Final Blog Post

1) The exigence you are trying to address.
2) The Persuasive Function(s) (Chapter 3) you were trying to carry out, aka your rhetorical goal.
3) The Strategy(ies) and Tactic(s) (Chapter 6) you used to accomplish your rhetorical goal.
4) What genre did you choose to carry out your rhetorical message? Why this type of artifact over others, i.e., why a pamphlet instead of a youtube video?
5) What are the conventions of the genre you chose? How did you work within them and/or go outside of them to compose your artifact? How does the genre help you carry out your goal?

        The exigence I am trying to address is the creation of the independent state of Palestine. Since it's creation in 1947 Israel has been a country under heavy opposition from the Palestinian people and the movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization has been making an effort to eradicate Israel and when that didn't work, coexist with Israel. The PLO is a huge movement that has used a variety of rhetorical strategies to ultimately reach their goal of a State of Palestine. The two rhetorical strategies I used to accomplish this goal are the most common used by the PLO today, altering perceptions of social reality, mobilizing to action, and framing. Altering perceptions of social reality is a huge rhetorical strategy for the PLO as "a problem is not really a problem to an audience until they perceive it as such." (50, Stewart, Smith, & Denton) Much of the world does not think Palestine is worthy of a State or has had their country shrink over time and to prove to the public that they are worthy of an independent state the PLO attempts to re-frame the situation and portray Israel as terrorists and aggressors, which is often the light they are shown in. I used mobilizing for action as a strategy which is used in all parties of the PLO in different ways. Hamas mobilizes native people to often take arms and Fatah mobilizes people to join legislation and diplomacy, but since my artifact is to the general American public rather than people living in Israel, I used the only form of action likely to cause any change: a petition with 1.6 million people. I chose the genre of a presentation, specifically a prezi. I did this is an easy way to relay the information cited by the PLO. The facts and statements made by the PLO most of the time are better presented in a visual manner, such as a map of Israel today vs 30 years ago, and I felt a prezi could accurately relay that information while also be aesthetically more pleasing than a similar presentation like a power-point. The conventions of the genre of a prezi were having a linear path. With a prezi I had to make a flow map and create a visual story, having another genre such as a pamphlet I could have just presented all the information at once to make an argument. A prezi required me to use my rhetorical strategies in an order to make an effective argument. First I had to re-frame Israel in light that the PLO sees them, alter perceptions of reality showing that Palestinians are the real victims in this international crisis, and then finally mobilize for action by offering the petition at the end. Any other rhetorical order and the argument would not have been as strong.