Random thoughts

A friend of my from MN recently got back in touch. We've been emailing back and forth. In the process, I've had to explain my dissertation topic. Whew. If I didn't already know what a farce this degree was, I'd have been in for a real shocker.

We, yes I'm using the infamous 'we', all want to believe that what we do matters and that we'll make an impact on the world. The reality is that we sit around and talk about what is best for others...whether or not we know who they are. It's going to piss off some of the lit people I know out there, but I do think that we come the closest to really achieving anything in R/C. However, I still don't think we get anything done. No one outside our profession reads about what we do. We're philosophers without the degree. If we, both Lit and R/C people, are lucky we help students to write and think. It's all we can do. It's all we can hope.

It's why that guy from California is wrong. When we teach writing we teach the ability to use a tool. To properly use that tool, we have to understand it's components. Rhetoric, when used in the classroom, helps us to use the tool that is writing. The ability to identify to whom we are speaking/writing, what will appeal to them, and to craft our message accordingly is an important skill. It will not automatically make you a brilliant Victorianist, but it will get you through the class about the Victorian that you need to graduate.

While it doesn't do us any good to think that our work is going to change the world, we should at least keep trying. As we teach students to write, and therefore to think, we need to remember that the skill is enough. Everything else we attempt to package with it is just fluff.