Contesting the Objectivist Paradigm
Isn’t this funny how he brings up the shot gun and uses the phrase “common sense”?
And he also sites one of the articles I am using for my research project for this class!
The first main point I am getting from this article is that technical writing has a voice that is objective and task-oriented. This matter-of-fact tone and purpose of technical writing does not always accurately reflect what is really going on in the context that the document is being written in. Social factors of a situation that may aid in the understanding of a document are neglected in standard technical writing tones, and therefore technical writing is not always an accurate representation of what is going on.
I agree that technical writings could benefit from a voice and tone different than that which is normally taught. I don’t necessarily agree that a tech comm. Program really needs to devote an entire class to feminist voice and gender issues. Is technical writing really the genre to deal with such issues. After all, the goal of a technical document usually isn’t to reveal social or gender matters, it is to fulfill a purpose in a workplace. I think a class in gender issues in the workplace may be interesting, but with a specific focus on writing doesn’t seem that important to me. I thought the assumption that the author made that our gender not only effects the way we talk (write) but also the way we think was obvious, but also not something that one obviously thinks about, at least not on a daily basis.
Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication
So, have women really not been present in the history of technical communication? Or have male historians just omitted the presence of women in the field?
There are certain fields that genders either migrate to or that are more acceptable and workers adhere to those ideas. So according to the article, women have contributed to technological history, just not as much as man. Just like I am sure men haven’t contributed to the field of nursing or early child care development as much as women have. And just because women don’t understand hot the technology works that they are using…a lot of men I am convinced use technology and don’t understand the inner workings. I always have a hard time really accepting and buying into issues of gender, but I think a lot of this stuff is gender neutral, despite what the articles say. In other words, I think some of this stuff is pushing it. I’m also surprised this article didn’t mention the “myth” that girls are good in English and history and boys are good in math and science. And from a historical time line perspective, it wasn’t so long ago women didn’t work at “jobs” so why should we be so surprised that they are under represented in the history of technical writing?
Feminist Theory and the Redefinition of Technical Communication
So, are these researchers curious about the writing in the workplace, or the workplace? The actual documents or the context the documents are produced in? Are we studying how being a woman effects how we write as technical communicators or how the workplace influences us differently because we are women?
I agree with this article that feminist theory often times takes an advocacy stance. I think this is often misinterpreted as something negative and perpetuates that women and emotion and dare I say, nagging. I think the feminist studies are presented best when they take a historical or sociological stance. I think feminist studies in technical writing are most important in terms of audience analysis. What do women really want or need in a document specifically geared to them? An insight in being a woman would no doubt benefit this. And yes it is stereotypical to say women use Mix Masters of Diaper Genies more than men, but they probably do, and so wouldn’t it be beneficial for women to write the technical documents that go along with such technologies/products. Just as women writers write web or news articles geared towards women. A male writer, in similar fashion, would be more in tune with an audience of men reading a prostate cancer article or a manual on a beard trimmer.
Gender and Advertisements: The Rhetoric of Globalization
An interesting point is that advertisements in India are geared for both home maker woman and professional women, where as advertisements for men are just geared towards professional men. Advertisements depict activities that are valued by the current culture, looking good and shopping for example.
Advertising language focuses more around the consumer than the product. This is in contrast to technical writing, which is impersonal, objective, and goal oriented.
Western culture has influenced what is means to be a man and women in Indian adverts. Objects and possessions denote power. Is this a traditional Indian mentality? Or the result of Western influence?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My Works Cited
Works Cited
Burke, Kenneth. "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle." The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. Ed. Levi, Neil and Michael Rothberg.Rutgers University Press, 2003. 107-112.
Dyrud, Marilyn A. "Looking Backward: German Technical Writers in the 1930's." Frontiers in Education Conference. Reno, NV, USA, October 10, 2001.
Kalfus, Richard. "Euphemisms of Death: Interpreting a Primary Source Document on the Holocaust." The History Teacher 23.2 (1990): 87-93.
Katz, Steven B. "Aristotle's Rhetoric, Hitler's Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 7.1 (1993): 37-62.
Katz, Steven B. "The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust." National Council of Teachers of English 54.3 (1992): 255-275.
Mitchell, C. Ben. "Of Euphemism and Euthanasia: The Language Games of the Nazi Doctor and some Implications for the Modern Euthanasia Movement." Journal of Death and Dying 40.1 (1999-2000): 255-265.
Musolff, Andreas. "What can Critical Metaphor Analysis Add to the Understanding of Racist Ideology? Recent Studies of Hitler's Anti-Semitic Metaphors." Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines 2.2 (2008): 1-10.
Perry, Steven. "Rhetorical Functions of the Infestation Metaphor in Hitler's Rhetoric." Central States Speech Journal 34 (1983): 229-235.
Burke, Kenneth. "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle." The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. Ed. Levi, Neil and Michael Rothberg.Rutgers University Press, 2003. 107-112.
Dyrud, Marilyn A. "Looking Backward: German Technical Writers in the 1930's." Frontiers in Education Conference. Reno, NV, USA, October 10, 2001.
Kalfus, Richard. "Euphemisms of Death: Interpreting a Primary Source Document on the Holocaust." The History Teacher 23.2 (1990): 87-93.
Katz, Steven B. "Aristotle's Rhetoric, Hitler's Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 7.1 (1993): 37-62.
Katz, Steven B. "The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust." National Council of Teachers of English 54.3 (1992): 255-275.
Mitchell, C. Ben. "Of Euphemism and Euthanasia: The Language Games of the Nazi Doctor and some Implications for the Modern Euthanasia Movement." Journal of Death and Dying 40.1 (1999-2000): 255-265.
Musolff, Andreas. "What can Critical Metaphor Analysis Add to the Understanding of Racist Ideology? Recent Studies of Hitler's Anti-Semitic Metaphors." Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines 2.2 (2008): 1-10.
Perry, Steven. "Rhetorical Functions of the Infestation Metaphor in Hitler's Rhetoric." Central States Speech Journal 34 (1983): 229-235.
PROGRESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
MY OUTLINE
Thesis Statement:
The use of metaphoric and euphemistic language to mask and dehumanize the means of the Final Solution in Nazi Germany allowed the Nazi Party to create documents that effectively aided them in their goals of extermination of non-Aryan peoples.
Outlining of topics and subtopics:
Memo CHECK
Introduction of Thesis Statement CHECK
Thesis Statement CHECK
Description of gassing process CHECK
Mention gassing words CHECK
Exact figurative language in memo CHECK
Tone of business letter, practical, effective, vans used to protect executioners CHECK
Understanding metaphors as more than style, as practical functions CHECK
****How Hitler established metaphors,
deliberative rhetoric, social epistemic rhetoric,
praxis and phronises .
Used metaphors to change an ideology (may need to be added later for more context)
Use of repetition CHECK
Use of Logic CHECK
Metaphors of religion
Charity, good deeds, devil, purity/sexual symbolism
Leads into metaphors of black and white
Metaphors of disease and parasites
Conclusion
MY PAPER THUS FAR:
Geheime Reichssache (Secret Reich Business)
Berlin, June 5, 1942
Changes for special vehicles now in service at Kulmhof (Chelmno) and for those now being built
Since December 1941, ninety-seven thousand have been processed [verarbeitet in German] by the three vehicles in service, with no major incidents. In the light of observations made so far, however, the following technical changes are needed:
[1.] The vans' normal load is usually nine per square yard. In Saurer vehicles, which are very spacious, maximum use of space is impossible, not because of any possible overload, but because loading to full capacity would affect the vehicle's stability. So reduction of the load space seems necessary. It must absolutely be reduced by a yard, in- stead of trying to solve the problem, as hitherto, by reducing the number of pieces loaded. Besides, this extends the operating time, as the empty void must also be filled with carbon monoxide. On the other hand, if the load space is reduced, and the vehicle is packed solid, the operating time can be considerably shortened. The manufacturers told us during a discussion that reducing the size of the van's rear would throw it badly off balance. The front axle, they claim, would be overloaded. In fact, the balance is automatically restored, because the merchandise aboard displays during the operation a natural tendency to rush to the rear doors, and is mainly found lying there at the end of the operation. So the front axle is not overloaded.
2. The lighting must be better protected than now. The lamps must be enclosed in a steel grid to prevent their being damaged. Lights could be eliminated, since they apparently are never used. However, it has been observed that when the doors are shut, the load always presses hard against them as soon as darkness sets in. This is because the load naturally rushes toward the light when darkness sets in, which makes closing the doors difficult. Also, because of the alarming nature of darkness, screaming always occurs when the doors are closed. It would therefore be useful to light the lamp before and during the first moments of the operation.
3. For easy cleaning of the vehicle, there must be a sealed drain in the middle of the floor. The drainage hole's cover, eight to twelve inches in diameter, would be equipped with a slanting trap, so that fluid liquids can drain off during the operation. During cleaning, the drain can be used to evacuate large pieces of dirt.
The aforementioned technical changes are to be made to vehicles in service only when they come in for repairs. As for the ten vehicles ordered from Saurer, they must be equipped with all innovations and changes shown by use and experience to be necessary.
Submitted for decision to Gruppenleiter II D, SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Walter Rauff.
Signed: Just
Metaphors are commonly thought of in terms of stylistic choices in non-fiction writing. A metaphor is a tactic a writer can use to represent one idea with another symbolic idea to create depth in his writing and provide another mode of understanding for the reader. A euphemism is a phrase that describes an idea using other words so that the idea in question comes off as more mild or appealing than the original wording would allow. The use of euphemisms calls for an understanding of the potential discomfort the original idea may generate if described one way, and altering the wording in a sense to “soften the blow.”
Steven Perry notes that for the most part rhetoricians have “…sought to understand metaphor within the stylistic canon of rhetoric as an aesthetic entity to be judged more in terms of its formal qualities than in terms of its practical discourse (Perry, 1).” It becomes clear after World War II, however, that metaphors, euphemisms, and figurative language as a whole, are not simply stylistic devices, but rather can have significant practical functions in certain documents. When used as a tool to generate action and ideology, figurative language can be highly effective, and this is something Adolph Hitler was aware of. The use of metaphoric and euphemistic language to mask and dehumanize the means of the Final Solution in Nazi Germany allowed the Nazi Party to create documents that effectively aided in their goals of extermination of non-Aryan peoples. (Perry)
The memo presented in the beginning of this paper is an example of a technical document written by a mechanic of gassing vans in Nazi Germany. The victims in these particular vans were prisoners that were physically or mentally ill. The victims were put into the vans, most likely being told they were simply being transported to another location, and then carbon monoxide was pumped into the vans and the vans were driven around until all the victims inside had died. The implementation of gassing vans in the Final Solution was the result of several issues. One problem the vans solved was that they lessened the psychological trauma experienced by executioners. Instead of having to look at their victims before shooting them into an open pit, the gassing process did not force Nazi executioners to watch their victims die (Kalfus, #). The vans were also effective and cost efficient in comparison to the cost of one or more bullets per victim.
It is frightening to view this memo as a member of a 21st century audience, and to identify that despite the horrific subject matter, this memo is arguably an excellent example of technical writing. Steven B. Katz analyzes this memo and notes how the memo is technically sound. Just begins with a purpose statement that makes “an assumption or goal shared by the audience (Katz, 265).” Just is aware of his audience and writes this memo for them, with the specific goal of providing solutions to problems. His argument for altering the vans is “technically accurate and logically argued (Katz, 257).” Just even adheres to principals of good document design, numbering his sections and leaving white space for easy readability (Katz, 257).
This memo is being used to do a job, and the genre of a memo alone reinforces the idea of work and productivity. What is most important to Just in this memo is making the process of gassing efficient for his organization. Socialists Max Weber and Karl Mannheim call this a “technocratic mentality”, which basically is a mind set concerned not with long term effects (in this case the killing of mentally and physically ill people), but with cost effectiveness (Kalfus, #).
Emotions and compassion are not usually elements in business writing. Just’s language is the “objective and dispassionate language of a business memo (Kalfus, #).” But despite Just’s attempts at totally dehumanizing the gassing process by the use of euphemisms, a few human-conscious words are still present in the memo, making it highly disturbing and fully demonstrating the attempt to use euphemisms to mask something terribly immoral.
Euphemisms in this memo are used to mask the process of gassing human beings. The words “gassing” or “killing” are never used, but instead the word “processed” in the first sentence of the memo is used in place of “killed.” In the first section of the memo, “operating time” takes the place of “gassing time.” In addition to evading verbs that express killing, Just also uses euphemisms such as “load”, “pieces”, and “merchandise” in place of the words prisoners, people, or humans. Euphemisms are also used to express human byproducts. In section 3 of the memo, the word “liquids” takes the place of urine and vomit and “large pieces of dirt” can presumably be interpreted as feces.
As mentioned above, Just fails to fully remove the presence of human nature from this memo. Where he first falters is in section one when he discusses the balance of the vans and writes, “the merchandise aboard displays during the operation a natural tendency to rush to the rear doors.” A “natural tendency” describes something that is alive and performs an action based on instinct or reason. The entire second section of the memo that discusses the need to protect the lighting would be a tip off to anyone reading this memo out of context that something is amiss and wrong. Just writes, “… it has been observed that when the doors are shut, the load always presses hard against them as soon as darkness sets in. This is because the load naturally rushes toward the light when darkness sets in, which makes closing the doors difficult. Also, because of the alarming nature of darkness, screaming always occurs when the doors are closed.” Again, Just describes a naturally tendency of the “load” and what type of load would “scream”?
Just’s usage of euphemisms in his memo is not uncommon of Nazi rhetoric. Marilyn A. Dyrud lists several commonly used euphemisms in Nazi documentation in her article, “Looking Backward: German Technical Writers in the 1930’s.” Some of these include: evacuation/closing the ghetto/resettlement= deportation to extermination camp, salvage= valuables taken from deported Jews, containers filled with substance= Zyklon B canisters dropped into the gas chambers, special treatment= castration or sterilization of non-Aryans, and fumigation/delousing rooms/morgues= gas chambers. Figurative word choices were made in both documents that were internal for the party and also those that were distributed to civilians (Dyrud, 16-17).
It is important to note that it was not over night that the use of metaphors and euphemisms in Nazi rhetoric became so effective. Much of the success the Nazi’s had with figurative language was in part because of repetition. The euphemisms Dyrud describes and Just uses were adopted by Nazi writers and it is doubtful that if not everyone adhered to the ethos of the party and the stylistic voice, these word choices would not have aided in the Final Solution. Hitler was aware of the power of repetition and he used it in his slogans and propaganda (Burke, 111).
Much of the hateful metaphors for Jews in Nazi Germany were created by Hitler and first published in his memoir, Mein Kempf. Andreas Musolff discusses how Hitler used “iconographic references” in formulating his anti-Semitic metaphors. Iconographic references take something familiar (“simplistic images of our experiences”) and associate them with familiar values (Musolff, 2). Two highly common themes Hitler used in his metaphors were religion and disease. These themes branched off and made many sub themes. The metaphoric images and words Hitler created were projected repeatedly throughout Nazi Germany, constantly emphasizing the threat of non-Aryans on Germany and attempting to logically persuade the masses that the threat was real.
LOGIC
Thesis Statement:
The use of metaphoric and euphemistic language to mask and dehumanize the means of the Final Solution in Nazi Germany allowed the Nazi Party to create documents that effectively aided them in their goals of extermination of non-Aryan peoples.
Outlining of topics and subtopics:
Memo CHECK
Introduction of Thesis Statement CHECK
Thesis Statement CHECK
Description of gassing process CHECK
Mention gassing words CHECK
Exact figurative language in memo CHECK
Tone of business letter, practical, effective, vans used to protect executioners CHECK
Understanding metaphors as more than style, as practical functions CHECK
****How Hitler established metaphors,
deliberative rhetoric, social epistemic rhetoric,
praxis and phronises .
Used metaphors to change an ideology (may need to be added later for more context)
Use of repetition CHECK
Use of Logic CHECK
Metaphors of religion
Charity, good deeds, devil, purity/sexual symbolism
Leads into metaphors of black and white
Metaphors of disease and parasites
Conclusion
MY PAPER THUS FAR:
Geheime Reichssache (Secret Reich Business)
Berlin, June 5, 1942
Changes for special vehicles now in service at Kulmhof (Chelmno) and for those now being built
Since December 1941, ninety-seven thousand have been processed [verarbeitet in German] by the three vehicles in service, with no major incidents. In the light of observations made so far, however, the following technical changes are needed:
[1.] The vans' normal load is usually nine per square yard. In Saurer vehicles, which are very spacious, maximum use of space is impossible, not because of any possible overload, but because loading to full capacity would affect the vehicle's stability. So reduction of the load space seems necessary. It must absolutely be reduced by a yard, in- stead of trying to solve the problem, as hitherto, by reducing the number of pieces loaded. Besides, this extends the operating time, as the empty void must also be filled with carbon monoxide. On the other hand, if the load space is reduced, and the vehicle is packed solid, the operating time can be considerably shortened. The manufacturers told us during a discussion that reducing the size of the van's rear would throw it badly off balance. The front axle, they claim, would be overloaded. In fact, the balance is automatically restored, because the merchandise aboard displays during the operation a natural tendency to rush to the rear doors, and is mainly found lying there at the end of the operation. So the front axle is not overloaded.
2. The lighting must be better protected than now. The lamps must be enclosed in a steel grid to prevent their being damaged. Lights could be eliminated, since they apparently are never used. However, it has been observed that when the doors are shut, the load always presses hard against them as soon as darkness sets in. This is because the load naturally rushes toward the light when darkness sets in, which makes closing the doors difficult. Also, because of the alarming nature of darkness, screaming always occurs when the doors are closed. It would therefore be useful to light the lamp before and during the first moments of the operation.
3. For easy cleaning of the vehicle, there must be a sealed drain in the middle of the floor. The drainage hole's cover, eight to twelve inches in diameter, would be equipped with a slanting trap, so that fluid liquids can drain off during the operation. During cleaning, the drain can be used to evacuate large pieces of dirt.
The aforementioned technical changes are to be made to vehicles in service only when they come in for repairs. As for the ten vehicles ordered from Saurer, they must be equipped with all innovations and changes shown by use and experience to be necessary.
Submitted for decision to Gruppenleiter II D, SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Walter Rauff.
Signed: Just
Metaphors are commonly thought of in terms of stylistic choices in non-fiction writing. A metaphor is a tactic a writer can use to represent one idea with another symbolic idea to create depth in his writing and provide another mode of understanding for the reader. A euphemism is a phrase that describes an idea using other words so that the idea in question comes off as more mild or appealing than the original wording would allow. The use of euphemisms calls for an understanding of the potential discomfort the original idea may generate if described one way, and altering the wording in a sense to “soften the blow.”
Steven Perry notes that for the most part rhetoricians have “…sought to understand metaphor within the stylistic canon of rhetoric as an aesthetic entity to be judged more in terms of its formal qualities than in terms of its practical discourse (Perry, 1).” It becomes clear after World War II, however, that metaphors, euphemisms, and figurative language as a whole, are not simply stylistic devices, but rather can have significant practical functions in certain documents. When used as a tool to generate action and ideology, figurative language can be highly effective, and this is something Adolph Hitler was aware of. The use of metaphoric and euphemistic language to mask and dehumanize the means of the Final Solution in Nazi Germany allowed the Nazi Party to create documents that effectively aided in their goals of extermination of non-Aryan peoples. (Perry)
The memo presented in the beginning of this paper is an example of a technical document written by a mechanic of gassing vans in Nazi Germany. The victims in these particular vans were prisoners that were physically or mentally ill. The victims were put into the vans, most likely being told they were simply being transported to another location, and then carbon monoxide was pumped into the vans and the vans were driven around until all the victims inside had died. The implementation of gassing vans in the Final Solution was the result of several issues. One problem the vans solved was that they lessened the psychological trauma experienced by executioners. Instead of having to look at their victims before shooting them into an open pit, the gassing process did not force Nazi executioners to watch their victims die (Kalfus, #). The vans were also effective and cost efficient in comparison to the cost of one or more bullets per victim.
It is frightening to view this memo as a member of a 21st century audience, and to identify that despite the horrific subject matter, this memo is arguably an excellent example of technical writing. Steven B. Katz analyzes this memo and notes how the memo is technically sound. Just begins with a purpose statement that makes “an assumption or goal shared by the audience (Katz, 265).” Just is aware of his audience and writes this memo for them, with the specific goal of providing solutions to problems. His argument for altering the vans is “technically accurate and logically argued (Katz, 257).” Just even adheres to principals of good document design, numbering his sections and leaving white space for easy readability (Katz, 257).
This memo is being used to do a job, and the genre of a memo alone reinforces the idea of work and productivity. What is most important to Just in this memo is making the process of gassing efficient for his organization. Socialists Max Weber and Karl Mannheim call this a “technocratic mentality”, which basically is a mind set concerned not with long term effects (in this case the killing of mentally and physically ill people), but with cost effectiveness (Kalfus, #).
Emotions and compassion are not usually elements in business writing. Just’s language is the “objective and dispassionate language of a business memo (Kalfus, #).” But despite Just’s attempts at totally dehumanizing the gassing process by the use of euphemisms, a few human-conscious words are still present in the memo, making it highly disturbing and fully demonstrating the attempt to use euphemisms to mask something terribly immoral.
Euphemisms in this memo are used to mask the process of gassing human beings. The words “gassing” or “killing” are never used, but instead the word “processed” in the first sentence of the memo is used in place of “killed.” In the first section of the memo, “operating time” takes the place of “gassing time.” In addition to evading verbs that express killing, Just also uses euphemisms such as “load”, “pieces”, and “merchandise” in place of the words prisoners, people, or humans. Euphemisms are also used to express human byproducts. In section 3 of the memo, the word “liquids” takes the place of urine and vomit and “large pieces of dirt” can presumably be interpreted as feces.
As mentioned above, Just fails to fully remove the presence of human nature from this memo. Where he first falters is in section one when he discusses the balance of the vans and writes, “the merchandise aboard displays during the operation a natural tendency to rush to the rear doors.” A “natural tendency” describes something that is alive and performs an action based on instinct or reason. The entire second section of the memo that discusses the need to protect the lighting would be a tip off to anyone reading this memo out of context that something is amiss and wrong. Just writes, “… it has been observed that when the doors are shut, the load always presses hard against them as soon as darkness sets in. This is because the load naturally rushes toward the light when darkness sets in, which makes closing the doors difficult. Also, because of the alarming nature of darkness, screaming always occurs when the doors are closed.” Again, Just describes a naturally tendency of the “load” and what type of load would “scream”?
Just’s usage of euphemisms in his memo is not uncommon of Nazi rhetoric. Marilyn A. Dyrud lists several commonly used euphemisms in Nazi documentation in her article, “Looking Backward: German Technical Writers in the 1930’s.” Some of these include: evacuation/closing the ghetto/resettlement= deportation to extermination camp, salvage= valuables taken from deported Jews, containers filled with substance= Zyklon B canisters dropped into the gas chambers, special treatment= castration or sterilization of non-Aryans, and fumigation/delousing rooms/morgues= gas chambers. Figurative word choices were made in both documents that were internal for the party and also those that were distributed to civilians (Dyrud, 16-17).
It is important to note that it was not over night that the use of metaphors and euphemisms in Nazi rhetoric became so effective. Much of the success the Nazi’s had with figurative language was in part because of repetition. The euphemisms Dyrud describes and Just uses were adopted by Nazi writers and it is doubtful that if not everyone adhered to the ethos of the party and the stylistic voice, these word choices would not have aided in the Final Solution. Hitler was aware of the power of repetition and he used it in his slogans and propaganda (Burke, 111).
Much of the hateful metaphors for Jews in Nazi Germany were created by Hitler and first published in his memoir, Mein Kempf. Andreas Musolff discusses how Hitler used “iconographic references” in formulating his anti-Semitic metaphors. Iconographic references take something familiar (“simplistic images of our experiences”) and associate them with familiar values (Musolff, 2). Two highly common themes Hitler used in his metaphors were religion and disease. These themes branched off and made many sub themes. The metaphoric images and words Hitler created were projected repeatedly throughout Nazi Germany, constantly emphasizing the threat of non-Aryans on Germany and attempting to logically persuade the masses that the threat was real.
LOGIC
Friday, November 21, 2008
More Progress on My Project
My research is going pretty well. I have hit a temporary drought in the finding of articles at this moment (I have been going at this all day) so I decided I would take a break and share what I have gathered thus far.
Since narrowing my focus of Nazi rhetoric to the still broad, but not as broad issues of metaphoric and figurative language (be it tropes, euphemisms, or just flat out manipulation of religious vocabulary) I have found a great deal of literature that explains how the Nazis' word choices in documents aided them in their Final Solution.
In addition to my memo, I also found a document discussing and rationalizing the practice of castration and sterilization by means of X-ray exposure. The language in this document was equally cold, scientific, matter-of-fact, and creepy to the max.
Some key ideas I have latched on to about the use of figurative language is that it had to be done repeatedly. The voice, style, and tone of the memo and other documents was a collective one. It had to be agreed upon because if some individuals didn't adhere to this type of word choice then the effects of word choice would not effective. In other words, everyone needed to write this way for the ideology of the Nazi party to permeate the thought processes of civilians, politicians, and military personnel.
There were also some standard terms used and others were inventions that were specific to certain documents. For instance, "delousing room" was a common term used in place of "gas chamber."
At present, I have almost nine pages of typed notes, which will surely make the actually writing of 15 pages easier. I still want to do my own analysis of the memo, a real good look at all the word choice and reference that back to the many articles I have read. I hope to begin outlining and drafting this weekend.
Here are some of the my new notes from the reading I have done in the past few days:
Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Hitler’s Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse
Steven B. Katz
-deliberative rhetoric- concerned with policy decisions (37) decides what is possible and what is the best course of action
-“Phronesis allows someone to deliberative about the good rather than the expedient” –Dale Sullivan (38)
-“The problem in rhetorical praxis is that the rhetor must conform to the dominant social, economic, and political beliefs on which communication must be based to be effective.” (38) Just needed to adopt the ethos of the organization to be an effective writer.
-Polis= the workplace, the state, the community, etc (39)
-“expediency was in fact the ethical basis of Hitler’s ideology as praxis (and phronesis)” (39)
-“A certain constellation of economics, ideology and political power can enable one person or group to change the rhetoric and rewrite the ideology of an entire nation”. (42)
-Katz uses the social-epistemic theory of rhetoric which situates rhetoric in ideology , rather than ideology with in a rhetoric (42) *rhetoric as a tool for ideology, rather than rhetoric as a tool which takes into account ideology to “Hitler created in theory and instantiated in practice a form of social-epistemic rhetoric construct the Nazi Party
-“For praxis and phronesis, like social-epistemic rhetoric, are themselves social and thus ideological constructions that can be put to any end” (44)
-“Hitler can be understood to have used the ethic of expediency that enables deliberative discourse to create both in theory and practice a different ideological form of social-epistemic rhetoric: propaganda.” (45)
*Hitler created the expediency (what is advantageous for his society) by creating a Truth/knowledge based on science (his science of race and inherent/biological good) and used logic as a means of persuasion based in his science to use rhetorical discourse as a tool to generate praxis that evolved phronesis, but because the phronesis of the discourse community was susceptible to unethical thinking based on the exigency (loss of the WW1 and the economic state of Germany) he could manipulate the functions of rhetoric to encourage an unethical end . By repetition of ethos (as a knowing voice) and content (messages of propaganda) he was able to change the ideology of society through his rhetoric. You have to first change the ideology in order to generate the action. People will not do for what they do not believe in.
-Hitler ceased the historical, cultural, and material moment.” (45) *the exigency
-technical rhetoric is meant to be a tool, a means to a practical end. But no rhetoric is neutral, it all serves an ideological function. (49)
-“…expediency can be seen as the ideology that underlines deliberative discourse as praxis.” (52)
A Comment on “The Ethnic of Expediency”
Thomas M. Rivers
College English Vol. 54 No. 7
November (1992) pp. 856-858
“words are in fact deeds” (856)
“all of us, in other words, are capable of talking ourselves into anything” (857)
*disagree. Words can aid in swaying thought, but can they really trump morals? Time plays a factor also, conditioning over time. “We can talk ourselves into much, but we can talk ourselves out of much” (858) There were no other voices to talk them out of it.
In the time Hitler was creating his rhetoric there were no other competing voices. (858)
Of Euphemisms and Euthanasia: The Language Games of the Nazi Doctors and Some Implications for the Modern Euthanasia Movement
Omega—Journal of Death and Dying
Vol. 40 No. 1
1999-2000 pp. 255-265
“Euphemisms are place holders for important concepts. They may disguise a practice that one might abhor if given another name.” (255)
compares euphemisms to using language like a shield to fend off the unwanted and scary. (256)
In this article, he talks about how Nazi’s made propaganda movies about “mercy killings”. Used religious words like mercy, charity, etc. to defend killing mentally and physically handicapped people. Uses science/truth/the science of inheritance to frighten people that these were traits they could inherit. Also made victims seem hopeless, spiritless, walking dead. Facilities where the killings took place were euphemistically names. Examples: “Realm’s Committee for Scientific Approach to Severe Illness to do Heredity and Constitution” and “Charitable Transport Company for the Sick” (259)
The language allowed people to turn from “healers to killers”. Talks about doctors having split-selves: Auschwitz-self and physician-self. (260)
What Can Critical Metaphor Analysis Add to the Understanding of Racist Ideology? Recent Studies of Hitler’s Anti-Semitic Metaphors
Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines
Vol. 2 No. 2 pp. 1-10 2008
This article sites Burke’s discussion on Hitler describing the Jew as the Devil and a disease that would infect the German people.
*Religion in the sense of good and evil. The Jew is the Devil. Germans are virginal and can be infected. It is merciful, it is charity to kill the less fortunate. Metaphors of religion! Metaphors of disease. And euphemisms to soften the blow of reality, what religious language couldn’t cover up.
Discussing “iconographic references” which take something familiar to us and “simplistic images of our experiences” and associate them with “familiar values.” (2)
So Hitler calls the Jews “black” parasites and that conjures up images of white and black, lightness and dark, purity and imperfection, etc. Doesn’t have to do with Black people, Hitler hated them to but didn’t think the Jews and Blacks were part of the same race, he thought the Jews brought the Black people to Germany on purpose to mess up the German gene pool. (4)
In Mein Kempf calls Jews “slime, maggots, bacteria”. Not as apparent in this memo. Different genre. (6) Euphemisms used for different purposes in memo then MK. *These metaphors don’t just make Jews seem disgusting but they also make them seem like something that can manageably be destroyed. Slime, maggots, bacteria…little things, much littler than humans so can be killed easily and maybe they are even so little no one will notice they were killed. Personification.
*Need repletion and everyone needed to write this way, what would happen if not everyone complied to this type of language use.
This paper appears in: Frontiers in Education Conference, 2001. 31st Annual
Publication Date: 2001
Volume: 3, On page(s): S2G-14-18 vol.3
Meeting Date: 10/10/2001 - 10/13/2001
Location: Reno, NV, USA
More insight into the memo:
Victims were the physically and mentally ill. So maybe not necessarily Jews. They were out into the vehicle while carbon monoxide was pumped in and the van was driven around until they died. Memos like this were written so Nazi’s could perfect extermination technology, both effectiveness and least psychological toll on executioners. (14)
Examples of “masked language”
Evacuation/closing the ghetto/ resettlement= deportation to extermination camp
The Aktion= the final solution
Salvage= valuables taken from deported Jews
Containers filled with substances= Zyklon-B canisters dropped into the gas chambers
Special treatment= castration and sterilization of non-Aryans
Fumigating/delousing rooms/morgues= gas chambers (16-17)
“objectivization” of dehumanization. Both in-house and external memos discussed humans as objects, rather than living things. “the load, the cargo, the pieces, the merchandise” (17)
Since narrowing my focus of Nazi rhetoric to the still broad, but not as broad issues of metaphoric and figurative language (be it tropes, euphemisms, or just flat out manipulation of religious vocabulary) I have found a great deal of literature that explains how the Nazis' word choices in documents aided them in their Final Solution.
In addition to my memo, I also found a document discussing and rationalizing the practice of castration and sterilization by means of X-ray exposure. The language in this document was equally cold, scientific, matter-of-fact, and creepy to the max.
Some key ideas I have latched on to about the use of figurative language is that it had to be done repeatedly. The voice, style, and tone of the memo and other documents was a collective one. It had to be agreed upon because if some individuals didn't adhere to this type of word choice then the effects of word choice would not effective. In other words, everyone needed to write this way for the ideology of the Nazi party to permeate the thought processes of civilians, politicians, and military personnel.
There were also some standard terms used and others were inventions that were specific to certain documents. For instance, "delousing room" was a common term used in place of "gas chamber."
At present, I have almost nine pages of typed notes, which will surely make the actually writing of 15 pages easier. I still want to do my own analysis of the memo, a real good look at all the word choice and reference that back to the many articles I have read. I hope to begin outlining and drafting this weekend.
Here are some of the my new notes from the reading I have done in the past few days:
Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Hitler’s Program, and the Ideological Problem of Praxis, Power, and Professional Discourse
Steven B. Katz
-deliberative rhetoric- concerned with policy decisions (37) decides what is possible and what is the best course of action
-“Phronesis allows someone to deliberative about the good rather than the expedient” –Dale Sullivan (38)
-“The problem in rhetorical praxis is that the rhetor must conform to the dominant social, economic, and political beliefs on which communication must be based to be effective.” (38) Just needed to adopt the ethos of the organization to be an effective writer.
-Polis= the workplace, the state, the community, etc (39)
-“expediency was in fact the ethical basis of Hitler’s ideology as praxis (and phronesis)” (39)
-“A certain constellation of economics, ideology and political power can enable one person or group to change the rhetoric and rewrite the ideology of an entire nation”. (42)
-Katz uses the social-epistemic theory of rhetoric which situates rhetoric in ideology , rather than ideology with in a rhetoric (42) *rhetoric as a tool for ideology, rather than rhetoric as a tool which takes into account ideology to “Hitler created in theory and instantiated in practice a form of social-epistemic rhetoric construct the Nazi Party
-“For praxis and phronesis, like social-epistemic rhetoric, are themselves social and thus ideological constructions that can be put to any end” (44)
-“Hitler can be understood to have used the ethic of expediency that enables deliberative discourse to create both in theory and practice a different ideological form of social-epistemic rhetoric: propaganda.” (45)
*Hitler created the expediency (what is advantageous for his society) by creating a Truth/knowledge based on science (his science of race and inherent/biological good) and used logic as a means of persuasion based in his science to use rhetorical discourse as a tool to generate praxis that evolved phronesis, but because the phronesis of the discourse community was susceptible to unethical thinking based on the exigency (loss of the WW1 and the economic state of Germany) he could manipulate the functions of rhetoric to encourage an unethical end . By repetition of ethos (as a knowing voice) and content (messages of propaganda) he was able to change the ideology of society through his rhetoric. You have to first change the ideology in order to generate the action. People will not do for what they do not believe in.
-Hitler ceased the historical, cultural, and material moment.” (45) *the exigency
-technical rhetoric is meant to be a tool, a means to a practical end. But no rhetoric is neutral, it all serves an ideological function. (49)
-“…expediency can be seen as the ideology that underlines deliberative discourse as praxis.” (52)
A Comment on “The Ethnic of Expediency”
Thomas M. Rivers
College English Vol. 54 No. 7
November (1992) pp. 856-858
“words are in fact deeds” (856)
“all of us, in other words, are capable of talking ourselves into anything” (857)
*disagree. Words can aid in swaying thought, but can they really trump morals? Time plays a factor also, conditioning over time. “We can talk ourselves into much, but we can talk ourselves out of much” (858) There were no other voices to talk them out of it.
In the time Hitler was creating his rhetoric there were no other competing voices. (858)
Of Euphemisms and Euthanasia: The Language Games of the Nazi Doctors and Some Implications for the Modern Euthanasia Movement
Omega—Journal of Death and Dying
Vol. 40 No. 1
1999-2000 pp. 255-265
“Euphemisms are place holders for important concepts. They may disguise a practice that one might abhor if given another name.” (255)
compares euphemisms to using language like a shield to fend off the unwanted and scary. (256)
In this article, he talks about how Nazi’s made propaganda movies about “mercy killings”. Used religious words like mercy, charity, etc. to defend killing mentally and physically handicapped people. Uses science/truth/the science of inheritance to frighten people that these were traits they could inherit. Also made victims seem hopeless, spiritless, walking dead. Facilities where the killings took place were euphemistically names. Examples: “Realm’s Committee for Scientific Approach to Severe Illness to do Heredity and Constitution” and “Charitable Transport Company for the Sick” (259)
The language allowed people to turn from “healers to killers”. Talks about doctors having split-selves: Auschwitz-self and physician-self. (260)
What Can Critical Metaphor Analysis Add to the Understanding of Racist Ideology? Recent Studies of Hitler’s Anti-Semitic Metaphors
Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines
Vol. 2 No. 2 pp. 1-10 2008
This article sites Burke’s discussion on Hitler describing the Jew as the Devil and a disease that would infect the German people.
*Religion in the sense of good and evil. The Jew is the Devil. Germans are virginal and can be infected. It is merciful, it is charity to kill the less fortunate. Metaphors of religion! Metaphors of disease. And euphemisms to soften the blow of reality, what religious language couldn’t cover up.
Discussing “iconographic references” which take something familiar to us and “simplistic images of our experiences” and associate them with “familiar values.” (2)
So Hitler calls the Jews “black” parasites and that conjures up images of white and black, lightness and dark, purity and imperfection, etc. Doesn’t have to do with Black people, Hitler hated them to but didn’t think the Jews and Blacks were part of the same race, he thought the Jews brought the Black people to Germany on purpose to mess up the German gene pool. (4)
In Mein Kempf calls Jews “slime, maggots, bacteria”. Not as apparent in this memo. Different genre. (6) Euphemisms used for different purposes in memo then MK. *These metaphors don’t just make Jews seem disgusting but they also make them seem like something that can manageably be destroyed. Slime, maggots, bacteria…little things, much littler than humans so can be killed easily and maybe they are even so little no one will notice they were killed. Personification.
*Need repletion and everyone needed to write this way, what would happen if not everyone complied to this type of language use.
This paper appears in: Frontiers in Education Conference, 2001. 31st Annual
Publication Date: 2001
Volume: 3, On page(s): S2G-14-18 vol.3
Meeting Date: 10/10/2001 - 10/13/2001
Location: Reno, NV, USA
More insight into the memo:
Victims were the physically and mentally ill. So maybe not necessarily Jews. They were out into the vehicle while carbon monoxide was pumped in and the van was driven around until they died. Memos like this were written so Nazi’s could perfect extermination technology, both effectiveness and least psychological toll on executioners. (14)
Examples of “masked language”
Evacuation/closing the ghetto/ resettlement= deportation to extermination camp
The Aktion= the final solution
Salvage= valuables taken from deported Jews
Containers filled with substances= Zyklon-B canisters dropped into the gas chambers
Special treatment= castration and sterilization of non-Aryans
Fumigating/delousing rooms/morgues= gas chambers (16-17)
“objectivization” of dehumanization. Both in-house and external memos discussed humans as objects, rather than living things. “the load, the cargo, the pieces, the merchandise” (17)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Notes on Usability Reading
The Shape of Text to Come
The first thing I wonder when reading this, the author writes that screen text is not a new/different rhetoric from paper text, just a new medium. I think since the publication of this article people would disagree. There is certainly a difference between electronic literacy and print literary, so why shouldn't a new medium constitute a new type of rhetoric? But again, this article was written awhile back.
Everything has changed since this article has been written in regards to how situationally embedded screen text is. Now we can read screen text on a plane, we do read books and articles off the computer, screen quality is better on the eyes. You can still get in the zone when reading on a computer. He writes as though screen reading is all workplace or task oriented, not for pleasure.
In the functionally mapped text section I think an interesting thing to point out in retrospect of when this article was written is that the writer makes an educated predication that the interfaces of programs and screens will evolve into having similar layouts and cues so that readers electronic literacy will also evolve and a reader will be able to navigate screen text without not knowing the various options avaliable on the computer. This is discussed again in the navigation sections when he mentions how readers are frustrated that they cannot apply what they know about navigating books to navigating screen texts because screen texts vary and have different functions. Where as now we know if a word is blue or underlined it is a linked, then there wasn't consistency.
Text and Action
The discussion of people knowing how to use a lawnmower because they see lawnmowers being used a lot was an interesting point that made me think of some things. I think the writer is right, people know how to use them b/c it is a common image. But I also think lawnmowers have a certain usability about them that makes sense. This makes me think about gaming systems. X-Box, Wii, Playstation...they look different, but for the most part (and for most people) you can take them out of the box, set them up, and everything is pretty self explainable, because the usability on those technologies is so designed for the every day person. Power buttons look the same, there are cues for where you should hold something, etc. In addition, if you've played one, or used a DVD player, or really any electronic with wires and buttons, you can make connections and figure things out. I know this article is about the manual, but you can't separate the manual from the product, and if the product has good usability, the manual will be that much better and less needed.
Writing and Database Technology
The most important point I gathered from this article was that rhetorical choices are beneficial and apart of tasks that you may not think involve rhetoric. I wouldn't image making tables of numbers very rhetorical, but there are still decisions to be made about purpose, audience, and functionality. There is also an element of taking a bunch of nonsense and arranging it so it has meaning. That is very rhetorical. That is why people with written communication degrees get paid the big bucks, isn't it?
Getting to Know Audiences in Cyber Space
Did anyone else find the typo on page 4?
Well, I use Purdue's OWL, not a lot, but enough, so I think online writing centers are a great thing. And I defiantly see how providing an online learning service to such a wide and anonymous audience would make it difficult to create site content. Surveys seem like a great methodology for the OWC developers to obtain information on what would make their site more beneficial. I think it is interesting that they didn't provide an onsite feedback option or a mandatory sign in option to obtain information. But then again, you don't know if that information will be accurate. A lot of corporate websites ask for customer demographic information right on the site.
The first thing I wonder when reading this, the author writes that screen text is not a new/different rhetoric from paper text, just a new medium. I think since the publication of this article people would disagree. There is certainly a difference between electronic literacy and print literary, so why shouldn't a new medium constitute a new type of rhetoric? But again, this article was written awhile back.
Everything has changed since this article has been written in regards to how situationally embedded screen text is. Now we can read screen text on a plane, we do read books and articles off the computer, screen quality is better on the eyes. You can still get in the zone when reading on a computer. He writes as though screen reading is all workplace or task oriented, not for pleasure.
In the functionally mapped text section I think an interesting thing to point out in retrospect of when this article was written is that the writer makes an educated predication that the interfaces of programs and screens will evolve into having similar layouts and cues so that readers electronic literacy will also evolve and a reader will be able to navigate screen text without not knowing the various options avaliable on the computer. This is discussed again in the navigation sections when he mentions how readers are frustrated that they cannot apply what they know about navigating books to navigating screen texts because screen texts vary and have different functions. Where as now we know if a word is blue or underlined it is a linked, then there wasn't consistency.
Text and Action
The discussion of people knowing how to use a lawnmower because they see lawnmowers being used a lot was an interesting point that made me think of some things. I think the writer is right, people know how to use them b/c it is a common image. But I also think lawnmowers have a certain usability about them that makes sense. This makes me think about gaming systems. X-Box, Wii, Playstation...they look different, but for the most part (and for most people) you can take them out of the box, set them up, and everything is pretty self explainable, because the usability on those technologies is so designed for the every day person. Power buttons look the same, there are cues for where you should hold something, etc. In addition, if you've played one, or used a DVD player, or really any electronic with wires and buttons, you can make connections and figure things out. I know this article is about the manual, but you can't separate the manual from the product, and if the product has good usability, the manual will be that much better and less needed.
Writing and Database Technology
The most important point I gathered from this article was that rhetorical choices are beneficial and apart of tasks that you may not think involve rhetoric. I wouldn't image making tables of numbers very rhetorical, but there are still decisions to be made about purpose, audience, and functionality. There is also an element of taking a bunch of nonsense and arranging it so it has meaning. That is very rhetorical. That is why people with written communication degrees get paid the big bucks, isn't it?
Getting to Know Audiences in Cyber Space
Did anyone else find the typo on page 4?
Well, I use Purdue's OWL, not a lot, but enough, so I think online writing centers are a great thing. And I defiantly see how providing an online learning service to such a wide and anonymous audience would make it difficult to create site content. Surveys seem like a great methodology for the OWC developers to obtain information on what would make their site more beneficial. I think it is interesting that they didn't provide an onsite feedback option or a mandatory sign in option to obtain information. But then again, you don't know if that information will be accurate. A lot of corporate websites ask for customer demographic information right on the site.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Project Progress Report
I have been blogging once a week about the progress of my project, so this post will basically be a summary of what I have written so far.
I have not yet started writing, but I have done a good amount of background reading on my subject. After our last class meeting I am confident in narrowing my topic down, which in turn will alter my thesis statement. My new focus is more defined and involves examining the Nazi and specifically looking at how the use of metaphoric language, figurative language, and tropes are used as stylistic choices to further the praxis the memo will generate. By removing people and the actual process of killing from the memo's language, the author is able to create an ethos of efficiency which is the norm in most technical documents. The language choices are essential to focusing the audience on the task at hand rather than the ethical issues surrounding that process.
My plan of action is to read a bit more on the actual use of figurative language in Nazi rhetoric (and I know there is plenty out there) and how that aided Nazi writers in achieving their goals for the Final Solution. I hope to begin outlining and drafting this weekend.
My literature review has expanded slightly since my last post.
I have not yet started writing, but I have done a good amount of background reading on my subject. After our last class meeting I am confident in narrowing my topic down, which in turn will alter my thesis statement. My new focus is more defined and involves examining the Nazi and specifically looking at how the use of metaphoric language, figurative language, and tropes are used as stylistic choices to further the praxis the memo will generate. By removing people and the actual process of killing from the memo's language, the author is able to create an ethos of efficiency which is the norm in most technical documents. The language choices are essential to focusing the audience on the task at hand rather than the ethical issues surrounding that process.
My plan of action is to read a bit more on the actual use of figurative language in Nazi rhetoric (and I know there is plenty out there) and how that aided Nazi writers in achieving their goals for the Final Solution. I hope to begin outlining and drafting this weekend.
My literature review has expanded slightly since my last post.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
My Project (an element of stress and worry)
Well it is safe to say at this moment in the semester my head is spinning. I don't know if it is the work load or the looming doom of finding a job, but I am starting to seriously doubt my ability to accomplish tasks and handle stress. This paper, while not unlike other papers I have done, is really freaking me out. Now if there is one thing I can do, it is write the shit out of a research paper. And I like this topic. So why the freaking out? I don't have the answers.
Anyway, as it stands I have read 5 articles that I think will help me. I have written notes out for two of the articles, and I need to go back and reread the orginal 3 I read and write notes out for those. I write my notes as I am reading in a word doc. This helps me translate the author's thoughts into my own, make connections between articles, and write out quotes so that when I go to write the paper I can copy and paste quickly so I don't lose my train of thought. What I am essentially doing is a mini literature review.
As far as organization of the paper I want to look in depth at specific elements of rhetorical theory in the memo. I will start my paper with the memo, give an introduction/abstract about what my paper will be about and then go into sections that will be preceded by subheads. The sections I want to do include elements such as audience analysis, exigencies, metaphors/figurative language, the rhetorical, situation, ethics, practicality/writing as a tool. If the subheads make the paper seem disjointed and choppy I will remove them and write transitions between paragraphs.
I need to find a few more sources and hopefully I will start writing this week so that I have something to work with for the progress report due next week.
Here are my notes:
The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings
By Neil Levi, Michael Rothberg
Contributor Neil Levi, Michael Rothberg
Published by Rutgers University Press, 2003
Article:
The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle
Kenneth Burke
Specifically this discusses Hitler’s initial rhetoric in Mein Kampf
-The element for unifying people in the Middle Ages was a common enemy- in that case the devil. Hitler used a common enemy (the Jews and others) to unite the German people, and this devil was also international (“the international Jew”). Another Christian theology- the conquest of inferior races.
-Hitler used a fake science to define a bloodline, a Positivistic/”T”ruth. In this way, Hitler “Materialized” the enemy. Burke calls it “inborn dignity”
-Hitler uses sexual symbolism. The masses are a woman who needs a dominating man to lead them. The Jews are the rival male, and if they win they will taint the Aryan bloodline. This can be by mating with Aryans or simply by influencing Jewish culture and tainting their spiritual purity.
-Projection, by handing over one’s “ills to a scapegoat” one can get “purification”
-There is a True cause, centered in race (a science) between people who were born moral. Once you establish the “facts” you can’t argue them, all you can do is prove them.
-Hitler was aware of the power of repetition , used it in slogans and propaganda.
-“The desire for national unity, in the present state of the world, is genuine and admirable. But this unity, if attained on a deceptive basis, by emotional trickeries that shift our the accurate locus of our troubles, is no unity at all.
-Hitler’s exigency: the loss of WW1 and the economy, people were more susceptible to his rhetoric. The situation created an exigency.
Rhetorical Functions of the Infestation Metaphor in Hitler’s Rhetoric
Steven Perry
Central States Speech Journal, 1983
http://www.willamette.edu/cla/rhetoric/courses/Rhetcrit/readings/Hitler.pdf
“…sought to understand metaphor within the stylistic canon of rhetoric, as an aesthetic entity to be judges more in terms of its formal qualities than in terms of its practical functions in discourse.”
“Figurative language as more than an element of style”
“Parasitism imagery” the figurative language is what Hitler used to create his argument of Jewish inferiority
Perry looks at one class of metaphors: disease/infestation of the “national body”
-Edwin Black: metaphors can contain shared attitudes and values and metaphoric logic can sustain such attitudes
-parasites and disease create horror and mystification of the “enemy”
“The strategy of re-naming one’s enemies in a conflict situation is a common one. It is done in order to de-personalize the enemy, to de-humanize him or her, and thus to ameliorate the prospect of extreme action against the enemy.”
-used metaphors as a logic or way to explain how the Jews were a threat, also explains how if the Jews were so inferior how could they pose a threat? Because they were parasites and Aryans were the host. This metaphor reiterates that Jews are biologically evil.
-implies “an end of means moral”
Euphemisms of Death: Interpreting a Primary Source Document on the Holocaust
Richard Kalfus
-What is important to the writer is making the most of time and making the process efficient
-de-humanizing language:
“merchandise” and “pieces” are Jews
-“Objective and dispassionate language of a business memo”
*the genre of a memo alone reinforces that there is a job to do and emotion/compassion are not common elements in business writing
-Just de-humanizing nouns but fails to or cannot dehumanize verbs
“natural tendency”, “screaming always occurs” screaming-“the most human of all actions”
-gassing vans were used to de-humanize the process of killing for the psychological benefit of Nazi executers b/c mass shootings became to emotional for them
-“there is no compromise when efficient time management is a major objective…Any interruption in the gassing process must be avoided”
“Technocratic mentality- sociologist Max Weber and Karl Mannheim…”functional rationality. Not concerned with long term results, but with cost effectiveness.
*A business/a production line. Getting work done. Writing as a tool.
-Memo written by Willy Just, a dispatcher and welder for the SS motor pool
to SS officer Walther Rauff, head of the office of technical affairs in charge of more than 4000 security police motor vehicles.
-not unusual language “they were a norm in a society set as its political goal the annihilation of the Jews” *a discourse community which would have excepted the language choices and content matter b/c they shared the goal.
The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust
Steven B. Katz
-“by an formal criteria in technical communication, it is an almost perfect document.”
Begins with a “purpose statement” that makes an “assumption or goal shared by the audience” *audience analysis/awareness. Then he sets up a problem to be solved. He’s technically justified, and therefore must be right.
-follows the rules of good document design, divided into three numbered sections with white space for easy reading
-argument for changing the vans is “technically accurate and logically argued”
-using cause/effect enthymemes to logically argue for the reduction in load space and how the reduction of load would make the process more efficient (less people, more gas, the faster they die)
-in deliberative rhetoric the goal is expediency (what is advantageous, rather than what is right. A self-interest)
-ethos (the moral element of character) of technical writing is “objectivity logic, and narrow focus” is demonstrated to the max. Calls it the “ethos of expediency:
-de-humanizing language in addition an “ethos of expediency” facilitated the holocaust
-for a writer to perform well in an organization he must adopt the ethos of the organization, “responsibility is shifted from the writer to the organization they represent” by “using passive voice which obscures the role of the agent, and of subordinate clauses that separate subject from verb.”
-stylistic choices “communicate and reveal a group think, an officially sanctioned ethos grounded in expediency”
-Just isn’t just doing his job, he has adopted the ethos. The group think.
-“All deliberative rhetoric is concerned with decision and action. Technical writing, perhaps even more than other kinds of rhetorical discourse, always leads to action, and this always impacts human life.
-In The Rhetoric, Aristotle states “rhetoric is a combination of the science of logic and the ethnical branch of politics.” Rhetoric is a praxis ( a social action) meant to get people to do something, a tool. Phronesis- part of praxis, and it is “practical wisdom or prudence” *which should include ideally what is right and wrong, but if the moral of the society doing the action is unethical and amoral then rhetoric can be used as a means to an evil end and still be considered expedient and useful
-Expediency is always the good, Aristotle says “utility is a good thing” and “any end if a good end”. Progress is a virtue.
-“virture, like knowledge is socially constructed” Hitler made “truths” by creating the science of race and ethnicity. *The society expected it, so it became true.
-science and technology were (and are) the basis for powerful argument to carry out any program. They embody truth, power, capability and thus are logical and ethnical
“Hitler believed in the efficiency of science and technology…
Hitler said: “a movement like ours musn’t let itself be drawn into metaphysical digressions. It must stick to the spirit of exact science.” The ethos of technology is expediency.
-This is what can happen when technology becomes an ethos
-Hitler’s rhetoric was not made to generate conversation or debate, it was meant to indoctrinate, ex: propaganda
-Another example of amoral expediency- when gold filling were taken from the teeth of victims and melted down for the war effort
Anyway, as it stands I have read 5 articles that I think will help me. I have written notes out for two of the articles, and I need to go back and reread the orginal 3 I read and write notes out for those. I write my notes as I am reading in a word doc. This helps me translate the author's thoughts into my own, make connections between articles, and write out quotes so that when I go to write the paper I can copy and paste quickly so I don't lose my train of thought. What I am essentially doing is a mini literature review.
As far as organization of the paper I want to look in depth at specific elements of rhetorical theory in the memo. I will start my paper with the memo, give an introduction/abstract about what my paper will be about and then go into sections that will be preceded by subheads. The sections I want to do include elements such as audience analysis, exigencies, metaphors/figurative language, the rhetorical, situation, ethics, practicality/writing as a tool. If the subheads make the paper seem disjointed and choppy I will remove them and write transitions between paragraphs.
I need to find a few more sources and hopefully I will start writing this week so that I have something to work with for the progress report due next week.
Here are my notes:
The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings
By Neil Levi, Michael Rothberg
Contributor Neil Levi, Michael Rothberg
Published by Rutgers University Press, 2003
Article:
The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle
Kenneth Burke
Specifically this discusses Hitler’s initial rhetoric in Mein Kampf
-The element for unifying people in the Middle Ages was a common enemy- in that case the devil. Hitler used a common enemy (the Jews and others) to unite the German people, and this devil was also international (“the international Jew”). Another Christian theology- the conquest of inferior races.
-Hitler used a fake science to define a bloodline, a Positivistic/”T”ruth. In this way, Hitler “Materialized” the enemy. Burke calls it “inborn dignity”
-Hitler uses sexual symbolism. The masses are a woman who needs a dominating man to lead them. The Jews are the rival male, and if they win they will taint the Aryan bloodline. This can be by mating with Aryans or simply by influencing Jewish culture and tainting their spiritual purity.
-Projection, by handing over one’s “ills to a scapegoat” one can get “purification”
-There is a True cause, centered in race (a science) between people who were born moral. Once you establish the “facts” you can’t argue them, all you can do is prove them.
-Hitler was aware of the power of repetition , used it in slogans and propaganda.
-“The desire for national unity, in the present state of the world, is genuine and admirable. But this unity, if attained on a deceptive basis, by emotional trickeries that shift our the accurate locus of our troubles, is no unity at all.
-Hitler’s exigency: the loss of WW1 and the economy, people were more susceptible to his rhetoric. The situation created an exigency.
Rhetorical Functions of the Infestation Metaphor in Hitler’s Rhetoric
Steven Perry
Central States Speech Journal, 1983
http://www.willamette.edu/cla/rhetoric/courses/Rhetcrit/readings/Hitler.pdf
“…sought to understand metaphor within the stylistic canon of rhetoric, as an aesthetic entity to be judges more in terms of its formal qualities than in terms of its practical functions in discourse.”
“Figurative language as more than an element of style”
“Parasitism imagery” the figurative language is what Hitler used to create his argument of Jewish inferiority
Perry looks at one class of metaphors: disease/infestation of the “national body”
-Edwin Black: metaphors can contain shared attitudes and values and metaphoric logic can sustain such attitudes
-parasites and disease create horror and mystification of the “enemy”
“The strategy of re-naming one’s enemies in a conflict situation is a common one. It is done in order to de-personalize the enemy, to de-humanize him or her, and thus to ameliorate the prospect of extreme action against the enemy.”
-used metaphors as a logic or way to explain how the Jews were a threat, also explains how if the Jews were so inferior how could they pose a threat? Because they were parasites and Aryans were the host. This metaphor reiterates that Jews are biologically evil.
-implies “an end of means moral”
Euphemisms of Death: Interpreting a Primary Source Document on the Holocaust
Richard Kalfus
-What is important to the writer is making the most of time and making the process efficient
-de-humanizing language:
“merchandise” and “pieces” are Jews
-“Objective and dispassionate language of a business memo”
*the genre of a memo alone reinforces that there is a job to do and emotion/compassion are not common elements in business writing
-Just de-humanizing nouns but fails to or cannot dehumanize verbs
“natural tendency”, “screaming always occurs” screaming-“the most human of all actions”
-gassing vans were used to de-humanize the process of killing for the psychological benefit of Nazi executers b/c mass shootings became to emotional for them
-“there is no compromise when efficient time management is a major objective…Any interruption in the gassing process must be avoided”
“Technocratic mentality- sociologist Max Weber and Karl Mannheim…”functional rationality. Not concerned with long term results, but with cost effectiveness.
*A business/a production line. Getting work done. Writing as a tool.
-Memo written by Willy Just, a dispatcher and welder for the SS motor pool
to SS officer Walther Rauff, head of the office of technical affairs in charge of more than 4000 security police motor vehicles.
-not unusual language “they were a norm in a society set as its political goal the annihilation of the Jews” *a discourse community which would have excepted the language choices and content matter b/c they shared the goal.
The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust
Steven B. Katz
-“by an formal criteria in technical communication, it is an almost perfect document.”
Begins with a “purpose statement” that makes an “assumption or goal shared by the audience” *audience analysis/awareness. Then he sets up a problem to be solved. He’s technically justified, and therefore must be right.
-follows the rules of good document design, divided into three numbered sections with white space for easy reading
-argument for changing the vans is “technically accurate and logically argued”
-using cause/effect enthymemes to logically argue for the reduction in load space and how the reduction of load would make the process more efficient (less people, more gas, the faster they die)
-in deliberative rhetoric the goal is expediency (what is advantageous, rather than what is right. A self-interest)
-ethos (the moral element of character) of technical writing is “objectivity logic, and narrow focus” is demonstrated to the max. Calls it the “ethos of expediency:
-de-humanizing language in addition an “ethos of expediency” facilitated the holocaust
-for a writer to perform well in an organization he must adopt the ethos of the organization, “responsibility is shifted from the writer to the organization they represent” by “using passive voice which obscures the role of the agent, and of subordinate clauses that separate subject from verb.”
-stylistic choices “communicate and reveal a group think, an officially sanctioned ethos grounded in expediency”
-Just isn’t just doing his job, he has adopted the ethos. The group think.
-“All deliberative rhetoric is concerned with decision and action. Technical writing, perhaps even more than other kinds of rhetorical discourse, always leads to action, and this always impacts human life.
-In The Rhetoric, Aristotle states “rhetoric is a combination of the science of logic and the ethnical branch of politics.” Rhetoric is a praxis ( a social action) meant to get people to do something, a tool. Phronesis- part of praxis, and it is “practical wisdom or prudence” *which should include ideally what is right and wrong, but if the moral of the society doing the action is unethical and amoral then rhetoric can be used as a means to an evil end and still be considered expedient and useful
-Expediency is always the good, Aristotle says “utility is a good thing” and “any end if a good end”. Progress is a virtue.
-“virture, like knowledge is socially constructed” Hitler made “truths” by creating the science of race and ethnicity. *The society expected it, so it became true.
-science and technology were (and are) the basis for powerful argument to carry out any program. They embody truth, power, capability and thus are logical and ethnical
“Hitler believed in the efficiency of science and technology…
Hitler said: “a movement like ours musn’t let itself be drawn into metaphysical digressions. It must stick to the spirit of exact science.” The ethos of technology is expediency.
-This is what can happen when technology becomes an ethos
-Hitler’s rhetoric was not made to generate conversation or debate, it was meant to indoctrinate, ex: propaganda
-Another example of amoral expediency- when gold filling were taken from the teeth of victims and melted down for the war effort
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