During the first few weeks of ENG 1301, we’ve learned the significance of learning rhetorical skills while writing; specifically, the rhetorical triangle - also known as ethos, pathos, and logos appeals. Whether you need to beg your parents for more gas money, or you want to receive a raise from that revolting fast food chain you’re forced to work at to pay college tuition, these appeals are the foundation of persuasion and can move an audience in any which way the author pleases to do so. In order to be accepted into a community, one must deeply understand the overall purpose and interests of the group. Once this happens, you’ll be able to intuitively understand the discourse community’s way of communicating and interacting with one another. In this paper, I will convince you that I successfully joined the discourse community of NFL Fantasy Football by showing that I required the specific knowledge needed, had the ability to emotionally influence other members in my community through my experience with the community, and established my credibility in the group. In the future, remembering that I’ve written about joining a discourse community using the rhetorical triangle will most definitely boost my belief in myself and help me not cower down from getting out of my comfort zone. The first time you interact with your discourse community and get involved in a conversation, trying to understand what they’re talking about feels like trying to learn binary code without one lesson prior to. When I started my NFL Fantasy Football discourse community four years ago I had the exact same feeling. Although I competed in football and was a long time Dallas Cowboys fan, those accomplishments were of little to no use when trying to interact with my Fantasy Football community. I had to live and breathe NFL football for two years before using proper logic and reasoning to establish to my peers that I belong there. For example, the process of Fantasy Football is that before NFL season starts, the 10 people in the fantasy football group has to put in 20 dollars (to make it a little more exhilarating when one wins) and agree to a specific time and date to begin a draft. In the draft, you have to do in-depth research beforehand and analyze algorithms that would work in your team’s favor. Your main goal is to spot value in NFL players currently playing, try to draft those players, and make a team out of them that will help you rack up the most points when playing against your opponents. If done right, hopefully you can lead your team to win the championship and the winning prize. When I first started playing fantasy football four years ago and was basically an outsider looking in, I had to have significant help with the draft from a friend. When my discourse community saw this, none of them really saw me as a member of the group; just an amateur who got bored of watching Pawn Stars all day and wanted to keep his mind busy elsewhere.
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Now although me and my peers play Fantasy Football for entertainment purposes, it’s always going to have a competitive environment and there will be sore losers in the end. Anyone who puts countless hours and effort like they did into trying to win at something have the right to be when they end up not coming up on top. That’s why I wasn’t completely surprised when one of the first year members in my discourse community got so frustrated that, when it was time to hand over the money to me, he was immensely hesitant. I told him that I understood how he was feeling as I too didn’t win my first year or even the year after that, that it’s a fun little game to be played competitively but not one that should be taken too serious, and that it wouldn’t be fair to the other 8 members in the discourse community to pay and for him not to; this would only cause controversy and 20 dollars is not worth losing 9 of your friend’s trust. He thought about it and handed over the money. I then used the money that he owed me to treat him to a nice meal at Chili’s, making sure that he was emotionally alright about the entire
Now although me and my peers play Fantasy Football for entertainment purposes, it’s always going to have a competitive environment and there will be sore losers in the end. Anyone who puts countless hours and effort like they did into trying to win at something have the right to be when they end up not coming up on top. That’s why I wasn’t completely surprised when one of the first year members in my discourse community got so frustrated that, when it was time to hand over the money to me, he was immensely hesitant. I told him that I understood how he was feeling as I too didn’t win my first year or even the year after that, that it’s a fun little game to be played competitively but not one that should be taken too serious, and that it wouldn’t be fair to the other 8 members in the discourse community to pay and for him not to; this would only cause controversy and 20 dollars is not worth losing 9 of your friend’s trust. He thought about it and handed over the money. I then used the money that he owed me to treat him to a nice meal at Chili’s, making sure that he was emotionally alright about the entire