Rhetoric & Stereotypes - Essay Example

Rhetoric and Stereotypes There are multiple groups of people that make up the entire society; people in these groups are stereotyped in many different ways (Macrae, Stangor, Miles, 1996). These groups consist of politicians, tattooed persons, feminist and senior citizens among others.PoliticiansPoliticians are considered to be very cunning, liars, cheaters, brain washers, and people good at public speaking, greedy, cruel and charismatic. They do whatever is needed so as to get elected or to get things that they need to be done.

These stereotypes are both positive and negative.The TattooedPeople who are in the tattooed group are considered to be freaks, drug, addicts, criminals, weirdoes, tough and are always around bad people (Macrae, Stangor, Miles, 1996). These stereotypes are all negatives.FeministFeminists are considered to be gay or lesbians and annoying. It consists of people who do not value traditions, society and nature. These stereotypes are all negatives.Senior CitizenThe senior citizen group is taken to be made of people who are unwilling to accept new things, stuck in the past, silent and low movers who are hard at hearing.

These stereotypes are both positive and negatives.LanguagePoliticiansPoliticians use what looks like rational language that may in fact be false in their speeches so as to satisfy their own desires and interests. Another language common with the politicians is personal attack ad hominem (Bodenhausen and Macrae, 1994). The language is mostly used to shield the politician from the other groups of politicians. Usually this is done in a show of dislike for the other individual. Individuals with TattoosA common language among the tattooed people is subjectivism (Macrae, Stangor, Miles, 1996).

This is based on the assumption that whatever is true to an individual may not be true to the other. The language is used to justify their acts of misbehavior because most tattooed people are associated with negative activities. FeministThe feminist get a lot of attacks as many people do not want to accept their way of life hence they are never approved and are considered to be weak. Scare tactics are used to undermine their efforts to justify their way of living within the society (Ninvalle, 2004).

The stereotypes are meant to undermine or intimidate someone into not doing some things. For example, a feminist can be intimidated due to the fact she is a woman and women are considered weak within the society.Senior CitizenSenior citizens are the most neglected and stereotyped people within the society and the language commonly used is genetic fallacy according to Bodenhausen and Macrae (1994). This involves rejecting a claim based on origin or history. These stereotypes are usually half truths and they are based on assumptions that have little or no evidence.

ConclusionIn conclusion, the languages and rhetoric used in stereotyping are mostly unjustifiable and do not have any basis at all because they are meant to intimidate or protect the individual. They are either arguments or assumptions and they do not have any clear basis and thus cannot be used to justify any truth. From those chapters, it is evident that stereotyping can have both the negative and positive effect on the individual. ReferencesBodenhausen G. & Macrae, C. (1994) “Stereotypes: structure, function and process”.

British journal of social psychology. British Psychological Society.Macrae, N. Stangor C., Miles H. (1996) Stereotypes and stereotyping. Guilford Press.Ninvalle C. (2004) Stereotypes. Toucan Publishing Company.