Holiday schedule for Rhetorica...

In the spirit of spending more time with my family and less time with my computer this holiday season, here's a (slightly edited) repeat of some information from last week:

1) Posting will be lighter than usual for the next two weeks. I will take a short break between New Years and 6 January.

2) I'm very busy with two new class preparations: Liberal Studies 301 Contemporary Issues and Humanities 211 Introduction to the Humanities (online). You can check out the details on my faculty site. I'd be happy to hear any suggestions you may have, especially for the book list for LS301.

Check back on Monday!

Happy Holidays!...

What I want for Christmas...

Dear Santa:

I've been a good boy this year. I have tried very hard to do all of my chores the best that I can. I try to work and play well with others. I know I've made a few mistakes this year. And there were times when I forgot the Golden Rule. But I think you can see that I've tried to be very good and work very hard.

Here's a list of what I want for Christmas this year:

1) I'd like journalists to start asking the presidential candidates questions that spring from the concerns of real voters and not just what the reporters and campaign professionals think is important. In addition, I'd like them to ask tough follow-up questions when the candidates attempt to dodge.

2) I'd like the talking-head TV pundits to shut up. America can't hear itself think.

3) I'd like at least 5 Democrats to pull out of the race after the New Hampshire primary.

4) I'd like at least one journalist to take seriously my contentions about the press-politics of primary campaigns based on the Mayer predictive model.

5) I'd like the chattering classes to realize that, unlike most pundits, average Americans do not routinely polarize and demonize their friends and neighbors of opposite political opinion.

6) I'd like American higher education to stop exploiting academic labor.

7) I'd like world peace and international brotherhood, or the closest approximation of same that is humanly possible given our seemingly insurmountable cultural differences and our miserable ability to recognize our common humanity.

Thanks, Santa. I know you can do it. I believe in you!

This Bud's for you...

David Shaw rounds up 10 low points in journalism for 2003. It is an instructive list and worth your time to read. But...

We could also construct a list of positives. And perhaps we should because each day the average American journalist does far more good for the American republic than bad.

The bad stuff of journalism, like all bad stuff, simply gets more press (there's irony for you). But the good job so many individual reporters do--usually working with too little time and too few resources and too little recognition--gets lost in the coverage of high-profile shenanigans.

I am a former journalist. I am now an academic and a media critic. And while I take many shots at my former profession on this weblog, let me say this: I have enormous respect for reporters and the institution of journalism in America. It is a terribly complex profession practiced for the most part by men and women who go to work every day with the best intentions for their communities.

: Don't hurt me!...

One definition of effective campaign rhetoric surely includes this: Whatever works as long as you can get away with it. The getting-away-with-it part is tricky because today's successful comment can become tomorrow's albatross (re: "read my lips, no new taxes"). Political rhetoric is always open to reinterpretation.

Was it a mistake for Wesley Clark to say he'd "beat the shit" out of anyone who questions his patriotism?

It seems to me that this off-hand comment is a sound bite for what he told an audience in New Hampshire recently:

"You know, the American flag doesn't belong to the Republican Party...That's our flag. We saluted that flag. We served under it. We fought for it. We watched brave men and women buried under it. And no Tom DeLay or John Ashcroft or George W. Bush is going to take this flag away from us."

It also seems to me that Clark and Dean need to get over this little VP snit. (via Political Wire)

Rhetorica update...

Here's what's happening at Rhetorica over the holidays:

1) Posting will be light for the next two weeks. And I may take a short break between New Years and 6 January. More on this later.

2) I'm very busy with two new class preparations: Liberal Studies 301 Contemporary Issues and Humanities 211 Introduction to the Humanities (online). You can check out the details on my faculty site. I'd be happy to hear any suggestions you may have, especially for the book list for LS301.

3) It appears I won't be teaching EN105 next semester, and that means no Pirate Blog. Past students still have access to the site and can post entries. So I will leave the link active. We'll see what happens. While I'm disappointed in this development, the break will give me some time to do necessary refinements.

4) I may not do Radio Rhetorica next semester (although I do not intend to let it die). I'm trying to free up some time because I'm just finishing one book project and starting another. And I have a couple of essays I need to circulate. I'm still toying with this idea. If you have thoughts on this, let me know. I'd also like to know how many of you were listening to the show (not that "ratings" matter).

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?