Aren't They Awesome?

My dad, who is a coach for the BYU rugby team and had to travel with them to Boise this past weekend, told me that the players were more anxious to hear who the new apostles were going to be than they were to play! Even though the BYU rugby team was only a tiny portion of the huge and very excited audience anxiously awaiting the announcement of who would be called as the new apostles for the church, this event turned out to be a major commonplace for everyone watching general conference.

 Elder Rasband started his talk by softly relaying the first couple sentences of the well known hymn: I stand all amazed. This tactic was the perfect conduit into his very humble testimony of the savior and undeviating faith. The entire arrangement of his talk had a very pathos like appeal as he thanked those special ones in his life as well as the Lord for trusting him with his new calling. His humble delivery helped us feel that he as a new general authority would have a lot to learn, but can still be trusted. From the way he and the other new apostles delivered their talks, I am very excited to hear what they will have to say in the future!

 I can't imagine what it must've been like for these new apostles to try and sum up all that they needed/wanted to say in the matter of a few minutes. I was very interested to see how they were going to show this world wide audience that they were ready for their new responsibilities. I had decided to analyze Elder Rasband's talk for that very reason. I was immediately captivated with the direction Elder Rasband took with his talk as it was a perfect way to establish his ethos and great gratitude for his new calling.

Can't Help but Love Them!

Cut the Chauvinism

I'm all for patriotism, but when it turns into chauvinism I believe we need to cut it out.  Our excessive pride in country needs to be tempered so that we can accept the new people and their ideas.

The elephant and the fly

As I march deliberately, dedicatedly, and sometimes directionlessly through my college education, I find myself relating to the rhetorical strategies of Erasmus, in his contribution to the Discourse on Free Will. As he states (satirically?) and Luther confirms (also satirically?) that disputing the opinion of Luther is akin to the fly opposing the elephant, my mind turned to my own educational and professional pursuits (what is the resume, if not an exercise in self-aggrandizement in the face of the vast professional world). But beyond my own experience, I thought this comparison was fitting when evaluating their rhetorical strategies.

Erasmus: Can't take scripture literally, then takes scripture literally. Paints everyone as exaggerators, but then condemns the exaggerator.

In reading the arguments of Erasmus, I was struck by how generally he stated his terms. Rather than provide all of the many scriptural examples he alluded to, he simply proclaimed that there were enough to derail the thought train of Martin Luther. He also plays up his relative obscurity as humility in comparison to the fame of Luther:

"Thus I am here not as a judge, as I said at the outset, but as a disputer."

Luther: Will trample Erasmus underfoot, masquerading as a humble giant.

"Therefore I shall be even more grateful if you gain greater certainty through me, just as I have gained in assurance through you."

Luther's response to Erasmus is almost comical. He uses humility as a tool as well, but does so in a very clever way. He speaks as if he is coming from a higher place, and that he can easily argue away what Erasmus has presented. 

"My friend Erasmus, may I ask you to suffer my lack of eloquence, as I in return will bear with your ignorance in these matters. God does not give everything to each and we cannot all do everything. As Paul says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12,4).

Satirical deference seems to be Luther's game.

Both writers appear to do what they can to evoke notions of humility, though Luther impressively does it in tandem with asserting his own self-assurance.

Of Humility

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”

― Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays

There have been many great leaders and rulers in the history of the World. There have also been many poor ones as well. Many times, the division of what makes a good or bad leader can come down to how humble they are. In ancient scriptures, the prideful were always eventually destroyed. When finding oneself in a leadership role with some power at hand, it is important to ask, how will I use this power? There are pretty much just two options: with or without humility.

Back in high school, I participated on a flag football team. I had never played football before on any sort of team, but I had great speed at the time and was one of the more athletic players since I grew up playing sports my whole life. My team ended up appointing me as the team captain. I did not see that coming at all, and I didn't know how to really go about it at first. As we went along, I felt both extremes of humility and pride. There would be times were I felt our team needed to be pushed, so I would use anger and frustration as driving forces to push our players when they didn't do their part. Other times, I felt encouragement and friendship were more important to building chemistry.

Montaigne's approach in Renaissance-style essays would always look at multiple sides of an issue. In this example, I felt both ways contributed to success and failure. Some players need to be yelled at and pushed to limits, while others need words of encouragement. We were able to get to the Championship game, but unfortunately lost. I reflected on this experience a lot, and after finding this quote by Montaigne, it really solidified the ideas of power and humility in my mind. It’s ok to realize you have power, and that you are able to use that power, but we always have to remember to bring ourselves back down to Earth and know we are just as human as anyone else.

Ridicule or Modesty: Modes of argumentation

I found, as Macey R did, that there were many similarities between Aristotle’s Gorgias and Cicero’s De Oratore. The Kairos of the speeches were very similar in their casual, friendly conversation. I found the styles to be similar, as well as their arrangements and persuasive techniques, although I found Cicero’s dialogue to be more civil and humble. I’ll start with an explanation of the similarities.

I just felt like this guy reminded
me of Antonius; "Your turn, Crassus!
You've got this!"

In both works, an intro is compiled, and then a reflective dialogue is given. Both of the main speakers are writing as they think back to how the situation was at the time. Each of these works uses definition, questions to form their ideas and insight comprehension in their audience. The authors of both make a striking appeal for their side, by arguing that their art is the greatest of all the arts. In this, they both make passionate arguments backed up by reason and examples. They pose similar questions, including thoughts such as ‘can this art be taught?’ and ‘how does one gain this skill?’ It seems as if the arguments and questions, as well as how the arguments are brought up and discussed is very similarly categorized.

The reason that I view De Oratore to be more civil and humble is because of the actions and words of Cicero. While in Aristotle’s Gorgias the questions posed are used to belittle and contradict and make the audience (or others arguing) fumble in their argument, Antonius uses the intellect of others, and relies on multiple witnesses to argue his point. At one point, he even says (after a compliment) “I am describing my own meager achievements.” This is the tone that he holds the entire work. Later, he passes the argument to one who he views to be more eloquent and knowledgeable on the topics discussed. While Gorgias argues with multiple people and uses his intellect and pompous nature to bring shame and ridicule to his competitors, Antonius stays calm and builds his argument on knowledge and ethos, as he discusses is important to oratory.