Week 2 Blog

Rhetorical situations and genre are connected through their ability to allow people to better identify and respond to circumstance. The rhetorical situation is the first part of the identification process a person goes through when reading any piece of rhetoric. The rhetorical situation allows the individual in question to ascertain what caused the situation to occur and/or the impact it will have on future events. The genre aspect can be focused more on identifying the present value of the information. Once relevant past events have been considered the rhetoric can be categorized more effectively into something to help the reader better understand it. For example the rhetoric might be comical or serious. The individual can then respond in an appropriate manner.

Our understanding of rhetorical situation and genre primarily helps us understand everyday writing by letting us comprehend the writer’s point of view and what they were intending to do with their rhetoric. For the reaction intended by the writer to take place people need to understand the message behind the rhetoric. A good example of everyday writing that pertains to this train of thought would be advertisements. An advertisement with an unclear message could be misinterpreted by individuals and lead to a negative impact towards what they are advertising simply due to miscommunication. A funny advertisement can be deemed offensive if the person fails to see the humor in it. The Onion, while not necessarily everyday writing, is a prime example of potentially offensive rhetoric that is intended to be humorous. Formal and Informal are two of the biggest genres that reveal pieces pf everyday writings true purpose. Informal Twitter and Facebook Posts generally contrast with advertisements and informational bits of everyday writing in the formality of their tone.