Sept 2: Kairos and Rhetorical Activities

Activity 1)
The issue I chose to examine for Activity 1 is the selection and consequent fallout of Governor Palin as John McCain's running mate in our presidential election.

Having surveyed and selected articles concerning Mrs. Palin in many different forms of media, it is readily apparent that the writers of such are relying up kairos entirely as their primary form of attention seizing technique. By and large, smaller, more local publication rely upon kairos in the sense that the news is (or was) breaking and immediately pertinent in its effect upon the voting population. Larger, national publications, however, seem to rely much more heavily on journalistic opportunism; Palin's actual selection is quickly buried beneath efforts to snipe the selection through articles that highlight Palin or the implication of her as Vice President in a negative light, creating an urgency by implying that to elect her presidential ticket may well put the country in peril.

Given that November looms just over the horizon, there is little need to establish relevance in writing about Palin-- the subject is immediately pertinent. However, many writers do indeed use the opportunity to change the subject from Palin's selection to stories concerning Palin's past or supposed past, exemplified by the many articles concerning the embarrassingly named "Troopergate" and "Babygate" scandals. By arguing these issues, writers and publications generate additional interest in that the original, more "vanilla" topic is lost in a sea of innuendo concerning the governors supposedly sordid past.

Activity 4)
Issue: The drastic need for a viable third party in an American electoral system that has been hijacked by a constrained, corrupt, restrictive two party political system.

Contrary to popular belief, there live in this country men and women who are members of BOTH the NRA and the ACLU; men and women who are atheists or agnostics, yet believe in the freedom of worship; men and women who believe in small government, yet support the war in Iraq. These men and women, however numerous, look ahead to November with the overwhelming feeling that these beliefs are too conflicting to leave them with a logical choice as to the man they want to see taking up residence in the White House. These voters-- call them Libertarians, moderates, independents, or what have you-- find themselves constrained by the very system of democracy that is meant to amplify their voice as American citizens; they find themselves having to choose one smaller subset of their beliefs on which to base their votes, as opposed to being offered a viable candidate that embodies most, if not all, of the beliefs they hold to be in the best interest of the country. Despite this sorry state of affairs, our nation remains married and beholden to a two party system of government, even as our nation and the world at large begin to descend into chaos before our eyes. If ever there were a need for Americans to reject the system entirely, to cast their votes for a third party that embodied the best of both conservatism and liberalism, it is now... as, if events the world over continue to worsen, they may well never get another chance.