Category Archives: burke

Among the Republicans

Posted on July 1, 2012 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Prepping for my role as a blogger during the upcoming RNC, I read Among the Republicans by V.S. Naipaul, a reflection upon the 1984 Republican National Convention. Interesting is the extent to which Naipaul focuses on the rising New Right … Continue reading →

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Education in Ruins; a War of Nerves

Posted on January 6, 2012 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I’ve talked about my love for Bill Reading’s The University in Ruins on this blog before. Today I came across a disturbing news item on Facebook that made me think of Reading’s warning, a warning echoed by Mark C. Taylor … Continue reading →

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Internet Metaphor

Posted on November 13, 2011 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I posted a link to this NYT article to Facebook, but I wanted to keep this paragraph someplace where I could find it: Then again, the Internet is a new kind of barometer for keeping track of exactly how old … Continue reading →

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Rotten With Perfection

Posted on July 5, 2011 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Burke fans will probably enjoy today’s offerings from one of my favorite sites, Slaughterhouse 90210.

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Yeah, We Already Knew That

Posted on June 29, 2011 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Via the Blogora today, a piece in Newsweek on evolution and irrationality. It probably shouldn’t irk me that the piece makes no mention of rhetoricians, but it does (its got philosophers and cognitive scientists, but no rhetoricians). Its clear the … Continue reading →

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Burke, Sophistry, and Ecological Rhetoric

Posted on May 19, 2011 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I wrote this in response to a graduate students’ project on Kenneth Burke. I didn’t want to lose it, so I’ll stick it here: Burke shares quite a bit with the Sophists because they both believe that rhetoric is metaphysical, … Continue reading →

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Burke, Purpose, Rubric

Posted on October 7, 2010 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Taking a break from work I have to finish, I grabbed Burke’s Grammar of Motives off the shelf. I found this great paragraph from the chapter “Agency and Purpose” challenging notions of neutral instrumentalism (that our instruments measure without purpose … Continue reading →

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New Media Rhetoric and Wikipedia

Posted on May 14, 2008 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

I thought I would share my conference proposal for International Society for the History of Rhetoric conference. I have a feeling its probably a bit too contemporary (ie, it mentions computers) for this conference, but there’s no harm in trying. … Continue reading →

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