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Rhetoric for Radicals Ch. 1

What does he cover?
  • History of rhetoric/tension with philosophical truth
  • Importance of personal figures in activism
    • This may be a different model than we function under now 
  • Decentralized activism is characteristic of 21st century activism
  • Leaderless organization
    • No face, no central figure
    • Different notions of what to do
    • Conflicting perspectives can seem disorganized and unprofessional
    • What do we do with antithetical perspectives?
  • Activist myths
    • Notions of staying true to beliefs vs. working with others
  • The power of paradigmatic belief
    • Sometimes activism points out something that is so habitual we don’t recognize it as a thing

What doesn’t he say?
  • How do you counter ideologies?
  • He doesn’t necessarily extend full rights to his own opponents (and this is a work about the importance of communication)
  • He doesn’t really point out counter arguments (the existence of legitimate contrary perspectives)
  • He provides suggestions but not necessarily examples of how these work in practices