The reading “The Rhetoric of Democracy” was very interesting to me. In it the author Boorstin mentions Plato in his argument and states, “the temptation to allow the problem of persuasion to overshadow the problem of knowledge.” While this is really drastic statement in its relation to language this is kind of scary to think about. The United States is a very commercialized society; this is something that is very hard to argue with. When does it come to the point when we stop believing the truth for what we want to believe? We may not even know what the truth is anymore, and it is up to all of us to decide our own truth.
The best news and advertisements today are things that people want to watch. We demand that they are interesting and entertaining. Through language people have been revving up news and advertisements to make them more entertaining. With simple words people can persuade you to buy a car, a house, or even vote for a president. Words have a much larger impact than many people recognize. They have the ability to change lives for better or worse.
Our society today requires almost a certain amount of skepticism. Without sounding very negative I must say that people do not take things for face value. People much realize that things are what they are. Even if I were to put a new and improved sticker on a can of old vegetables that would not mean they were new and improved. I bet I could sell those vegetables a lot faster, though. Through language it is almost as if people are ripping us off. People will say a lot of things to get done what they want done. Whether it is selling you something or telling you how to live your life language is one of the most persuasive tools a person has.
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