The Role of Self in Rhetoric & Civic Life

Opinions, stories, personal interests:  These are three things that every person has, but at the same time are perhaps the most difficult to express in today's society.  In these first few weeks of class, the concepts that have most impacted me and led me to question my values are those concerning the role of self in civics and rhetoric.

First and foremost I have begun to wonder: when did society stop seeing a person as a wealth of information, and start seeing him/her only as a vehicle to further a particular argument?  In other words, when did facts become more important than opinions? It has become commonplace to assert that opinions are subjective while facts are objective and therefore free from bias.  Thus, the general consensus is typically that facts are ultimately the more credible source of knowledge.

A few months ago I too subscribed to this belief; however, I've since come to agree with the RCL authors' stance that opinions and the "rhetorical reasoning" they incite are just as valid as a means of thoughtful communication as are facts.  People relish in the opportunity to gloat that their argument is based solely on the "cold, hard facts", as if crafting their claims to be as removed from human emotions and characteristics as possible is some sort of Herculean feat.

Similarly, people often feel unqualified to share their personal convictions or stories unless they feel they are representative of a larger community. You don't need to represent an entire community to have a voice, and we need only to look to literature, film, and music, in order to experience the power of personal stories firsthand.

Black Lives Matter campaign protest

In terms of civic life, I have been most impacted by the account of how we are moving towards a more "collective" based society.  Indeed, we are always encouraged to think about others before ourselves, to always be thinking about what we can be doing to help others, rather than further our own interests.  However, as seen through the personal-interest driven history of civil rights, these two things don't have to be mutually exclusive.  The value of 'thinking of others first' had become so ingrained into my conscience that it was actually staggering to think that "democracy has been enlarged in our lifetime when individuals have been driven not by a desire to serve but by an effort to overcome indignities they themselves have suffered" (Rhetoric and Civic Life).  Today, the "Black Lives Matter" campaign and new wave feminist movements are current examples of how fighting for your own rights results in gains for millions of people.

While the rise of social media and the concept of individuality has resulted in no shortage of shared opinions or campaigns based on personal interests, society as a whole has come to discredit and undervalue these facets of human consciousness as valid means of argument or action.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution: all we have to do is listen.