Regardless of your political beliefs, it is hard to deny that Sarah Palin is a highly followed political figure in today’s media. The way she uses rhetoric in her speeches and media responses is very unique and worthy of analysis. Voice infliction is a way that a listener can identify what a speaker’s emotions are regarding a particular topic they are speaking about. Palin uses different pitches in her voice, pertaining to what message she is lobbying for, and how she wants her point to come across. She does an excellent job of slowing down her speech, and raising her voice slightly when she really wants a point to be heard. For example, from her response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address, Palin was trying to poke fun at the acronym, “W.T.F.,” which is used in popular culture to indicate a feeling of disbelieve in a negative connotation. By poking fun at Obama’s acronym, Palin is using her language to strike a feeling of comedy in her response, and also she is connecting to a younger audience of listeners, who have grown up in a political world filled with popular satirists, such as John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. She is also trying to convince her listening audience of how ludicrous some of the current government’s policies are in her opinion. In my opinion, people look for comedy in every aspect of life, especially when watching the television. Politics is a very serious business, but comedy seems to take away some of the strain from the very hostile environment that political talk shows encompass.
Palin also mixes up the rhetorical devices as she continues to speak. Mixing up the style of speaking keeps the message fresh and vibrant. It is very hard to keep someone’s attention for a prolonged period of time, but Palin seems to be affective in keeping her words and pattern of speech fresh and unpredictable. Palin catches a lot of flack in the media for stirring up drama and for playing the “ loving mother figure,” card too frequently, but she does an excellent job of staying in the spotlight. If she didn’t use rhetoric effectively, Palin would not be called back to speak on political news programs week after week.
Works Cited:
Author Unknown. Copyright 2007-2008. Last Updated January 28, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2011.
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