"Reason should frame a good politician’s goal to persuade"
July 9, 2020 (Photo credit- shutterstock.com) On a recent online course, I was made to read one of the most POWERFUL essays (by Amy Gutmann) “The Lure & Dangers of Extremist Rhetoric”, a topic so so prevalent worldwide. The speech is so profound that it actually made me sit up and take notice of my very own actions and reactions in arguements; and while these principals apply in politics, they are prevalent in family, work and society in general! Excerpts - “ Going as far back as Aristotle, he maintained that – The proper task of rhetoric is to drive home the logic, the truth and the evidence of an argument. Reason should frame a good politician’s goal to persuade. The opposite of a sound democratic argument is demagogy: manipulation and deception in order to divide, demean, deceive and conquer [citizens]. Extremist rhetoric blatantly disregards and devalues truth-seeking understandings upon which citizens [ … ] may ...