Aristotle's Rhetoric: Art of Persuasion or Manipulation?
What was supposed to be an art of persuasion is being manipulated to a disastrous extent.
Aristotle's Rhetoric: Art of Persuasion or Manipulation?
By Shah Muhammad, Ghotki
In 4th century BC, ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote three books on Rhetoric which mainly educate us how to be more persuasive during communication. Aristotle's techniques have been used over the course of history, and are still being used today, by leaders, media, organisations and even states.
In his second book on Rhetoric, Aristotle presented three means of persuasion: Ethos (credibility), Pathos (emotions) and Logos (logic). Ethos corresponds to a general reputation, character, credibility or personality of the speaker/writer-- greater the credibility, greater the power of persuasion. Pathos refers to the use of such words/phrases or tone that appeal to the emotions of the audience, by inciting anger or fear or by evoking happiness, etc. Logos refers to logic, reasoning, facts and figures, or statistics which are employed by a speaker/writer to prove his point.
This persuasive framework of ethos, pathos, and logos can also be used for an audience to judge and assess the validity and efficacy of a speaker's arguments; and the nature of his intentions. A man of reason and intellect (logos) among audience can judge the speaker's use of ethos, logos and pathos to see whether the speaker is being honest or manipulative.
As has been happening in the world history, when good things fall in the hands of evil and sinister people, they are misused and twisted to achieve the objectives that are harmful to humanity at large. When science fell in sinister hands, it gave nuclear bombs; when religion fell in sinister hands, it gave extremism; and when politics fell in sinister hands, it gave injustice, poverty and ignorance. Along the same lines, Aristotle's Rhetoric has been and is still being misused by unscrupulous leaders, profit-hungry corporations and irresponsible media to exploit and manipulate humanity.
Leaders, corporations and media use Aristotle's Rhetoric for manipulative purposes. First of all people or audience's intellect and critical thinking (logos) are weakened by emphasizing upon pathos and ethos during mass communication. This is because an ignorant and intellectually drained nation is easily influenced by and is more responsive towards emotions (pathos) and personality cults (ethos). It might seem a little difficult to grasp at first but let us discuss a few examples to understand easily. It is evident that a reputable and credible UN Secretary-General (ethos) is to be appointed every time. Once elected, he makes a passionate announcement to the world that it is his solemn purpose to eradicate poverty and achieve international peace and security (pathos). Even some distorted facts and figures (logos) are quoted to give an idea that the world is moving on a right course.
Majority falls in his trap but the men of strong reason and intellect (logos), who are very few, can see through the veils of deception and deceit. They argue critically that real power lies with he UN Security Council, mainly USA, and it is impossible for the UN Chief to do anything good while Security Council's dictatorship is in place with its vested interests. Similarly, after American system's credibility was weakened during the Bush administration, American system brought an African-American President, Barack Obama, from a humble background (ethos) to restore the system's credibility in the eyes of the American public. Obama touched emotions of public by calling for an end to wars and racism, and saving taxpayers' money (pathos).
Majority of American public got manipulated easily and pinned their hopes on Obama, but a few men of reason and intellect (logos) did not get swayed by emotional speeches and personality cult; rather they retorted that it is the Pentagon and capitalists who call the shots in the American system; Obama, alone, can not do anything good and can never rise above the anti-human system. Only faces of presidents change but the soul of the system remains the same, the men of intellect realised. Hence, everyone saw that Obama waged deadly wars and served at the pleasure of private corporations. To quote an example from Pakistan, the incumbent Prime Minister was presented as a saviour before the last elections. His personality cult was created as he had been a philanthropist and a world-known celebrity (ethos). All his speeches were emotional and teary-eyed (pathos), with pro-poor and anti-elite stance.
Here too, the majority of the public got manipulated and fell into the emotional trap. However, the critical and inquisitive minds (logos) argued that his party was not organized, rather it was "old wine in a new bottle." The system, they stated, was controlled by feudal-capitalist nexus and military-bureaucratic elite with deep vested interests. Thus, one man, no matter how honest or charismatic, can not bring any change in the current system, they said. Time proved them right as the incumbent Prime Minister has turned out to be another disappointment, and has surrendered to the system. If the nation's educational and intellectual prowess (logos) had not been destroyed in the course of over 70 years, it would have been hard to manipulate them.
Furthermore, the very same manipulative use of Aristotle's Rhetoric is employed in advertisements by the corporate sector. A famous personality or celebrity (ethos) is hired as a brand ambassador; attractive and emotional visuals (pathos) are projected to psychologically lure the viewers. Sometimes the brands even bring a doctor, expert or scientist with distorted statistics (logos) who endorses their product. In this manner, the companies advance their objective of consumerism among masses and make huge profits. Nevertheless, few people whose intellect and rationale (logos) are still intact are able to call their bluff.
Lastly, the corona crisis is yet another glaring evidence of this ominous technique. WHO was presented as a saviour with a contrived credibility (ethos). Media outlets played the emotional card by spreading fear and hysteria (pathos). Thus, a false sense of emergency was created across the world in order to impose senseless lockdown and destroy economies. Majority, whose logos is weak, became the victim of this propaganda and blindly followed the media and official narrative. Few enlightened minds, with their inquisitive and critical approach (logos), quoted statistics and gave logical reasoning to assert that the entire corona crisis is overblown and exaggerated, with some ulterior agenda at play.
Harmful use of Aristotle's Rhetoric in evil hands has turned it into an art of manipulation, rather than an art of persuasion. All these evidences are testament to the echoing fact that critical consciousness, intellect and strong logical reasoning (logos) can save you from the manipulative use of Aristotle's Rhetoric which is so common today. It is your own logos that can take you out of Plato's Cave.