Do The Hamlet

The audience is always right. For all intents and purposes this is an important idea if you are trying to persuade someone. In chapter six of Thank You For Arguing, ethos is explained more in depth. The chapter discusses the importance of seeming a certain way towards your audience. The goal is to convince the audience of something whether its approving your plan or voting for you, so play the part the audience expects you to play.

In a sense this chapter reminds me of Hamlet because the whole dilemma of that play was seeming versus being. No one is saying you have to pretend to be crazy or be crazy to capture your audience. Each group has its own set of values. If you uphold or seem to uphold that groups values, you got it in the bag. The book describes someone who upholds the values of a group as "rhetorically virtuous" (pg 57). Ideas can vary from group to group and it is important that you understand the values important to the group you are speaking to. You have to match the beliefs of your audience so that they are receptive to what you are saying and therefore, attracted to your ethos.

Ethos is also affected by bragging or letting someone else do the bragging for you. Going back to Hamlet, it is kind of like him acting crazy. Sure he could act as bizarre as he could, but it was people spreading the word of his madness that sped up the process of... more craziness in that play. The power about what others say about you is very important. You could brag and brag all you want but that might end up tinting your ethos rather than making you more appealing to your audience. Instead if, oh I don't know, someone let it slip that you once saved a sheep from a burning barn and more people started bragging for you, it would make you seem great at the mouths of others.

The last two tools discussed in this chapter are making a flaw noble and switching sides. By revealing " some defect that shows your dedication to the audiences values." (pg 63) they will be instantly attracted to whatever you are proposing. There are risks with this strategy since it could make you look like a suck up but if used the right way, it will be touching to those you want to persuade. The last strategy is the trickiest to pull off. When you realize that your side is going to lose and make a quick jump into the other team. Hamlet jumped from being sane to being insane to persuade others around him (sort of). The last strategy is more of a back up plan and should only be used in emergencies.

So whether you actually agree with the values in your audience, you have to make them think that you do. To sum it up, do the Hamlet.