Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Women's March and Rhetoric

On January 21st, 2017, an estimated 4,956, 422 people around the world participated in a march to express their feelings and concerns about their rights.  While the march was called the Women’s March on Washington, there were 673 other marches around the world.  And while the name may be misleading they did more than stand up for women’s reproductive rights and equal pay, they also stood up for rights including those of immigration, LGBTQ, racial equality, and religion. 

The goals of this march were not radical but instead to get their point across.  In today’s society in order to do that you must make a big enough statement to get people talking and start a movement, which is exactly what this march did.  The book talks about rhetoric as convincing someone to think a certain way or do a certain thing.  That being said, rhetoric was the embodiment of the Women’s March.  The point was to express their concerns and to inform the public on the injustice of inequality in our country.  They also strategically planned for it to be the day after newly elected President Trump's inauguration.  This was because they wanted to bring the attention of these rights to the new administration who have made comments that threatened many of these rights. 

One way this march used rhetoric on the public was through signs made for the march.  Many participants were not trying to force the march on the public but more of a way to raise awareness.  They did this through witty and funny signs that took off on social media.   For days after the march social media was covered in pictures of signs that made statements and caught people’s attention.  These signs were everywhere, and everyone saw them.  This made people understand what these people were actually marching for and convinced America through emotional and meaningful content that the rights for different groups of people are not equal, meaning that the march, through rhetoric, did its job.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/inauguration-2017/women-s-march-washington-echoed-cities-around-world-n710156

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