Symbols and Logical Proof

                Without being formally trained in it, rhetorical reasoning is something that we do quite a bit in normal, everyday life. According to the authors in our text, Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, the classical rhetors taught a number method of reasoning and deduction to his students to facilitate reasoning process in rhetorical settings. Of all of the methods that were introduced, I find the concept of signs to be the most interesting.

                In our culture today, there are signs that appear in everyday life that are used for points of argument. We are surrounded by these arguments and signs, oftentimes not aware that we are being exposed to the argument. For example, take an advertisement for a car. In American culture, we hold the symbol of a car to establish the persona or to be a representation of the owner of the vehicle. We often expect for someone who makes a lot of money to drive a luxury car, a mother to drive a minivan or a large SUV, or a man (oftentimes a “working class” man) to drive a truck. Sometimes we hold these unconscious preconceptions, and we are unaware as to the reason why we hold these preconceptions. I believe a large part of why we hold these preconceptions are due to advertising by the automakers that shape popular culture. If you were to watch advertisements for trucks such as the Ford F-150, or the Ram 1500, you will see commercials geared toward working men doing work with the aforementioned trucks. The only exception to the rule in recent history is General Motors, with its Chevrolet Silverado campaign that has one commercial entitled “A woman and her truck” which displays a woman who is apparently a rodeo performer with a Chevrolet Silverado with a horse trailer, that contains a horse who the woman shows affection for at the end of the commercial.

                There are other examples of signs that surround us that people use to argue a point that surround us on a daily basis. Take, for example, the symbol of a Seattle Seahawks “12^th man” flag. Before the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl win, one would argue that the Seattle Seahawks were not a popular team. However, one could argue the counterpoint, by stating the number of households in a particular town that proudly displays the “12” flag on game day, or any other Seattle Seahawks support memorabilia

                More often than not, the arguments that surround signs are tied to advertising, but there are some that are not tied to advertising. Our textbook gives the examples of the rising premise that athletes have long hair, the notion that one who collects unemployment is lazy, or that tattoos are a form of rebelliousness. All of these are examples of symbols that are not being used specifically for advertising, although they very well may be used for advertising.