The Rhetorical Triangle, Research Paper Example

The two videos I have chosen to analyze are Tony Robbins’ presentation “Why We Do What We Do, and How Can We Do it Better?” and David Icke’s presentation “Big Brother, The Big Picture”. These two presentations can be considered radically different in theme: Robbins’ presentation falls within the genre of motivational speaking, whereas David Icke’s talk makes the argument for conspiracy theory in contemporary politics and government.

Robbins’ speech provides an interesting example for a rhetorical triangle analysis because the audience for his talk consists of highly successful people, such as Al Gore. Accordingly, Robbins’ message is that his particular presentation is not motivational in nature, since his audience, as proven by their success, has already shown themselves to be motivated in their life decisions. Rather, Robbins’ inquiry is into the why behind motivation and motives, hence the title of the speech: why do we do what we do? In other words, Robbins fits his message with the specific situation and audience of his discourse, making his viewpoints relevant to the given audience. By posing this more fundamental question, Robbins furthermore gains credibility as a thinker, since he opens up questions that the audience had perhaps not thought of, such as the why behind motivation. The effectiveness of Robbins’ speech is shown in the fact that his interaction with the audience is very high – Robbins is certainly an effective speaker.

In his talk “Big Brother – The Big Picture”, David Icke speaks to constituents of Haltemprice and Howden in England about the British electoral system. Icke’s main message is a conspiracy theory: he suggests that democratic elections are merely empty gestures, which conceal the true power that lies behind government. The situation therefore that informs Icke’s discourse is the notion that people need to be made alert of the totalitarian big brother state that currently exists. In essence, Icke basically has to convince the audience that his conspiracy theories are not absurd: He has to make the audience believe the rigor of his interpretations. The audience is very receptive to Icke’s message, however, it is not clear if this is because of Icke’s own style, which is sympathetic, or rather a case of “preaching to the converted.”

References

Icke, D. (2008). Big Brother, The Big Picture. Haltemprice, England. July, 6. Accessed at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4799447112501062338

Robbins, T. (2006). Why We Do What We Do, And How We Can Do It Better. TED Talks.