This past week I had the unfortunate opportunity to overhear
something that one cannot just un-hear. On Wednesday as I was walking to class
the two guys in front of me were talking about Easter and being Catholic I was intrigued
be as though I am excited for this holiday. Until I heard him say something
along the lines of “I am going to celebrate Easter by watching a bunch of porn
that shows girls wearing bunny costumes.” Now I hear a lot of crap from guys at
this school that is disgusting and I just brush it off as guys being guys; it
never really makes a difference in my day. But this made me frustrated angry
and embarrassed (I attend a school where idiots like that share a classroom
with me?)
This got me thinking about the way people use different
rhetoric in different situation. I pray that he would never say something like
that in an interview or during class but with his friends things like this is
perfectly fine. This also shows how your rhetoric can make other people feel
about you. After I heard that I automatically assumed that he was an immature
idiot but in front of his mother or teacher he could easily change his word
choice and appear as a mature intelligent young man and this is what we do every
day. We assess the situation that we are in and change our rhetoric based on
our audience. We have those that we do not mind looking stupid or mean in front
of and those that we know we need to impress. I truly hope that everyone does
not take it as far as this guy did, but we all change how we act and what we
say the same way that he did.
Oh, man--that comment definitely would have irked me! The horrifics of the porn industry aside, though, it troubles me how people can use rhetoric to hide their true selves. I suppose it's possible that the boy you overheard doesn't watch porn and highly respects women, but wants to seem macho and rebellious for his friends. (I doubt it, but it's possible.) This boy could be speaking and acting differently for every audience: parents, friends, teachers, girlfriends...He could be using rhetoric to deceive everyone around him. Even more frightening, though, are the politicians who (might) do the same. It's easy to wear the right clothes and say the right things; it takes a lot more strength to be an upright citizen.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I don't think that the comment was immature. If the comment was directed towards a fervent Catholic, then yes, the comment would be very superfluous and immature. You really do have to keep in mind the audience he was addressing. The two friends were almost entirely likely to be joking and not intending for the comment to be recieved negatively. You can't assess other peoples' comments based on how you would receieve them. Im definitely not saying that the comment wasn't extreme though!
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