Unit 2 Lens Assignment: Rhetorical Characteristics of Demagoguery

• Patricia Roberts Miller, "Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric" (full text, excerpted text, summary)  

• Short 3 minute introduction to Wallace from the History channel. One minute video excerpt from Wallace speech ("segregation today..." section) VIDEO OF FULL WALLACE SPEECH (prepared remarks begin about 4.14 minutes in) 
• Wallace Inaugural Address (Word document) and as .pdf   
• Video of LaPierre Speech  and text of Lapierre Speech  
• Describing and Evaluating Arguments: The Toulmin Model, Assumptions Implications & Counterexamples, Fallacies
• Context: Amnesty International just published a 400 page report claiming toxic political rhetoric has not been as bad as it is now since the 1930’s. Here is the CNN article and amnesty report.
• Michael Signer on demagoguery, with discussion of Trump  http://michaelsigner.com/demagogue/ 

 

 

Unit 2: The Prompt

• The prompt for assignment two
• Sample student draft paper (uses Wallace as target text) and sample body paragraphs written by variety of students. 

 

Using Roberts Miller to Explore Contemporary Figures

• The rhetoric of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could be analyzed in terms of RM's framework. Here is some background on Jones from the New York Times.  You could start with Alex Jones' Twitter feed, including his retweets of Russian groups. These could be used for an analysis of demagoguery, and in particular the strategy of demonization.  Sample video, plus collection of videos and excerpts. Some sample speeches by Alex Jones from Infowars. 1. "Secede from the New World Order," Jones suggests Obama is Beelzebub Consider whether such statements fit Roberts-Miller's definition. 

• Speech by Richard Spencer, a leader of the "Alt-Right," on November 21, 2016. Spencer is editor of Radix Journal.  Video excepts are available here. 
• Background on the alt-right  from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Some prominent alt-right websites are Radix Journal,  The Unz Review, Taki Mag, The Right Stuff, and Red Ice.  
• Breitbart News. Some have claimed this journal supports alt-right ideas, and contains some examples of demagoguery. You could explore whether you think the evidence is strong or weak.  

• Stormfront - this is a "white nationalist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi internet forum that was the internet's first major racial hate site." (wikipedia) http://www.stormfront.org/forum/

• Louis Farrakhan http://blog.adl.org/anti-semitism/farrakhan-continues-his-anti-semitic-saviours-day-message-in-chicago and http://archive.adl.org/special_reports/farrakhan_own_words2/on_jews.html#.Uxj9ZPmwJcQ

• Amy Mendes "Digital Demagogue: The Critical Candidacy of Donald J. Trump." You could critically analyze Mendes' argument and decide whether you think she 
  makes a strong or weak case based on your own reading of texts by Trump.  
• VDare and Stormfront, two of the largest racist, white nationalist sites. 
• "The flight 93 election" - an article written by Publius Decius Mus (pen name for Michael Anton, former Bush speechwriter and Trump advisor). September 5, 2016 
• Ted Nugent speech at NRA convention (see minute 4.56)  

 

Other Target Texts

• Hitler speeches: https://archive.org/stream/TheSpeechesOfAdolfHitler19211941/hitler-speeches-collection_djvu.txt   
• Hugo Chavez (former president of Venezuela) speech to the UN. (You could examine other speeches by Chavez, although this may be easier if you speak Spanish).

• Genocidewatch - this group lists the events that come before genocide. Many echo claims made by Roberts Miller. http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/8stagesofgenocide.html

• Transcripts of radio shows that helped instigate the genocide in Rwanda. http://migs.concordia.ca/links/RwandanRadioTrascripts_RTLM.htm

 

Topics and Student Ideas

• This Unit 2 Ideas page contains a first look at some possible topics students are considering