Rhetorical Rape: The Verbal Violations of the Punditocracy - Paperback

by Barry Pollick (Author), Daniel Broudy (Author)

Broudy and Pollick critically examine the programs of four radio pundits (Limbaugh, Schultz, Colmes and Hannity) and two TV pundits (O'Reilly and Olbermann), comparatively assessing their argumentative styles, call screening processes, use of 'teasers', guest diversity (how ideologically balanced the guest list is), and the ratio of time devoted to callers vs. host soliloquies. Authors also fit the genre into an historical context, tracing its roots back to Father Coughlin from the 1930s. In addition, the authors examine how propagandistic each show is and how such propaganda might affect civic (and civilized) participation, public discourse and the perception of political issues. The writing style ranges from scholarly to more conversational and cheeky (especially when obviously fallacious reasoning appears in hosts' arguments). Finally, the authors critically discuss the concept of American Exceptionalism and how it underlies the premises of many of the hosts.

Author Biography

Daniel Broudy is Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Applied Linguistics in the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication at Okinawa Christian University. He serves on the editorial board of Synaesthesia Journal and is author of "Clearing a Vygotskyan Path." As a veteran of combat operations, he researches the intersections of power and discourse in the generation of meaning. Barry Pollick is Professor of Communication at University of Maryland University College. He has worked as a journalist for newspapers in Cleveland, Ohio and has authored and co-authored several scholarly paper on public speech and the mass media. He coordinates a Japanese-English linguistic exchange program in Okinawa and researches cross-cultural approaches to negotiating truth claims.