Dichotomy, rhetoric, evaluation and empowerment (part 2)

Rhetorical questions are the most underrated linguistic tool in our arsenal.

They’re powerful because they’re more about making a point than getting an answer. Such language stimulates introspection, which is an invaluable asset when navigating fear.

We need to learn how to deploy that within on a moment’s notice.

During the pandemic, I remember reading headlines each day, seeing the same doom and gloom everyone else did. But there were many moments when I asked myself some variation of the following.

Should I fall in lockstep with social pressure, or assume personal risk and retain the power to make my own choices?

Rhetorical inquiry became a practice. One that I’d always found useful in the past, but even more so during covid. And in my experience, this kind of language created an open loop within my mind, which kept my curiosity in play.

By provoking thought and reflection rather than rote and reaction, I challenged my own assumptions, and explored alternative viewpoints.

Wow, maybe commuting to a physical office each day really is a wasteful and exhausting ritual our society has finally outgrown. Maybe this pandemic, while devastating in the macro, is the greatest opportunity for personal transformation I have experienced in my life so far.

This reflection was priceless, because it seared the practice of rhetorical inquiry into my muscle memory.

Today, I am much more aware of my own natural inclination to conform to social norms and follow the actions of the majority. That’s a skill worth having.

Sure, sometimes I have to take one for the team, and that’s fine.

But the difference is, rhetoric is what lets me make that decision as expression of my identity and freedom.

Now I can take action because of sober and practical thinking, rather than emotional overreaction and groupthink. 

Tomorrow we explore part three, evaluation.