In Eli's post about "Odysseus' diss", he mentions that a nearly fail-safe way to get someone to act like you wish is to give their ego a black eye. Put them in their place. Tell them the honest truth without concern for feelings. I wholeheartedly agree. BUT, without kairos, or the proper moment to share that hard truth, the results can and are catastrophic.
For example, in Nestor's speech to the soldiers he basically sends the message to everyone "Shut up and fight with me!" He said:"Shame on you to stay talking here like children, when you should fight like men." If he had said this before King Agamemnon had given his strategic downer speech, the words of the King would have overpowered his message. Instead, Nestor strategically chose to say "shut up and fight with me" at the perfect moment when the his audience was ready.
So just like Walk the Moon came out with their hit song at the right time, this story could have gone a very different way had Nestor and others not had the kairos figured out perfectly. And lastly, everybody thought Walk the Moon was super original in their song, they're actually just rehashing the opening lines of Nestor's war speech. But hey, I still like the song.
I thought it was clever how you tied it in with pop culture. It is true that in order for any type of media to have any real impact they either really need to understand those fundamentals of rhetoric such as kairos, addressing the audience and so forth. I agree with you fully that nestor really got this idea as well.
ReplyDeleteThe Iliad has karios and so does this blog post tying in something that is very relevant to our lives to day, music. The Iliad not only had kairos in its arguments within the writing but also to the audience for whom it was being recited. With its action packed plot it would have been like a modern movie.
ReplyDeleteExcellent comparison! Correct timing is imperative in war. Thankfully with the speaking abilities of Odysseus and Nestor at the right time, the army never ended up leaving.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how when we say something can have as much impact as what we say or how we say it. Comedians do this all the time. Timing for them is a huge part of their jokes. Sometimes they are the joke.
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