Persuasion: A Proposal For An Invitational Rhetoric?

Sonja J. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin wrote an essay called “Beyond Persuasion: A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric” which focuses on a type of rhetoric that is very different from the traditional form of rhetoric in many ways. Invitational rhetoric is a kind of rhetoric where the speaker and their audience are respectful of one another, and the speaker is not trying to persuade the audience into believing what they believe. Instead the speaker tries to offer up their opinion to the audience who listens without feeling as if they have to change their viewpoint. The audience can agree or disagree because either way the speaker is not offended as long as each individual perspective is respected and looked at carefully. There are a few elements …show more content…
Foss and Griffin wrote about the lack of equity in traditional rhetoric due to the fact that rhetors saw their audience as opponents instead of people that they were presenting their ideas. This is one of the biggest differences between traditional rhetoric and invitational rhetoric since equity is key in invitational rhetoric. When observing invitational rhetoric the rhetor does not use narrative to persuade their audience because agreement is not the end goal, instead they use narrative as an aid to get their viewpoint across, “It is presented in offering for the purpose of articulating a viewpoint but not as a means to increase the likelihood of the audience’s adherence to that viewpoint” (Floss & Griffin, 7). In this form of rhetoric, the rhetors are not working against their audience “to …show more content…
We cannot take any possessions with us to wherever we go once we pass away, so those who work to get ahead by accumulating the most amount of money and belongings will have no advantage to those who they consider poor. People who practice traditional rhetoric have this idea that if they can win by changing their audience’s mind, they they will be ahead. The Giving Tree Band seems to agree with invitational rhetoric when they sing, “Who’s really rich and who’s really poor? / Do you feel content or do you want more? / Who’s really young and who’s really old? / Are you rigid or do you have room to grow?” which puts in perspective that none of these things that society thinks are important really are because its all an idea that we have put into our heads. For example, money may not be what makes us rich because what what makes some people rich are the experiences that they are able to partake in throughout life. In a way we are performing traditional rhetoric against ourselves when we think money puts us ahead there is more to life than trying to “win. The big picture is that society should be more open to growing instead of being stuck in their own ways which is a big part of invitational rhetoric. Instead of seeing yourself as superior to others one should try and realize that