Blog Post 26

I. Mapping/Charting the Argument

Scientists and doctors have been looking at autism and what causes this disorder for many years especially recently. It is a disorder that causes one to be socially awkward and different than the rest of society. Scientist really cannot find out why autism affects the brain and ones behavior like it does. What they do know is that autistic people use different parts of their brains while processing information that “normal” people do. With the lack of scientific knowledge therefore there is no way to discuss this topic without using rhetorical arguments.

IIa. Connections

This article connects with Gee, Swales, and Wardle in which all the articles talk about discourse communities. Autistic people can be seen as a discourse community because they all have the same disorder and their s specific language and terms that other people would not understand unless they were experts on autism or they themselves had autism.

IIb. Project 3

This article represents and talks about a type of discourse community and the research that most be done in order to classify a group of people as a discourse community. Much like in my project I am doing research as to why my hockey team is a discourse community. So this article very much relates to the research that I am going to be doing except I will be studying my hockey team, not autistic people.

III. Problematic/Necessary Terms

Critical mass: the amount you need to achieve what needs to be done.

Rhetorical analysis: analyzing subjects and concepts in rhetorical ways of practicing and thinking.

Rhetoric: what most have in common is the language use in the social area and the role of communication and interaction within it. Or, being in the world through language, through invention, structure, and style.

Topoi: a convention or motif.

“Types of rhetoric”: judicial, epideictic, deliberative

Rhetorical listening: The practice that urges us to fundamentally alter how we hear and response to discourses of others.

Echolalia: an uncontrollable and immediate repetition of worlds spoken by another. 

Relativistic empathy: dependence upon some variable factor such as the psychological, social, or environmental context.

IV. Activities/Discussion

To talk about autism and how it can be seen as a discourse community, also to show how convincing people doesn’t also have to be shown by using data and concrete facts