Persuasion at work II

Cf. Analytical Framework – Focus on

textual level – narratives, intertextuality –
and conceptual level – metaphors
Cf. Language of Election Campaigns
This series of slides;
[Examples of analysis in the book: Chapter 4: «Absolute Rhetoric» pp. 142-148;
From the Absolute to Radical Manichean Logic: The Rhetoric of Conflict pp. 148-
154),with definition of the rhetoric of conflict p. 148, ‘Hard Rhetoric and
Enthymematic Causality (pp. 155-160 and «The Rhetoric of Conflict, and Beyond,
or the Conflict, Beyond the Rhetoric (161-163); Chapter 5 «Qualitative Textual
Analysis II – Detecting Frames in Persuasion Building» (164-188)] Chapter 7
«Contrastive Analysis» (Ferrari, 2018: 216-232) [see also from Conflict to Inclusive
Rhetoric (231-232), with definition of inclusive rhetoric p. 231]
 Major level
• Contextual perspective:
genre, context =
preliminary reading
• Narrative Analysis:
• Textual perspectice: ‘word
order’, evaluation,
ideology in text, rhetorical
structures, figures,
argumentative lines,
narratives, intertextuality =
text analysis • General Rhetorical-
• Cognitive perspective:
‘metaphor’, ‘emotion’ =
‘beyond the text’,
conceptual level and
• Cognitive-Emotional
interactional hypotheses
Medium level
unfolding, interweaving Micro Level –
(intratextuality), resounding
metaphor analysis
or reverberation
• 1 metaphor*/s in text
(intertextuality +
contextualization)
(focus identification)
• 2 conceptual
Argumentational Analysis implications
(rhetorical moves, • 3 appeals to emotion/s
argumentative structures, •
4 considerations
logic…) with respect to
ideological frame /
Analysis: conceptual strategy of persuasion
metaphors (metaphor as a and argumentative flow
cross-domain mapping in of the discourse cf.
the conceptual system, rhetorical analysis,
Lakoff 1993), frames
narratives (from
(Chilton 2004, Lakoff
microtext to
2005), emotions
f.f. macrotext) 4
f.f.
 “Any news?” alias narratives for
persuasion
• The influence of narratives for persuasion is evident in everyday
communication also cf. common conversation scripts
• Given the pervasiveness of persuasive processes within communication, «if
it is inherently true that persuasion is generally designed with the intention
of structuring the responses of others to developing events, a difference can
be observed depending on how and to what extent is this intention
deliberate. This is what makes the distinction between everyday and
strategic communication»
• (Given the pervasiveness of persuasive processes within communication),
strategic communication, vs. everyday communication, «is to be identified
in all those communicative situations where the persuasive intent is not
only more evident and deliberate, but declared within the definitional
underpinnings of the communicative situation itself. Strategic are thus the
forms of communication typically characterized by persuasion». (Ferrari,
2018: 10)
• Cf. political communication and political discourse

f.f. 5
 On the influence of strategic narratives
in political communication
• Keywords: narratives, strategic, communication
• What we mean by narratives:
– story telling instances and practices
– accounting for both ‘story’ and ‘plot’/ text (both ‘what’ story and ‘how’ told are crucial
factors for story telling) + poietic function (narratives can construct reality, going further
than representing it* cf. notions of “conceptual metaphor” (Lakoff 1993) and “discourse
world” (Chilton, 2004)
– focus on time (cf. Todorov, 1977: 45): narrative vs. frame (structure) = dynamic vs. static
– object of study and mode of analysis (representation* level, practices of representing*,
context of representing, cf. poietic function of narratives (cf. Roselle, 2006 and
Antoniades, Miskimmon, O’Loughlin, work-in-progress)
• Narratives in persuasion (everyday communication vs. strategic communication, cf.
above)
• Narratives in strategic communication become “strategic narratives”:
everyday communication: strategic communication = narrative: strategic narrative
i.e. narratives whose persuasive intent is typically deliberate, cf. Freedman 2006:
“narratives are designed or nurtured with the intention of structuring the responces
of others to developing events” (2006: 22, my emphasis)

f.f. 6
Analytical Framework – Medium level

• Practice 4: narrative analysis: detecting narratives in

text: intertwining and reverberating of narratives:
intra-textuality and intertextuality
• Practice 5: detecting metaphors and rhetorical attitude
of the text

f.f. 7
 Philadelphia, 18 March, 2008

“We the people, in order to form

a more perfect union…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zrp-v2tHaDo
Flashback: last national media release
just before the delivery
USA Today reported on March 18, 2008, that “Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama will deliver what his
campaign is billing as “a major address on race and politics”
today…He told reporters Monday that he now wants to
address “the larger issue of race in this campaign, which has
ramped up over the last couple of weeks.” A number of other
major papers that day reported on either Obama’s major
“speech on race” (The Washington Post, The Philadelphia
Inquirer, Chicago Tribune) or “speech on race and politics”
(Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, San Diego Union-Tribune,
Rocky Mountain News, The Charlotte Observer).
www.journalism.org

f.f. 9
Unfolding Narratives – narratives
interweaving (intratextuality):
1): The American Story

3) From Rev. Wright

Write’s case to
2) “My Own American Story”
the issue of race

f.f. 10
 1) The American Story: an unfulfilled
story, a story to be fulfilled

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group
of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable
experiment in democracy.
Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape
tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a
Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was
stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and
brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to
continue for at least 20 more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our
Constitution -- a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under
the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could
be and should be perfected over time…..
f.f. 11
f.f.
 In focus: articulation of the Nation: a
Union to be ‘perfected’
“a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that
promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time […]
What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part --
through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and
always at great risk -- to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign -- to continue the long march of
those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more
prosperous America.
I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the
challenges of our time unless we solve them together -- unless we perfect our union by understanding that
we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not
have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for
our children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it
also comes from my own American story.” (cohesive link to the following narrative – cf. narratives
interweaving)

➢ Conceptual Metaphors at work:

Our ideal nation is a Perfect Union - Union is a ‘perfectable’ entity (ontological
metaphor, physicalization)
Our Nation’s promise is a Union to be perfected-fulfilled-reached (path metaphor,
spacialization) + Perfection is a move forward and Union is a destination,
projecting the image of the constitution’s promise (equality, liberty and justice) as a
march towards a ‘promised land’
f.f. 12
2) “My Own American Story”
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. (Obama symbolizes
the Union) I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in
Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly
line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas.
I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations
(Obama symbolizes hope cf. path metaphor, looking forward, cf. “Yes, we can”). I am married to a
black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners -- an inheritance we
pass on to our two precious daughters.
I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered
across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth
is my story even possible.
It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into
my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts -- that out of
many, we are truly one. (Metaphor development: from Union is a perfectable entity to the Union is
more than the sum of its parts: Union empowers, Union is an empowering entity/process, Union is
Power)
[…]
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign,
some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." (link to the
following narrative: narratives interweaving & reference to media narratives - narratives
resounding – intertextuality cf. Ferraro’s)
[…] On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow
an exercise in affirmative action, that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to
purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.
On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary
language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that
denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation -- that rightly offend white and black
alike. (narratives resounding – intertextuality reference
f.f. to Ferraro’s and Rev. Wright’s cases f.f. 13
respectively)
In focus: articulation of the Nation and
leader’s image
Conceptual Metaphors at work cf. Story 1:
Our ideal nation is a Perfect Union - Union is a ‘perfectable’ entity
(ontological metaphor, physicalization)
Our Nation’s promise is a Union to be perfected-fulfilled-reached (path
metaphor, spacialization) + Perfection is a move forward and Union is a
destination, projecting the image of the constitution’s promise (equality, liberty
and justice) as a march towards a ‘promised land’

➢ Metaphor development and leader’s image projection cf. Story 2:

Obama symbolizes the union – the Union is Obama - personification, also
projecting leader’s image – Obama is the Union
Metaphor development: from Union is a perfectable entity to the Union is
“more than the sum of its parts”: Union empowers, Union is an
empowering entity/process, Union is an empowered result, Union is Power

f.f. 14
 3a) Wright’s case et al.: narratives
resounding (intertextuality)
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy.
For some, nagging questions remain. [….]
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious
leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice.
Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and
that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America, a view that sees the conflicts
in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the
perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. […]
But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped
introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the
sick and lift up the poor.
He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine [the Rev.’s story …]
In my first book, "Dreams From My Father," I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
[…]
cf. Story 2: «the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts -- that out of many, we are truly one».
[…]
We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the
aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias. (narratives resounding –
intertextuality reference to Ferraro’s and Rev. Wright’s cases respectively)
cf. 3b) But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same
mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to simplify and stereotype and amplify the
negative to the point that it distorts reality. f.f. 15
…"segregated schools”…"legalized discrimination”…"a lack of economic opportunity” f.f. 15
 3 alternatives for action
• Dismissing Wright - Betraying his mentor
– Conflict rhetoric option
• Acritically saving Wright’s face - Betrying himself
– Conflict rhetoric option
• Taking a wider perspective on Wright’s case:
“But race is an issue that I believe this nation
cannot afford to ignore right now.”
– Inclusive rhetoric option: «conflict is the face
of a problem, not how to face the problem»
(Ferrari, 2018: 223)
f.f. 16
Flashback: national media release before
the delivery: narratives’ resounding
➢ “Obama is in trouble because his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright,
was caught on tape preaching such gospel as “God damn America”
and accusing Israel of “state terrorism against the Palestinians” (The
Washington Post, March 18, 2008, from “The audacity of
chutzpah”). www.journalism.org
➢ “Ms. Ferraro, the former congresswoman and vice-presidential
candidate who backs Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, told The Daily
Breeze, a newspaper in Torrance, Calif.: “If Obama was a white
man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any
color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky
to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” She
made the comments last week, but on Tuesday, the Obama camp
latched on to them, calling them outrageous and demanding that
Mrs. Clinton repudiate them.” (The New York Times, March 12,
2009, from “Ferrero’s Obama Remarks become Talk of Campaign”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/politics/12campaign.html

f.f. 17
3b) Race in America: Perfecting the Union
is understanding/comprehension, cf.
Inclusive Rhetoric
▪ But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be
making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America -- to
simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
▪ […] the issues that have surfaced over last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this
country that we’ve never really worked through – a part if our union that we have yet to
perfect” (Race as a problem to be understood and faced, cf. Inclusive rhetoric vs. rhetoric of
Conflict: Perfecting the Union is understanding, comprehending, Comprehension is
Inclusion)
[…]
▪ Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William
Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.”
(Understanding the present needs understanding the past: the past as part of our present cf.
inclusive Rhetoric) We do not need to recite here of the history of racial injustice in this
country.
… “segregated schools”… “legalized discrimination”… “ lack of economic opportunity”
➢ “This is the reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-American of his generation grew
up”…..
▪ Anger: the story of anger: “This is the reality in which Rev Wright grew up […] but the
anger is real”, no matter the colour: “a similar anger exists within the segments of the white
community”
▪ “Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in
polite company. But they have helped shapef.f. the political landscape for at least a 18
generation” (anger politics) f.f. 18
 1) The American Story

3) From Rev. Wright’s case to

the issue of race

2) My Own American Story

The change (Present & future):

from narratives to concepts,
concepts’ reframing, and agenda

f.f. Ashley story and the end.

19
 II The change (Present & future): from
narratives to concepts, concepts’
reframing, and agenda
• “This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for
years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never
been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single
election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect
as my own”. (not just claiming modesty, but insisting on the concept of a union to
be perfected, and perfect union as an ideal to be reached, whose he presents himself
as active part and symbol and traveler/carrier )
• “But I have asserted a firm conviction -- a conviction rooted in my faith in God
and my faith in the American people -- that working together we can move
beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we
are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.” (cf. Bush’s rhetoric of
conflict and the only one choice. Differences: beyond the logic of conflict, the
choice is only one, not because the other alternative is death, but because no other
alternative exists)
• […]
• “Ironically, this quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-
help found frequent expression in Rev. Wright's sermons. But what my former
pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help
also requires a belief that society can change”.
f.f. 20
f.f. 20
In focus: articulation of the Nation and
leader’s image
Conceptual Metaphors at work cf. Story 1:
Our ideal nation is a Perfect Union - Union is a ‘perfectable’ entity (ontological metaphor,
physicalization)
Our Nation’s promise is a Union to be perfected-fulfilled-reached (path metaphor, spatialization) +
Perfection is a move forward and Union is a destination, projecting the image of the constitution’s
promise (equality, liberty and justice) as a march towards a ‘promised land’
Metaphor development and leader’s image projection cf. Story 2:
Obama symbolizes the union – the Union is Obama - personification, also projecting leader’s image
– Obama is the Union
Metaphor development: from Union is a perfectable entity to the Union is “more than the sum of its
parts”: Union empoweres, Union is an empowering entity/process, Union is an empowered result,
Union is Power

➢ Metaphor development and leader’s image projection cf. II The change (Present & future):
from narratives to concepts, concepts’ reframing, and agenda
“candidacy as imperfect as my own”: insisting on the concept of a union to be perfected, and
perfect union as an ideal to be reached: Obama as active part and symbol and
traveler/carrier of the Union.
Presenting himself as im-perfected he fosters the idea of perfection as a move forward (cf.
concepts of dynamism, change, hope) vs. perfection as a static, atemporal condition. This is
also what makes the difference between conservative logic and progressive logic.
Union beyond conflict cf. Bush’s rhetoric of conflict and the only one choice. Differences:
beyond the logic of conflict, the choice is only one, not because the other alternative is death,
but because no other alternative exists)
f.f. 21
Moving forward: media release after the
delivery and narratives’ projection
• The day after Obama’s speech, the analysis began to roll in. Tim Rutten wrote an
editorial on March 19, 2008 for the Los Angeles Times entitled “Obama’s Lincoln
Moment,” comparing Obama’s performance with Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. In
the same editorial, however, Rutten made as many comparisons to JFK’s 1960
speech on religion. The story, of course, did not end there. […] www.journalism.org
• Leader’s image reception: positive, vs. negative
• In a speech whose frankness about race many historians said could be likened only
to speeches by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Abraham
Lincoln, Senator Barack Obama, speaking across the street from where the
Constitution was written, traced the country’s race problem back to not simply the
country’s “original sin of slavery” but the protections for it embedded in the
Constitution. (New York Times, March 19, 2008, from “Obama Chooses
Reconciliation Over Rancor”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/us/politics/19assess.html)
• We don't agree with the way Mr. Obama described some of those problems
yesterday or with some of his solutions for them. But he was right to condemn the
Rev. Wright's words, was eloquent in describing the persistent challenge of race and
racism in American society -- and was right in proposing that this year's campaign
rise above "a politics that breeds division and conflict and cynicism." (Washington
Post, March 19, 2008, from “Moment of Truth” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR2008031802704.html)
• nb. Further research suggestion: detecting ideology in the news, cf. Mr vs. Senator,
devaluation of the candidate as simply a ‘good
f.f. fellow’: not recognizing his political office. 22
 Extending in space: projecting leader’s
image – from national to international
resonance
Apparently, amongst the various comparisons the most successful was
JFK’s
From a “not conventional candidate” symbolizing the union (cf. Story 2 -
‘My own American Story’), to the new JFK: national and international
resonance, sticking out up to Obama’s speech in Berlin (“A world that
stands as One”, July, 24, 2008),
cf. some evidence from news’ headings:

• “Two Campaign speeches, one JFK moment” (www.journalism.org)

• “Berlin Awaits the 'Next JFK‘” (Time, 23 July, 2008, just the day
before the delivery in Berlin)
• Nb. Further research suggestion: more consistent and extended
research on the press

f.f. 23
 Heading to Berlin - Empowerment:
leader’s image and articulation of the
• Obama superstar:
nation
“The media can barely contain their excitement. "Germany Meets the
Superstar" read the front page of the weekly Der Spiegel in reference to a
popular TV show, while the tabloid Bild called Obama "Berlin's New
Kennedy!" and gushed, "It's like 1963," describing the presidential candidate
as "just as young, sexy and charismatic" as John F. Kennedy. And that's
before he's even set foot here”.

• US as dreamland again (and the intended audience is still American):

“For many Germans, Obama is the embodiment of the American dream
and the ideal of a land of opportunity where everyone can make it to the
top regardless of race or social background. […]
"Germans differentiate between America and the Bush Administration. They
are not anti-American per se; on the contrary," says Andreas Etges,
professor for North American studies at Free University Berlin and curator of
a local museum focused on the Kennedys. "Obama, not only because of
his skin color, for many, represents the other, better America." […]
While the actual target of Obama's speech will be American voters watching
him on television, it will still be up to the tens of thousands of Berliners
expected to gather around the Siegess ule to grant Obama his "Kennedy"
moment. (Time, 23 July, 2008, fromf.f.“German awaits the new JFK”) 24
 …back to our speech: the Change
• Change: reframing the notion of self-help and responsibility filling the gap between
“nurturant mother” and “strict father” morality (Lakoff, 1996)
“Ironically, this quintessentially American -- and yes, conservative -- notion of self-help found
frequent expression in Rev. Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to
understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can
change”.
• Inclusive logic, and inclusive rhetoric: Inclusive freedom, Inclusive religiouseness, Inclusive
politics
• Distraction vs. what really matters, division and conflict vs. union:
“For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and
conflict, and cynicism. […]
We can play Rev. Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from
now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the
American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words.
We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race
card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general
election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other
distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change”.
• A wider perspective, a more perfect union
• Ashley story: narratives for persuasion’s sake
f.f. 25
 In focus: Inclusive Rhetoric
• Inclusive freedom: “It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not
have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare and
education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America
prosper”.
• Inclusive religiousness: “In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and
nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand -- that we do unto
others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture
tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in
one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well”.
• Inclusive politics: “For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics
that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as
spectacle -- as we did in the O.J. trial -- or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the
aftermath of Katrina -- or as fodder for the nightly news”.

➢ Inclusive rhetoric = Hyperordinate category: conceptual articulation,

multilevel analysis
– Conceptual (cognitive, logical, structural or static)
– Narrative (discourse, text, dynamic perspective)
– Argumentational (form, style, concept)
f.f. 26
 In focus: Inclusive Rhetoric
• “As with Conflict Rhetoric, Inclusive Rhetoric is a hyperordinate category; it
therefore has to do with the conceptual articulation of multilevel analysis,
covering three levels:
• conceptual (cognitive, logical, structural or static)
• narrative (discourse, text, dynamic perspective)
• argumentational (form, style, concept)” (Ferrari, 2018: 229)

• For a more in-depth discussion on Obama’s Inclusive Rhetoric –Rhetoric

and examples from the text see Ferrari, 2018: 215-232 + see the definition
of inclusive rhetoric as a more sustainable perspective 2018: 231-2.

➢ Inclusive rhetoric = Hyperordinate category: conceptual articulation,

multilevel analysis
– Conceptual (cognitive, logical, structural or static)
– Narrative (discourse, text, dynamic perspective)
– Argumentational (form, style, concept)
f.f. 27
 Inclusive vs. Conflict Rhetoric
• “Rhetoric of Conflict” vs. “Inclusive Rhetoric” = two different
rhetorical attitudes affecting the discourse at all its levels”: “(1) the
rhetorical style in the context, (2) the narratives and (3) the
metaphorical concepts.” (Ferrari, 2018: 216)
• “Inclusive Rhetoric”: “a wider perspective is fostered to manage
problems with a more comprehensive and proactive modality. […]
• CR “more disruptive” vs. IR “a more constructive rhetorical
attitude. CR “based on a static, disproportionate bipolar
opposition” vs. IR “functions dynamically and progressively with
the tendency to reduce conflict into an integration of the
differences, while also enclosing them and taking complexity into
account”.
• “Basically, where the Conflict Rhetoric ‘cuts,’ the Inclusive Rhetoric
‘widens its compass’ to better comprehend the issue at hand. This
also suggests a different, more sustainable political action”. ( Ferrari,
2018: 229, + see the definition of inclusive rhetoric as a more sustainable perspective
2018: 231-2) f.f. 28
 …a More perfect Union, and other
stories
“I would not be running for president if I didn't believe with all
my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want
for this country. This union may never be perfect, but
generation after generation has shown that it can always be
perfected.
And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical
about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next
generation -- the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and
openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you
with today -- a story I told when I had the great honor of
speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer
Baptist, in Atlanta.
f.f. 29
 Last, but not least: Ashley’s Story
There is a young, 23-year-old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South
Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and
one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was 9 years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was
let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something
to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked
and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way
to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our
campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents,
too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's
problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But
she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the
campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly
black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.
And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy.
He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to
everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black
man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the
course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is
where the perfection begins”. f.f. 30
f.f. 30
 The End
Ferrari, F. (2018). Metaphor
and Persuasion in Strategic
Communication: Sustainable
Perspectives. New York:
Routledge.

f.f. 31