Message Manipulation

Smith says, “If Freud is the therapist for the individual psyche, then Marx seeks to be the therapist for the world’s political psyche” (302). Karl Marx was concerned and wrote many texts of the political nature and is famous for his arguments supporting a “collective community” and criticizing a capitalistic society. Surprising to me, only knowing Marx for his political and cultural ideas, he also deals with rhetoric.

One idea he deals with is freedom of speech and who should be allowed to speak or who will speak the truth to their audience. When concerning politics, Marx understands that sometimes a situation can be more about politics than meaning what you say. For example, lobbyist account for many laws that are passed today. If a law has no money behind it to enforce it (such as funds from a lobbyist group) then the law cannot be enforced. For years, an equal rights amendment for women has been shot down due to political forces (money) that a fundamental Christian lobbying group has.

I think the more important message that Marx is saying here pertains to the “message manipulation that dominates our society” (304). When a politician wants to look good he can make himself look good with rhetoric, which can be seen in speeches made everyday. It can also be seen in all advertisements made today. Advertisements seen in fashion magazines would have you believe that all women are young, skinny and beautiful which is so not the case. Another example is a Nike commercial that leads you to believe that you will not have that competitive edge over an opponent unless you own a pair of their athletic shoes.

I say the remedy for these message manipulations is read into everything you see (which is easy for an English major), don’t be a cultural dupe and don’t use these tactics in your own speech and writing. Sadly, if a politician acted by these guidelines he would loose his edge over opponents and modifying speech to make oneself to look good will always exist in that realm.




Bibliography

Smith, Craig R. Rhetoric & Human Consciousness. 2nd ed. Waveland Press, Inc: Illinois. Pg. 278.