How to be a Rhetorician in the World

"They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material." ~Former US Senator Ted Stevens

Stevens spoke these words in criticizing net neutrality (i.e., the idea that ISP's should not discriminate based on clients or data) and was promptly ridiculed for his choice of metaphor across the Internet. While the metaphor was almost correct (but not quite), it was still obvious that Stevens did not understand how exactly the Internet works, losing him credibility.

So why choose such a maligned metaphor for this assignment? Well, because we can learn as much from poor rhetoric as we can from good rhetoric (Also because I can still use the idea of sending things through tubes as a metaphor). The Internet is still changing how exactly we think about the world, and that includes how we think of rhetoric. Simple metaphors about trucks and tubes do not work as well when speaking about such abstract concepts. Anonymity is changing how we speak to other people. I intend to use this space to look at how the internet has impacted how we think of rhetoric, including the following ways:

• Rhetoric in memes and macros
• Anonymous rhetoric
• Trolling
• The creation of echo chambers
• Interactions on social media
• 10 Clickbait Buzzwords that will Blow Your Mind!
• The rhetoric of tagging

The internet is a diverse place, full of a multitude of people all trying to figure out how exactly to speak in this new space. We're breaking new rhetorical ground that deserves serious attention.

Well, that's about all I have to say for now. Guess it's time to roll up this metaphorical paper and send it down this metaphorical tube onto the internet. File it under "T" for "Tubes," please.