A brief examination of Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine” using the narrative rhetorical method

 I wrote a paper last semester applying some methods in rhetorical criticism to Naomi Klein’s recent book, “Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”.  Here’s an excerpt from the paper that focuses on dissecting her book using the narrative critical method.  Sorry if some of the John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and communication theory references seem a bit [...]

Rhetorical Criticism – Richard Lugar’s energy policy suggestions for 2008 presidential election

Here’s another practice in rhetorical criticism analyzing a 2007 speech from Senator Richard Lugar.  It is not a ‘formal’ rhetorical method like fantasy theory, neo-classical, feminist theory, or the like.  Rather it’s a formalized method of examining the speech from a general critical theory perspective.  Lugar, the rhetor, is addressing the Brookings Institution at the [...]

Rhetorical Criticism – George Bush Senior’s “Just War”

Here’s another rhetorical criticism critique I put together for a class this last spring semester.  The rhetor is George Bush Sr.  The setting is early Gulf War I (1991) where George Herbert Walker rationalizes his actions by declaring Desert Storm a “Just War”.  Now that we have a few years of context, defending our military [...]

Rhetorical Criticism: Robert Zoeller’s World Bank Ideology

Abstract/background:
I’m a part time graduate student in IUPUI’s Communication program.  I am focusing on Critical theory and rhetoric.  In a rhetorical criticism class last semester, we had to write critiques using formal rhetorical methods to examine various artifacts (speeches, movies, songs, etc.).  For one critique, I chose to examine the ideology present in a speech by Robert [...]