On Rhetoric -- A Personal Observation

The art of Rhetoric as it is practiced by today's political and media elite, is a pale imitation of what the art was once purported to be; and a false god if ever there was one. Today very few practitioners whose careers depend on the effective use of rhetoric, actually employ it. It is called rhetoric, but it is not the product of any one speaker's original thought, it is groupspeak-- parrots parroting platitudes and prophesies. And like parrots, sometimes it's necessary to throw a towel over the cage.

There are a few obvious exceptions -- exceptions no one can honestly deny... Victor Davis Hanson. William F. Buckley. Christopher Hitchens. Ann Coulter. That last one, I know, will cause a few eyebrows to rise up in protest. But seriously, Miss Coulter's use of language and wit, is matched by only a very select few. Charles Spurgeon was one such Master of Rhetoric. Ben Stein, though somewhat droll in his delivery is another name worthy of entrance to that august body of orators. Don't see your favorite here? I'm willing to entertain nominations to this short list of "Masters of the art of Rhetoric."

98% of ALL politicians fail miserably the original thought test. It often seems that both Democrats and Republicans get together in separate undisclosed locations, and with the use of focus groups and a little game I like to call "Barnstorming for Banalities," they each come up with idiot-proof phraseologies that will win them public support for whatever crisis du jour they each succeed in adding to the political menu. The worst part is, the Media buys into it, parroting the parrots, and creating in the minds of sheep a picture that is not only untrue, but deceitfully so.

Yeah, I guess you could say I'm soured on Media and politics-- it's become so overwhelming. And though I still like who I like, I'm so very tired of the whole News-Cycle Merry-go-Round.

Blogging is not easy. Especially when you put too much of yourself into it.