reporters and propagandists must "invent"
viewpoints and material that will
keep the public interested and aligned
with a station's, newspaper's, or pressure
group's position. "Rhetorical invention"
represents a problem of major proportions,
especially for the party man:
How can he avoid mere repetitiousness
and yet keep his judgments before the
public?
This essay examines the efforts of
party men to invent material for public
consumption during an extended controversy.
The British Regency Crisis of
1788-89—produced by the presumed insanity
of George III and covering almost
five months of debate—generated some
1200 speeches in Parliament, unto tailed
inches of newspaper commentary, and
some eighty-to-ninety pamphlets for circulation
among the public. The Regency
Crisis, in that it polarized the country
and tested the propaganda machines
of both Government and Opposition,
affords us an excellent opportunity to
view the political inventional process at
work; enough pamphlets have survived
to show us ways in which a partisan press
invents substantive materials during a
protracted dispute of considerable rhetorical-
political moment. I shall begin
by examining the concept of "rhetorical invention"
By "rhetorical invention" I mean the
search for descriptive, cognitive, valuative,
or quasi-poetic stances capable of
effecting desired responses.
419
Handout -
Gronbeck’s focus is on the means of invention during public
debate. During national debates, reporters (who take on the role of rhetor)
must keep the public interested and invested, and Gronbeck is interested in the
patterns that arise from the how—how do rhetors use their relationship with
their audience in the exchange of information?
“The rhetor […] ‘invents’ discourse by assuming a stance in
relationship to his audience and by accumulating material consistent with that
posture” (419).
This “stance” is what Gronbeck refers to as means of “rhetorical
invention.”
He categorizes four different types of “stances” (419):
1.
Reportorial - represent as are
2.
Argumentative - intent to argue explicit
3.
Judgmental (valuative)- rhetor infers people's behaviors (allow audience to create a judgement
4.
Quasi-Poetic - use fiction to make a point
Each type of stance affects the audience in a certain way,
by playing off of different “psychological processes) differentiation, human
hope for external consistency, internal consistency, and analogy… in each case,
these desires affect how an individual or group of individuals relates to
information they take in.
“The constitutional exigency demanded public information and
legal argument; the political exigency required evaluation of the personalities
asking to guide the country…” (421).
Gronbeck uses the regency crisis of 1788-89 as his study and
divides the crisis into four stages and follows the progression of the four
types of stances throughout the stages:
1.
Pre-Parlimentary debate/ before Dec 1788)—Reports
(reportorial)
2.
Dec 1788 (actual issues to debate)—Issues need
debating (argumentative)
3.
Jan 1789 (Pitts winning)—character
attacks/build-up (judgmental/valuative)
4.
Feb-March (Pitts win)—character attacks, and
more creative means of doing so (judgmental and quasi-poetic)
The patterns that Gronbeck notices are a movement from
potential to actual conditions, a movement from previous to present conditions,
and playful to intense writing. Finally, the progression through categories
makes sense for national debate as first the public must be made aware of what
must be debated (reportorial). Then the information must be debated
(argumentative). Then, as the issues begin to elicit a winning/losing side,
another way to attack one’s opponent (or reinforce one’s self) outside of
debate is to attack/construct character (judgmental). Finally, as the debates
come to a close, the issues no longer take precedence, and therefore, the
judgments being made by each side can take on more creative forms
(quasi-poetic).
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