Believe by Yellowcard

September 11th, 2001. A time of heartache, fear and a coming together that America hasn't seen in a long time. Where were you on 9/11? Were you in a classroom, where the teachers were instructed to tell you nothing? Did you know someone who was a hero?

Yellowcard's song, "Believe", recorded sometime in 2002 and released in 2003, pays tribute to those heroes, those men and women that lost their lives on that day:

The song has us think about what the saviors went through, "climbing higher through the fire", a mantra that goes through the minds of those in danger to calm, "everything is going to be alright, be strong, believe". An assurance that they will get through this.

The song is told through the point of view of the person being saved from the chaos. There's thanks for letting them see their families again, for giving up their lives even though it wasn't clear if they're lives would be saved too.

In the background, and excerpt from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's speech the year after is heard:

     "Again today, we take into our hearts and minds those who perished on this site, one year ago, and also those who came to toil in the rubble to bring order out of chaos, and helo us make sense of our despair."

This excerpt drives Yellowcard's meaning even further, hearing a speech commemorating the victims of 9/11. The use of political rhetoric and musical rhetoric in one, gives an even deeper meaning to the song, it unites two fronts.

Another excerpt is heard, an even more famous one, one that united the nation at a different time:

      "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

The Gettysburg Address, read by New York Governor George Pataki, was used during the Civil War. The original speech was read at the site of the Battle of Gettyburg (one of the bloodiest battle of the war) to give thanks to those who lost their lives for the war. Governor Pataki repeated the speech at the one year memorial of 9/11 to do the same, but instead in the memory of those who lost their lives in the start of the "War on Terror".

Yellowcard combines their lyrics and the speeches to create a rhetorical song that persuades the listeners to give thanks for the heroes of 9/11, and to never forget the event.

   

Photo by: jonathaneric on Flickr.com

BroTips?

Recently, I was exposed to this blog on tumblr called brotips. The website for it is brotips.tumblr.com.

The website is handled by two girls and one guy and it pretty much just gives a bunch of tips for anyone, boy or girl. Some of them are funny, some of them are serious, but in the end they all are giving out a good message.

Some of them are:
            

            


and my personal favorite:

The site uses positive rhetoric to tell people to be better people, let things go, and baically live life as best you can. I personally think a lot of the advice is really good, fantastic to tell your friends. Going through the tips, I can relate to most of them, know people who should really take that advice, and laugh at the ridiculous ones, that I actually can kind of understand. They don't discriminate and mainly try to convince the audience, people reading the blog, to live life and don't let little things bother you. The site does a good job of promoting this mesage, updating five new brotips each day.

Instead of giving the usual "bro" tips which could consist of "wear you hat to the side" or "popping the collar on your shirt isn't cool", it appeals to everyone and as the person running the site said: "They're just tips for your every day life. They're tips that we'd share with our friends, our bros, hence brotips."

By promoting things that enhance life they send out a good message, rather than limiting the message to how to be cool. It's just a site that gives advice, in a funny way, that most everyone should take, most of the time at least.


All images from brotips.tumblr.com.

When In Doubt, Turn to Music.

Recently, I was introduced to the song "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons. I fell in love with it immediately.

The lyrics give a clear message: to not let what happened in the past effect your hopes for the future. It's a common thing for people to let past regrets effect what you do in the present or even what you want to do in the future.


Maybe you failed at trying something, The cave by Mumford and Sons uses lyrics like:

"The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind"

and:

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

It gets across the message that things are looking up, don't let the fears of the past keep you from moving forward. It's a motivatinal message that I think more songs should use. More songs should incorporate messgages like this; the same old songs about lost loves and loving someone are great and all, but sometimes I think we really need more songs that are more than that.

Another message that's present in the song  is to not let other people's thoughts and opinions effect you or change you:

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say


Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

I think this song is a little different, well a lot different, than most the other songs on the top 40, but it also has a very different message than those. It tries to persuade people to be their own, to move on from mistakes instead of wondering what they should have done or wishing they could change what they did.

The song uses rhetoric to persuade the audience to take control of themselves and be their own judges.

Penn State Rugby

How does rugby relate to rhetoric, you ask? Simple. We Are 60 as one and every time there's a problem we are to respect the other person, or people, and address the proble or understand that people make mistakes.

A couple weeks ago we had a team meeting to talk about what are goals for the season are as a whole. After brainstorming for about five minutes, each group came up with ideas such as:
-Help those who need help.
-If you weren't chosen to play, support the one who was.
-Leave judgement off the team.
-Respect that other's are different. Don't judge them on what they do.
-Accept advice form others.

Penn State has won two back to back national titles, and this year we're going for the third. How can we get there? Through the use of rhetoric and of course hardwork. We try to abide by respecting eachother and playing Penn State rugby.

Is this reaching? Maybe, but I think that rhetoric is more than just using language, it's using it to persuade others and in the case of my team, it's using it to persuade the team to try your hardest because we can be the best. Because being on a team is more than just being there and playing the game. It's trusting your team to be there when you need them to pass the ball, and if they're not, then being understanding and not holding it against them.

Everytime we step on the field, our coach has us picture the first hit, the first time we pass the ball off. Our team uses rhetoric everytime we step on the field to play Penn State rugby, because persuasive speech is more than just for speeches or advertiseing, it can persuade an audience to be motivated and to respect others. Rhetoric can be positive too.