Rhetoric lesson #-1: Incomprehensible sentences are convincing.

The principle of postmodern knowledge is not the expert's homology,
but the inventor's paralogy. 
 -Jean-Francois Lyotard "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge".


Rhetoric lesson #0: Many enemies. Much glory.


"The rooster was chosen long ago as the national symbol of France. The
choice is fortuitous, of course, because of a Latin pun, Gallus, meaning
both the courtyard animal and the inhabitant of Gaul. The English pun 
could probably be considered even more apt." -Luigi Barzini, "The Europeans".  

"Soviet Communists have been earnestly repeating for years, 'When all
nations will be Marxist-Leninist Democratic Republics, we must keep Italy
as it is, so that we may go there on vacation and relax.'" -Barzini.

"Charles de Gaulle had to convince the incredulous and diffident
British and Americans he was not what he looked like, a tall, thin,
long-nosed, scholarly, obscure brigadier general, without means and
official status, who might theoretically be court-martialed and shot
one day for desertion, but France itself, like Louis XIV, or a divinely
inspired heroine, like Jeanne d'Arc (he proclaimed many times during
the war without smiling, 'I am Jeanne d'Arc!')." -Barzini.

"The name 'casino' means brothel in Italian, gambling house in French
and English, and regimental officer's club in German." -Barzini.

"The story went around that a male goose of which one cut the neck at the
ecstatic moment would give you the most delicious, economical, and time-saving
frisson of all, as it allowed you to enjoy sodomy, bestiality, homosexuality,
necrophilia and sadism at one stroke. Gastronomy too, as one could eat the
goose afterwards." -Luigi Barzini, "The Europeans".  



Rhetoric lesson #1: Make sweeping generalizations.
(from Bertrand Russell's "Sceptical Essays")


- Bertrand Russell on modesty:

"It is only in China that [the art of modesty] is thoroughly
understood. I am told that, if you ask a Chinese mandarin after
the health of his wife and children, he will reply: 'That
contemptible slut and her verminous brood are, as your Magnificence
deigns to be informed, in the enjoyment of rude health.'"


- Bertrand Russell on characters in Russian Literature:

"The people in Dostoevsky are no doubt not quite like real Russians,
but at any rate they are people whom only a Russian could have invented.
... It is obvious that a community who all wish to murder each other
cannot be so free as a community with more peaceable desires."


- The same, on Capitalism:

"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles
of liberty, which are all embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not
be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate."




Rhetoric lesson #2: Flippant bitterness wins sympathy.
(from Voltaire's "Lettres Philosophiques")

- Voltaire on Englishmen and Religion in 18th century England:

"Here is the land of sects. An Englishman, as a free man, goes to
Heaven by whichever way he pleases."
[C'est ici le pays des sectes. Un Anglais, comme homme libre, va au
Ciel par le chemin qui lui plait.]


- On the authenticity of the Anglican clergy.

"The Anglican clergy has retained many of the Catholic ceremonies,
foremost that of receiving tithes with exacting attention."
[Le clerge anglican a retenu beaucoup des ceremonies catholiques,
et surtout celle de recevoir les dimes avec une attention tres scrupuleuse.]

(forgive the rough translation)





Rhetoric lesson #3: Identify, then Simplify the issue.
(from Machiavelli's "The Prince")


Niccolo Machiavelli on the might of the Swiss:

"... our country has been overrun by Charles, plundered by Louis,
wasted by Ferdinand, and insulted by the Swiss."


A snippet from Machiavelli's application to the NRA:

"But since you cannot have [good laws] without [good arms], and where
you have the latter, are likely to have the former, I shall here omit
all discussion on the subject of laws, and speak only of arms."



Rhetoric lesson #4: Appeal to common wisdom.
(from Rousseau's "Du Contrat Social").


"Thus we'd expand more in mountainous country, where natural products,
meaning, the woods, the pastures, demand less work, where experience
teaches that women are more fecund than in the plains."
[Ainsi l'on s'etendra beaucoup dans un pays de montagne, ou les
productions naturelles, savoir, les bois, les paturages, demandent moins
de travail, ou l'experience apprend que les femmes sont plus fecondes
que dans les plaines...]



Rhetoric lesson #5: Leverage your prior work to propagate your Weltanschauung.

"But does our account of [prohibition against murder] tally with historical
truth? We fear not; it appears to be nothing but a rationalistic
construction. With the help of PSYCHO-ANALYSIS, we have made a study
of precisely this piece of the cultural history of mankind, and, basing
ourselves on it, we are bound to say that in reality things happened
otherwise."       --Sigmund Freud, in "The Future of an Illusion,"
[where he begins to suggest that Rousseau's account of the social contract
is bunk and that really what forces societies together was primitive man's
habit of killing his father and the guilt thereby induced. And as far as I
can tell, his theory suggests that there is no prohibition against killing
women.]

"You know, too, that women in general are said to suffer from
'physiological feeble-mindedness'--that is, from a lesser intelligence
than men. ... one argument in favour of this intellectual atrophy
being of a secondary nature is that women labour under the harshness
of an early prohibition against turning their thoughts to what would
most have interested them-- namely, the problems of sexual life." -Freud




Rhetoric lesson #6: Introduce yourself to your audience.
(from Bjarne Stroustrup web page at AT&T).

"I (Bjarne Stroustrup) am the designer and original implementor of C++."


Rhetoric lesson #7: Allude to concepts that are familiar to your audience.

"You are so wrong. It is easy to feel miserable too. It is easy to make life
look like one endless line of code." -P. Nemirovsky


Rhetoric lesson #8: Use your audience's language

0:35:30 100000: Tell honourly, you by hours wander on Internet in
searches really good site, where you can find any XXX picture you
want. But it is very difficult because of the large number of
free-of-charge pages, which only contain the references to others
sites, and so indefinitely. And only on pay site you will find all
that so long searched. You have found it!

http://alolitaz.cjb.net

(this was sent to me on aol instant messenger, the one time i happened
to use it)






* My public key:
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Version: 2.6
!AREYOUREALLYUNDERTHEIMPRESSIONTHATYOUAREIMPORTANTENOUGHTHATYOURPRIVACY
ISWORTHANYTHING?YOUAREINSIGNIFICANTANDYETYOUINSISTTHATYOURPRIVACYISWORTH
PROTECTING.ISTHEREGREATERDISILLUSION?I'MTHEKINGOFSPAIN
=DOIWIN?
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----


I delete all mail with crypto crap in it without replying.



yes
you
are
on the
right
path
but you
  should
  consider
  dropping
    out
    of
   school.
    it's
      the
       way
          to
          go
          . come
               with
                   me
                     this way.
                            yes. over here.
					 see. it wasn't that
							hard.