Rhetoric implies choices, for both the speaker or writer and the audience. When we practice rhetoric we make decisions about our subject, audience, point of view, purpose, and message. . Furthermore, the audience must have a choice in responding to the message, must be able to adopt, modify, or reject it. . . . A burglar who holds a gun to my head . . . And the reader cooperates by trusting the reliability of the information.
Cultures vary over space and over time.
What was true of rhetoric for the ancient Greeks and Romans is not necessarily true for us. We can apply much of their work directly to our own rhetorical practices, but we also have to modify much of it to make it fit. Consider what some of our Asian students must learn. Whereas Western cultures tend to prize originality and individuality in student writing, Asian cultures tend to prize preservation of cultural values. Asian writing is more likely to spiral on itself, reiterating ideas in various ways.