CLASSICAL ETHOS AND NETWORKED TEXTS
Viewed in the colloquial definition of “credibility,” ethos is easily construed as simply the collected sum of the actions performed by a rhetor in their past.. While this view may be consistent with much of modernist rhetorical theory, Holliday (2009) argues that returning to pre-modern conceptions of ethos provides a much richer, and more rhetorically attuned understanding of the term. Halloran (1982) argues that the most concrete meaning for the term in the classical Greek lexicon is "a habitual gathering place” (p. 60). By focusing both on habit and dwelling, this ancient meaning of ethos attunes the concept to the preexisting characteristics of a rhetor (habit) within the context of current temporal …show more content…
Specifically, if memes are understood as modes, that is to say a collection of textual fragments whose potential force is defined by form, then in the case of stock character macros, these modes are capable of exerting their own ethos. The modal poles, in defining the form of the meme, also function as the ethos of the meme. Specifically, as modes manage the affective and narrative potential of the text, they imbue a particular ethos onto that textual mode. Particularly in the case of memes, with their implied subjectivity, it the modal expectation of stance establishes the rhetorical impression of the meme being a rhetor complete with its own ethos. Because the form relies on particular conceptions of affects, often rooted in an implied narrative, they define a meme 's particular stance, as well as imply subjectivity behind the utterances. This modal ethos places the meme as the central source of ethos within particular utterances, gives each meme the agency to enact the ethical judgments intrinsic to ethos. To more fully evaluate this potential of a modal ethos, this chapter now turns to a close reading of one of the most popular stock character macros on the internet, Sucmbag
Viewed in the colloquial definition of “credibility,” ethos is easily construed as simply the collected sum of the actions performed by a rhetor in their past.. While this view may be consistent with much of modernist rhetorical theory, Holliday (2009) argues that returning to pre-modern conceptions of ethos provides a much richer, and more rhetorically attuned understanding of the term. Halloran (1982) argues that the most concrete meaning for the term in the classical Greek lexicon is "a habitual gathering place” (p. 60). By focusing both on habit and dwelling, this ancient meaning of ethos attunes the concept to the preexisting characteristics of a rhetor (habit) within the context of current temporal …show more content…
Specifically, if memes are understood as modes, that is to say a collection of textual fragments whose potential force is defined by form, then in the case of stock character macros, these modes are capable of exerting their own ethos. The modal poles, in defining the form of the meme, also function as the ethos of the meme. Specifically, as modes manage the affective and narrative potential of the text, they imbue a particular ethos onto that textual mode. Particularly in the case of memes, with their implied subjectivity, it the modal expectation of stance establishes the rhetorical impression of the meme being a rhetor complete with its own ethos. Because the form relies on particular conceptions of affects, often rooted in an implied narrative, they define a meme 's particular stance, as well as imply subjectivity behind the utterances. This modal ethos places the meme as the central source of ethos within particular utterances, gives each meme the agency to enact the ethical judgments intrinsic to ethos. To more fully evaluate this potential of a modal ethos, this chapter now turns to a close reading of one of the most popular stock character macros on the internet, Sucmbag