Role of Rhetoric and False Consciousness - Essay Example

It persuades people to accept as true ideas of a society, which are either an “ideal type”, or worse, one that is made up. Hence, rhetoric plays an essential role in the “constitution of meaning.” In this sense, the use of rhetoric becomes a powerful tool of persuasion that could be used ethically or that could corrupt and lead to false consciousness.

This could be illustrated both at the level of society and at the level of the individual. At the level of society, one can turn to how today’s society views aesthetics and beauty. False consciousness has created an idea of beauty and perfection that is characterized by a slim body, flawless skin, and asymmetrical facial features. Advertising companies and manufacturers of beauty products, to sell and market their products, have instilled in today’s society a very superficial conception of beauty. If we look at magazine and TV ads, they all persuade their audience towards one idea – that unless a person has a perfect body and a perfect face, then he or she is not beautiful.

As a consequence, we now live in a society clamoring for perfection. Sales of beauty and slimming products have gone on overdrive. Some have even gone to the extreme and went under the knife. Such use of rhetoric, in the form of advertising, has created a very insecure population. Although there is nothing wrong with striving for perfection, the effect rhetoric has on people’s psyche is very troubling. It is characteristic of what Aristotle refers to as “sophistry” – using rhetoric to pursue one’s interests. In this case, it is the interest of a profit-hungry beauty industry. Eventually, as we see today, people accept the ideas about beauty and their inferiority – they either transform themselves into a more “perfect” person, or they strive hard to create an illusion of perfection.

 False consciousness is maintained because through the use of rhetoric, the enlightenment of these people and societies, which is a necessary precondition for the destruction of false consciousness and the realization of what is true, is inhibited. Rhetoric allows the social structures that perpetuate false consciousness to pervade. Literature today, such as fairy tales, for example, perpetuates children's beliefs about beauty and kindness. It presents the main characters, which children are taught to relate to, as a paragon of beauty, perfection, and kindness; while the villains are described as ugly and evil. Hence, these children grow up believing that being good is equated to being beautiful and vice versa. Since a person’s character is built based on their experiences as a child, they grow up striving to be like these main characters – beautiful princesses.

Rhetoric, therefore, creates and maintains false consciousness by instilling ideas and beliefs in people, which they accept as definitive of who they are and what they can do. It maintains this false consciousness because it inhibits the enlightenment of these people by constantly reminding and convincing them about their false reality.