Egyptian rhetoric is definitely very different from the rhetorics we've studied so far, but certainly sound in its ideas. However, with the way our culture and technology has evolved, it'd be quite difficult to execute in today's culture. I find interesting that the Egyptians see rhetoric as a form of entertainment, for not only does the rhetorical canons of ancient Egyptian rhetoric not fit well with our modern definition of rhetoric, but I would also say that part of why we wouldn't be able to employ Egyptian rhetoric into today's conversations is because of entertainment culture and mediums of today, especially television.
To explain, let's look at the Egyptian canons of silence, good timing, restraint, fluency of expansion, and truthfulness:
Fluency of expansion is likely the trait we'd be most likely to see in today's conversations, even if fluent speech today doesn't remotely resemble fluent speech of Ancient Egypt, which looked and sounded more like poetry than what we would consider speech today. But today's most eloquent speakers do share the trait of fluency, or at least to a certain extent.
Truthfulness is also exists, hopefully regularly, in today's rhetoric, though I found it almost adorably naive the belief that truth is an absolute necessary for good rhetoric. While it's true that a truthteller will always be more ethical, there seems to be a belief that it will be known when someone is lying. The implication in the text seems to be that a liar will give themselves away somehow, be it with their words, manner of speaking, or body language, which is certainly a possibility when someone lies. However, a confident or rehearsed speaker could lie with ease, and I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to find videos of people lying with a straight face.
As for the remaining three canons, these are the ones that I feel that today's communication media and entertainment culture would make it impossible, or at least highly difficult, for them to exist as both debate and entertainment. This is primarily driven by time limits in communication media, primarily television, video, and radio, but there are even limits in text media too.
For examples, one of the remaining canons is the importance of silence and how it can be used as a rhetorical technique to either demonstrate the strength of your own point or the weakness of your opponent's words. While I was initially surprised to read about silence as a rhetorical technique, it now feels like an intuitive thing to do.
However, in today's communication media there are often limits -- in television for example, when debates are televised whether they be on news shows or political debates, there's usually only a limited amount of time set aside for these debates. Therefore, staying still in silence seems like not a wise thing to do when you only have an hour for the debate and you have a list of things you want to say, which is likely primarily why so many televised debates are people trying to shout over each other. Silence is even more pointless in written mediums, for the weight of silence can really only be seen and heard in person, if a debate was portrayed in text, then it would just look like one person was dominating the conversation, rather than the other person deliberately holding their words.
Good timing and restraint also fail for similar reasons, though there is also another aspect that make these canons difficult in today's society. We're a nation that thrives off of sensationalism, even many news shows can't be a neutral presentation of news, and have to include silly gimmicks. While I think our society today appreciates the power of words as the Egyptians did, we are not cautious with this power, but rather take advantage of it to draw attention, whether it be good or bad. A careful, restrained politician rarely draws notice in the news, but on the flipside there's very little consequence for saying something silly and getting talked about for awhile.
Restraint in particular is what drives the biggest distance today between rhetoric and entertainment. I really struggle to think of a show, reality shows in particular, that is careful, thoughtful conversation rather than people saying what appears to be the first things that pop in their heads. Again, in a nation that thrives off of sensationalism, someone who is careful with what they say and when they say it would be the furthest thing from entertaining to us, I think.
I do find it a bit sad that the canons of ancient Egyptian rhetoric are not seen more in our current culture, for I think it would be fascinating to see them executed. However, even if we didn't already have an existing attachment to the Greek canons, the way our culture, communication technologies, and entertainment industry has evolved make it unlikely that these canons will integrate themselves anytime soon.
Questions:
1. The forms of rhetoric we follow in today's society seems to be closer to the Greek forms of rhetoric. Do you think developments in media, technology, and the entertainment industry has affected these Greek canons too? Why or why not?
2. Do you think rhetoric is still considered entertainment in modern day society?
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