Week 1 Assignment: Bias, Rhetorical Devices and Argumentation
What are some examples of bias, fallacies, and specific rhetorical devices in the speech?
The very beginning of the speech begins with a campaigner who is introducing their new candidate for Governor and who expresses negative bias towards the current Governor, Jim Gettys. It begins by describing the current governing as an “evil domination”. That same campaigner then expresses equal bias but in a positive way, towards Charles Foster Kane, by saying he is the only one who can rid the state of its current politics. The campaigner calls him a fighting liberal and friend of the working man but gives no examples of why he feels that way.
The speech is full of rhetorical devices, using analytical definitions to create emotion in the listeners. Charles Foster Kane points out that his only purpose is to “point out and make public, the dishonesty and downright villainy of Jim Getty’s political machine”. He is using hyperbole in this statement in order to exaggerate his viewpoint. He states that “this machine is in complete control of the government of the State” causing the people to react since this is the …show more content…
There are no comparisons between what Kane feels has already been done versus what he intends to do. However, he is making the claim that he will be elected as Governor based on the poll information. He also makes the biased claims against the Administration of Jim Gettys and the control it has over the State Government at that time. His argument leads to the unspoken conclusion that the existing government does not care for the ordinary people and that he intends to change the focus of the government to care for the decent, the underpaid, underfed, underprivileged, working men and slum children. Therefore, Kane would be the better choice as the Governor for the people of that