Led by Edwin Black Simulacrum
About this course
How rhetoric constructs its audience — the second persona, implied readers, and the moral consequences of address. Applied to media ecosystems, algorithmic curation, and democratic discourse.
Part of Information Disorder & Democratic Decay — one of five wicked problems examined from multiple disciplinary perspectives.
Led by Edwin Black Simulacrum
The question
The first persona (the speaker's self-presentation) and the second persona (the implied auditor) · how rhetorical texts construct their audiences as certain kinds of people · the moral dimension: the second persona is a model of what the rhetor wants you to become · examples from political speech, a
Outcome
Demonstrates competence in the second persona in traditional and digital media.
Sub-units
Led by Edwin Black Simulacrum
The question
The relationship between rhetoric and democracy (from Athens to the attention economy) · how democratic discourse requires a particular kind of second persona: the citizen as rational deliberator · what happens to democracy when the dominant second persona is the consumer, the fan, or the outraged p
Outcome
Demonstrates competence in information ecosystems and democratic address.
Sub-units