Winkler to talk about political rhetoric tactics

     Dr. Carol Winkler of Georgia State University will present the lecture, “Behind the Scenes: Crafting the President’s Terrorism Rhetoric,” on Monday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium.
     The lecture is based on her recently published book, “In the Name of Terrorism: Presidents on Political Violence in the Post-World War II Era.”
     According to Winkler, the book explains in some detail the crafting process of presidents’ messages that happen behind the scenes.
     “It shows when the presidents have chosen to fabricate and exaggerate their messages, and how the decisions of one president influence another,” she said.
     Winkler is professor of Communication and associate dean for the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at GCSU. She said she became interested in the topic because she initially thought that by understanding the past, future presidents would not repeat the same mistakes.
     “Instead, I was amazed to find how past rhetorical choices operate as both a major constraint and opportunity for future presidents,” Winkler said. “I had the heads of Presidential Libraries take me to lunch to talk because seeing an academic who worked across libraries was so unusual.”
     Dr. James Winchester, associate professor of philosophy and interim chair of the Honors and Scholars program, invited Winkler to GCSU as part of a series of lectures sponsored by the Honors and Scholars program. He said one goal in bringing Winkler to GCSU is to discuss the style of presidents’ speeches.
     “Carol Winkler is one of the country’s foremost experts on the rhetoric of presidents’ speeches,” Winchester said.
He said he thinks the lecture will be interesting and the topic is very important.
     “I think we all need to think about rhetoric surrounding terrorism,” he said.
     Sara Sellers, a junior mass communication major and member of The Honors and Scholars Program, said she thinks it’s a really interesting topic that she doesn’t think many have thought about much.
     “It’s important for everyone to know what their governing body is up to ‘behind the scenes,’” Sellers said. “I want to learn exactly how my presidents have used terrorism to make me do things I wouldn’t normally do.”
     Winkler’s ultimate goal behind writing her book was to provide people with needed information.
     “I wanted the reader to have both the tools and background needed to critically analyze how the nation’s leaders were publicly discussing and using terrorism to support their goals,” she said.
     The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Winchester at 478-445-4025.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 18 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry