2021-2022 MAVS NEWS: 4th in West | WCF loss [ARCHIVED]

[mavsluvr]

Despite fifteenth's statement that he is not normal, his argumentation often constitutes a classic representation of the "Everyman" rhetorical device. Leading one to think that Every Man is saying what he is saying.

Wow, that's interesting. I had no idea that I do that! I guess I'll have to read up on this rhetorical device and decide whether or not I should drop it, wield it more sparingly, or something else that I haven't thought of. 

I actually really like the idea of the scholarly dialogue genre that you wrote about once upon a time, but doubt that I live up to that.

Well, this seems to have produced a little merriment. 

There are whole books on the subject, but to make a long story short, one might think of Everyman as a human character. He does not present himself as an expert or power figure. He comes across as an ordinary, humble inquirer in search of truth. He has an appealing personality that listeners find easy to identify with. He presents his conclusions as the suggested fruits of his truth-seeking inquiry, and listeners may be influenced to be receptive to his points of view by his non-threatening approach, his general likeability, and his "learner" persona. Ideally, the listeners don't even realize they have been persuaded, but come to believe that the conclusions were their own ideas. 

I am not presenting this as a bad thing. Rhetorical devices, as you know, are just means of persuasion, and are neutral in a vacuum. 

As far as the scholarly dialogue, it's not all that hoity-toity. It is distinguished from advocacy in the sense that, rather than having a discussion for the purpose of winning an argument, it is conducted for the purpose of collecting various points of view and sources of information in hopes of bringing all participants closer to the truth. As such, it fits in well with the Everyman device. Lawyers looking for an accurate state of affairs or learning an opponent's case tend to be into it, along with academics. A lot of sports fans aren't, somewhat to my surprise. 

Well, I'm sure you already knew all this, but in hopes of demonstrating the "ordinariness" of these down-to-earth concepts, I have further explicated. If you still want to poke fun, I'm actually okay with that, lol.