-group membership; here by simply shaking the hand of the people he shows that he is like any other. It’s the thing that Filipinos tend to lean on people they can relate to and this ad tries to show that this candidate is exactly like that.
-        On the other hand take a look at this ad:                                 







-        I would like to focus on the statement “Ipaglaban ang ating bukas, boto mo ang lunas!” as it exhibits the constructing aspirational identities and implicit display of rhetorical alignment. In the statement “boto moa ng lunas” they are implying that there is something wrong with the society and they can fix that if given a chance. They cater on future of the society. Building the future today is what they aspire to be, curing their perceived illness as they ask the people for votes. For the implicit display of rhetorical argument the phrase “Ipaglaban ang ATING bukas” is noticeable. “Atin” directly translated to Filipino is “us” but it was used on this sentence as an “our” as the phrase is loosely translated to “Fight for our future” using these inclusive pronouns makes the reader feel like the people asking for their vote like them. In this ad, it they wish the people to relate to them by including themselves in the statement by saying that it is their tomorrow too.

\    3. Such campaigns did not make an impact on me. For one reason, those types of statements and campaign strategies are done very election period. It’s always the same, besides; I have already established the candidates I wish to vote for in the upcoming elections.  Sometimes, trying to cater to the mass feels a bit off since it feels like there is always that ulterior motive. I mean you don’t see candidates going to poor communities after winning. Maybe the main reason such campaigns did not work on me is that, I am knowledgeable of the things that circulate the politics therefor mere words of persuasion isn’t enough to convince me.

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