Week 2 : Thank you for Arguing. Koyel Chatterjee.

The first page of  Thank you for Arguing , does make some parts of the text relatable , with some other portions of it seemed alien to me. The second paragraph where the author describes in getting lost within a stack of books is something I could very much relate to . The only difference was , those stacks of never ending books surrounding him in a library were all about rhetoric , while in my case , they were just classic Gothic novels like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was this endless sort of parallel universe he could get lost into. As he said , Here lay treasure . That's exactly how I feel , or maybe , any book worm feels about their favourite genre of books.  it's the third paragraph , however , that patronizes me and somewhat baffles me as well. The author describes Adams' lecture in Harvard , where that quote of his used in the preface reminds me so much of Hitler. The quote claimed , catch from the relics of ancient oratory those unresisted powers, which mould the mind of man to the will of the speaker , and yield the guidance of the nation to the dominion of voice. I couldn't help but let this quote take me back to Hitler's time in Germany . It was his speech , his convincing powers within the speech that led an entire nation actually agree to something as absurd as genocide. The power of persuasion in rhetoric and the way people can manipulate those , powers , I think , really scares me. My literature teacher said , however , that the reason the Aryan German public was so convincingly brainwashed by Hitler's speeches was because all of them were sub consciously wanting the same thing that Hitler was producing in action - the abolition of Jews. That is why it was so easy to make all of them support by just of his natural skills of speech. The level of persuasion that rhetoric can produce basically intimidates and that is I do not seem to really warm up to the concept . Maybe , because I really have nothing to make people be convinced about . If they get convinced , good for them  , and if they don't , that's okay too. However , that's only how I , as an individual feel. I am not saying that it does not have perks . It definitely does. Suppose , someone with better rhetoric skills than me goes for the same job interview I am going to .  He would definitely  be more likely to get selected.  The author says that rhetoric offers the chance to tap into a source of social power. Maybe that's what I am afraid of . Power and the domination power brings. I don't see the point of it but I do realize that no organization can run without it . Also , how every person in power seems to have great persuasion skills in speech. I mean , there must be a reason for that , right? Also , I think it shows that whether we like it or not , all of us are always going to be a part of these power dynamics around us . Someone is always going to be in power of us. We are all also going to be in power of someone or the other . I guess that's how it works , even though the entire cycle does manage to scare me. The rest of the first chapter , however , did manage to persuade me somehow into agreeing about the advantages of rhetoric. Something I never thought would've been possible since I was pretty cynical about the likes of speech making and debating . However , sections like Ooh Baby , Sit Harder ,  did make me realize that whether we are aware of it or not , all of us are a part of the rhetoric cycle of arguing and persuading . I cannot imagine my life without arguing with or persuading my parents. Then again , who can? That beginning piece where the father managed to manipulate his own son , made the son seem actually pretty transparent as he was just using the techniques his father taught him to apply. It was like a innocent student applying the method his teacher asked him to use and he does it in front of his instructor while seeking for approval. The tactic the father used in his rebuttal of never using anger in one's rhetoric almost made the father seem sly , but I cannot really judge him . It was just experimentation , I guess. His description of not shaving for ages but still having his standards including hygiene did make him relatable to me. Not that I have beard or something , but I am not exactly self very self conscious either.However , that has its standards too , which includes basic hygiene . I guess his standards are still sort of higher than mine since he does not  wear his dad's clothes everyday or not comb his hair. Anyway. The section Ooh Baby, Sit Harder , however , made me realize to what level are we immersed and surrounded by rhetoric and how life would never work the way it does around us without argument. I kind of started realizing that while reading it . My opinion on rhetoric began slowly changing . Now I can finally say like Heinrichs did in the first page , that Rhetoric sort of did talk me into itself , and I managed to like the experience.