Dastardly Discourse: Rescuing Rhetorical Capital from Indecency and Incivility - Paperback

by Meg Gorzycki (Author)

Screaming at the television, compulsively firing off tart little tweets, and blogging until we are blue; these signal that we are feeling the effects of dastardly discourse. We live in a world where people feel entitled to use words to hurt, exploit, and publicly degrade humanity. We daily consume rhetoric that makes a mockery of decency and civility. Leaders of key social institutions, including government, news media, and religious organizations, who are supposed to be role models of reasoned and compassionate communication are often the ones with the loudest lies and the hardest hate. We can change the channel. We can unplug. We can even encourage others to do the same. We may not do so, however, until we grasp what is fundamentally at risk in our current norms of communication. Nasty words are just the tip of the dastardly discourse iceberg. What lies beneath is a steady flow of propaganda that aims to control our personal narratives. This book is about that propaganda, the importance of owning our own narratives, and improving our own rhetorical capital--the ability to analyze and evaluate information--for the sake of sustaining human dignity, decency, and civility.

Author Biography

Meg Gorzycki is an educator of thirty-five years trained in the Benedictine and Jesuit traditions. She is a pedagogical consultant, course designer, and researcher interested in critical thinking, moral development, and literacy. She has taught courses in history, media, and education in the United States and abroad. Her books include Caesar Ate My Jesus, God Bless Our Cubicles, and The ABCs of a Troubled Republic.