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Professor Wayne Booth made this statement at a
national conference of scholars and teachers of writing held only months after 9/11, and it quickly drew a range of responses. Just what did Booth mean by this stark statement? How could rhetoric—the art and practice of persuasion—act as a counter to war?
A noted critic and scholar, Booth explored these questions throughout his long career, identifying rhetoric as an ethical art that begins with
deep and intense listening and that searches for mutual understanding
and common ground as an alternative to violence and war. Put another
way, two of the most potent tools we have for persuasion are language—
and violence: when words fail us, violence often wins the day. Booth sees
the careful, persistent, and ethical use of language as our best approach
to keeping violence and war at bay.
During the summer of 2014, Booth’s words echoed again, as Israel
and Hamas faced off in another armed conflict that raged for months,
leaving thousands dead and resolving nothing. Meanwhile, in the United
States, people across the country protested the killings of Michael Brown
in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York; and other
African American men, all at the hands of police officers. At marches and
sit-ins, protesters held up signs saying “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t
breathe,” echoing Eric Garner’s last words after being wrestled to the 
ground in a chokehold. Protestors took to social media as well, using
these dramatic and memorable statements as rhetorical strategies
that captured and held the attention of millions of Americans.
So how can you go about developing your own careful, ethical
use of language? Our short answer: by learning to think and act rhetorically, that is, by developing habits of mind that begin with listening and searching for understanding before you decide what you
yourself think, and by thinking hard about your own beliefs before
trying to persuade others to listen to and act on what you say.
Learning to think rhetorically can serve you well as you negotiate the complexities of life in today’s world. In many everyday situations, you’ll need to
communicate successfully with others in order to get things done, and done
in a responsible and ethical way. On the job, for example, you may need to
bring coworkers to consensus on how best to raise productivity when there
is little, if any, money for raises. Or in your college community, you may find
yourself negotiating difficult waters.
When a group of students became aware of how little the temporary
workers on their campus were paid, for example, they met with the workers and listened to gather information about the issue. They then mounted
a campaign using flyers, newsletters, speeches, and sit-ins—in other words,
using the available means of persuasion—to win attention and convince 
the administration to raise the workers’ pay. These students were thinking and acting rhetorically, and doing so responsibly and ethically. Note
that these students, like the protesters in Ferguson, worked together, both
with the workers and with each other. In other words, none of us can manage
such actions all by ourselves; we need to engage in conversation with others
and listen hard to what they say. Perhaps that’s what philosopher Kenneth
Burke had in mind when he created his famous “parlor” metaphor:
Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others
have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a
discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is
about. . . . You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the
tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar.
—kenneth burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form
In this parable, each of us is the person arriving late to a room full of animated conversation; we don’t understand what is going on. Yet instead of
butting in or trying to take over, we listen closely until we catch on to what
people are saying. Then we join in, using language and rhetorical strategies
to engage with others as we add our own voices to the conversation.
This book aims to teach you to think and act rhetorically—to listen carefully and then to “put in your oar,” join conversations about important issues, and develop strong critical and ethical habits of mind that will help
you engage with others in responsible ways. This chapter will help you develop the habit of thinking rhetorically.
First, Listen
Thinking rhetorically begins with listening, with being willing
to hear the words of others in an open and understanding way. It
means paying attention to what others say before and even as a way
of making your own contributions to a conversation. Think of the
times you are grateful to others for listening closely to you: when
you’re talking through a conflict with a family member, for instance,
or even when you’re trying to explain to a salesperson what it is
you’re looking for. On those occasions, you want the person you’re
addressing to really listen to what you say.
This is a kind of listening that rhetorician Krista Ratcliffe dubs “rhetorical
listening,” opening yourself to the thoughts of others and making the effort
not only to hear their words but to take those words in and fully understand
what people are saying. It means paying attention to what others say as a
way of establishing good will and acknowledging the importance of their
views. And yes, it means taking seriously and engaging with views that differ, sometimes radically, from your own.
Rhetorical listening is what middle school teacher Julia Blount asked
for in a Facebook post following the 2015 riots in Baltimore after the death
of Freddie Gray, who suffered fatal spinal injuries while in police custody:
Every comment or post I have read today voicing some version of disdain
for the people of Baltimore—“I can’t understand” or “They’re destroying their own community”—tells me that many of you are not listening.
I am not asking you to condone or agree with violence. I just need you
to listen. . . . If you are not listening, not exposing yourself to unfamiliar
perspectives . . . not engaging in conversation, then you are perpetuating
white privilege. . . . It is exactly your ability to not hear, to ignore the situation, that is a mark of your privilege.
—julia blount, “Dear White Facebook Friends: I Need You
to Respect What Black America Is Feeling Right Now”