After watching the Mother Jones video yesterday, I just keep laughing at how Romney is just making himself out to be such a peice of crap. I also understand that for a lot of people, he still holds a special place in their hearts and income tax bracket.
The largest chunk of enthymemes that I really see is more or less equal to what others said in class. Romney talks about the followers of 'that guy' are going to vote on emotion. What he is really saying in my opinion is this: "You are my people! We are all rich power people, lets face it, we are also smart and educated. We shouldn't waste our time worrying about the dumb hicks who love that guy. They are nothing to us but a burdone on our millions. We earned our money regardless of how many people we stepped on to get it!"
We all know that is what he wants to truly say! Bush Jr., got blasted from addressing a similar group years ago. He came in and said, "You are my people!"
Romney is using the unspoken words to say what he truly means...that 47% of Americans are garbage.
It also makes me think how much this boils down to race...."that guy" + Americans who 'expect' food, healthcare and such = look, you have a black president who has allowed these black welfare babies to sponge off the system too long....we are rich whites who need to take a stand and take this country back
One thing that keeps coming to mind when we talk about Romney is what Aristotle defines as character affected by ploutos, or wealth. He gives three arguments:
ReplyDeletefirst, the wealthy are insolent and arrogant, being affected somehow by the possession of wealth, for their sate of mind is that of those who have all good things.
second, the wealthy are ostentations and pretentious. being pretentious and vulgar because all are used to spending their time with whatever they love and admire because they feel that everyone else has the same values they do.
Third, the rich think they deserve to rule, they think that they have that which makes one worthy to rule.
Sounds a lot like Romney in terms of his character, doesn't it?
Yeah, Romney is truly going on the "Friendship" ticket...he needs to show the people in that dinner arena that they are equals with him. Those that are undecided, he needs to pretend to be friends in order to sway their votes. Gotta love the election games!!!
ReplyDelete"...they feel that everyone has the same values they do." I think this idea about how the rich think is fun in the political context. While both Obama and Romney are rich, Romney represents the ultra wealthy, while Obama represents poor. If you think about the relative examples we have had in class, in addition to the bounty of enthymeems offered by Romney (and relative shortage offered by Omama) it makes a lot of sense in this quotes context. Enthymemes rely on assumption, and the rich all share the same values.
ReplyDeleteAt $50,000 per plate one would not expect to be dining on ones own foot!
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