• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

How Praise and Blame Rhetoric Are Poisoning American Democracy

Ryan Skinnell by Ryan Skinnell
11/02/21
in Opinion
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021. Photo by Andrew Caballero/AFP via Getty Images

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Julius Caesar was dead, assassinated by no fewer than 60 Roman Senators, some of whom he considered close friends. Rome was in turmoil when Marc Antony, Caesar’s ally, was tapped to give his friend’s eulogy. What he said was shocking.

“It is not fitting, citizens, that the funeral oration of so great a man should be pronounced by me alone, but rather by his whole country.”

Antony then read a series of decrees and pledges from all over Rome extolling Caesar’s distinctive virtues, recalling his unparalleled achievements, and mourning his immeasurable loss.

What’s so shocking about Antony’s speech is that he didn’t say anything particularly shocking. There’s no full text of the eulogy (Shakespeare’s fanciful reconstruction notwithstanding), but it was reportedly fairly conventional — full of praise for the deceased and mourning for a life taken too soon.

What’s also shocking is that Antony’s speech is as relevant as ever in 21st century America. In fact, Antony’s eulogy exemplifies a kind of rhetoric — called “epideictic” — that illuminates how political persuasion functions in the 21st century and why it’s so threatening to democracy.

Epideictic Rhetoric

Soon after Caesar was assassinated, Antony’s funeral oration became the textbook example of epideictic rhetoric. Epideictic (pronounced: eh-puh-dike-tik) is a kind of ceremonial rhetoric designed for praise or blame. Heap praise on a loved one at their funeral, for example, or cast blame on the villain who murdered them.

Antony’s speech is notable because he didn’t blame Caesar’s murderers, many of whom actually attended the eulogy. He focused instead on praising the deceased, magnifying Caesar’s attributes to god-like levels and lamenting all of Rome’s suffering.

Amplified praise is the appropriate form of epideictic for a traditional eulogy because it intensifies emotion and allows audience members to mourn together as a community.

Famously, however, the Romans who listened to Caesar’s eulogy didn’t simply commune in their grief. Deeply moved by Antony’s praise for Caesar, they revolted against the conspirators, burning buildings and attempting to murder Caesar’s murderers.

Epideictic rhetoric like that found in eulogies is often thought of merely as a form of display or performance. Something to be watched and experienced almost like spectators in a theater.

But as Antony’s speech demonstrates, when epideictic moves away from ceremonial speech and into a charged political arena, it can become more than a spectator sport. It can inspire extreme reactions — even mob violence.

Americans are not Romans, but we’re living in an era of epideictic rhetoric. In the past two decades, praise and blame have increasingly displaced standard forms of political rhetoric — deliberative rhetoric and judicial rhetoric.

Deliberative (legislative) and judicial (legal) rhetoric are designed to produce slow, measured, and methodical decision-making.

By contrast, epideictic rhetoric is designed to intensify emotions, distinguish heroes from villains, and motivate direct, immediate, passionate responses. It can even be used to attack slow, measured, and methodical decision-making, and that’s what’s happening in American politics.

Attempt at Blame

Take, for instance, the Trump–Ukraine scandal for which former President Donald Trump was impeached in 2020. Trump surrogates, including Attorney General Bill Barr and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, pressured Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Trump’s political opponent, Joe Biden, in exchange for American military aid.

The scandal was that a sitting US president tried to pressure a foreign government to declare a (sham) investigation in order to circumvent established political processes and undermine his political opponent.

The method was epideictic. If there was truly cause for investigation, the proper responses should have been legislative and judicial.

But Trump gambled that announcing a foreign investigation — even if it was never conducted — would convince voters that Biden was corrupt. It was a complicated, coordinated, calculated attempt at blame.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands during a meeting in New York on September 25, 2019
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in New York. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP

Similar instances of epideictic are occurring throughout American politics. What should be deliberative or legislative decisions — about voting rights, public health, or bodily autonomy, for example — are being overwhelmed or short-circuited by praise and blame rhetoric, especially (if not exclusively) by Republicans and conservative activists.

Epideictic is most obvious when debates about the merits of legislation, laws, or human rights are drowned out by praise and blame rhetoric. And when epideictic is made to override democratic institutions and processes, democracy is systematically weakened.

Praise to Gather Support

Of course, epideictic rhetoric is not necessarily bad. It can be an important means of gathering support in a democracy.

Take, for another instance, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. HR 1 began as the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019. But one week after John Lewis died, Democrats renamed the bill in honor of the civil rights icon.

The aim of renaming the bill was epideictic — an act of praise by association, with the hope that Lewis’s sterling civil rights legacy would persuade legislators and citizens to fight for the legislation. In this case, epideictic is supposed to support the legislative process, not overwhelm or destroy it.

But epideictic cannot be allowed to usurp legislative and judicial rhetoric in politics and the government. Left unchecked, it’s downright dangerous.

A major challenge ahead for democracy’s defenders is rebuilding the eroded legislative and judicial processes that make American democracy functional. That’s not going to be easy.

But an important first step is recognizing how prevalent epideictic rhetoric has become in places where legislative and judicial rhetoric belong. If we fail to recognize the influence of epideictic rhetoric — including in our own actions — there’s no chance we’ll ever be able to root it out of the places where it doesn’t belong.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Ryan Skinnell

Ryan Skinnell

Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing at San José State University. Author of six books including Faking the News: What Rhetoric Can Teach Us About Donald J. Trump

Related Posts

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York
Opinion

George Santos for Speaker!

by Stephen J. Lyons
January 16, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives
National

Chaos as US House Adjourns Without Choosing Speaker

by Staff Writer
January 4, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines
Opinion

Eight Billion and Counting…

by Stephen J. Lyons
November 29, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Supreme Court Freezes Release of Trump Tax Returns

by Staff Writer
November 1, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Capitol Riot Probe Votes to Subpoena Trump to Testify

by Staff Writer
October 13, 2022
Steve Bannon
National

Former Trump Advisor Bannon Charged With Fraud in New York

by Staff Writer
September 8, 2022
Next Post
deforestation

COP26 Leaders Vow New Drive to End Deforestation by 2030

Eric Zemmour

France's Trump? Eric Zemmour Has Studied The Playbook

Recommended

A supporter of nurses' strike and NHS holds a placard

UK Faces Fresh Mass Strikes as Wage Talks Derail

February 1, 2023
Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post