Circulation, Exhaustion, and Amplification: Discussion of Bradshaw, “Rhetorical Exhaustion and the Ethics of Amplification”
Your presentations for the semester-long Online Presence Project.
Assigned readings can always be found on Blackboard. Addional resources should be there, and if not are accessible through our Library)
For those of us who like to keep copies of things, here’s a pdf of your jamboard Venn diagrams from last week. Dr. Fitzsimmons-Doolan and I appreciate all your work in preparing for and participating in that shared experience!
Notes and Questions readings this week:
Retweets ≠ Emdorsement. In what sense is amplification inherently ethical, as Bradshaw argues?
How is sharing a writing and citizenship practice? Why might this be a significant claim?
What are examples of Phillips’ “oxygen-to-fire” metaphor for amplification that you can think of in your own digital spaces?
“Amplification can have a stultifying effect; just as easily as they can inflame, digital amplifications can inundate and extinguish flames that are necessary to the operations of a democratic republic. The energies expended in circulation can quickly exhaust rhetors as well as exhaust the energies of rhetorical opposition” (p. 2)
in what sense is rhetorical exhaustion an effect? in what sense is it a strategy? (what is the difference between these two things?)
“In short, rhetorical labor can produce exhaustion and exhaustion can also be productive of other responses” (p. 3)
how is exhaustion “kairotic[ally] mobilized”?
“accumulation may be the key rhetorical concern in these digital amplification practices, not virality or speed” (p. 5)
the sublime and an affective theory of rhetoric (vs persuasive rhetoric)
“Sublimity, on the other hand, produced at the right moment, tears everything up like a whirlwind , and exhibits the orator’s whole power at a single blow” (Rhetorica Ad Herennium)
paradigms/models focused on speed or viral circulation vs exhaustion-centered models?
what does Bradshaw’s analysis show about “fake news” models for thinkingn about digital strategies/pedagogy?
Our digital amplifications play a role in persistently wearing down and exhausting ourelves nad others. Knowing this, how can rhetorical exhaustion usefully inform rhetorical decision-making about slow circulation, rhetorical persistence, and digital amplification?
role of platform responsiblity here?
Questions/concepts Bradshaw wants us to consider as digital rhetors
energy does sharing this content afford any undue civic energy to its originators?
accumulation dare there ways to call attention to specific toxic actors without helping them accumulate digital ethos and audience? are there rhetorical interventions that can counter a toxic civic affect through persistent, slow circulation?
exhaustion how much digital and affective labor is required to share this content? how much digital and affective labor will it require of (or accomplish for) a rhetorical opponent? are there ways to engage toxic perspetives that exhaust (rather than energize) their circulation?
some key terms/concepts:
rhetorical exhaustion: the strategic use of communication to wear down audiences so that they disengage, defer, or drop participation (thus, deliberation) all together.” (p. 3)
amplification: what rhetors choose to share, and what rhetoris index or encourage when they do share” (p. 4)
accumulation: Rom. strategy of persuasive amplification; the buildup of rhetorical elements in parts of a discourse in order to heighten the effect. You damned, dirty, stinking, rotten, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ape.
Madeline Kahn, “I’m Tired,” Blazing Saddles
Online Presence Presentations
In this project, you were asked to “Produce, distribute, circulate, and manage an ongoing online writing presence throughout the course of the semester; progress should be made each week. This assignment is designed for you to write on a consistent basis beyond the confines of the classroom and encourage you to enact or engage with the theories and concepts we’re studying in the course. You will present the results of your learning at the end of the semester to the class.”
Presentations should be roughly 5 minutes with time for Q&A/Discussion