Facebook Profile Picture

            A Facebook profile picture usually says a lot about the person it belongs to.  It not only tells us who the person is, but it can also tell a small story about their life or give us a glimpse of their personality.  However, whether that glimpse or story is a real depiction of their life is the question.  How the person presents the picture and how the person looking at the picture interprets it are two factors that determine if it is a real representation.

            The person who owns the Facebook profile picture ultimately gets to determine what the audience sees. You can portray yourself in any light you want because you can basically choose what part of your life you want other people to see.  You could spend a majority of your life sitting and watching tv but make your profile picture from that one night you went to a party, and a lot of people may think you’re a party person.  You can crop out people or things you don’t want others to see to make them think of you in a certain way.

            My Facebook profile picture is of me at a party for a Christian organization called NAVS with a few of my friends.  I didn’t put my profile picture up thinking “I want to persuade someone”.  I wasn’t intentionally trying to persuade people of anything, but now that I look at it closely, I can tell that I was trying to make people think certain things.  I put this as my profile picture mostly because it was humorous.  It’s a picture of my friends and I, all making different faces and poses, and we’re all wearing ugly Christmas sweaters.  So my main goal of putting this picture up was to persuade people that I’m a fun person.  I like to have fun and I would like people to think that and think that I have a sense of humor.  Also, when putting this picture as my profile picture, I had to crop it.  The original picture was a little bit larger and had a few other people in it, but I cut them out - mostly because Facebook made me crop my picture into a square - but also because I wanted myself to be in the center.  My picture makes it seem like I’m “the head of the crew” or like I’m popular.  My pose and facial expression portray myself as being funny and confident when in reality, I’m actually a very shy person.  This just shows that a person’s profile picture might not be exactly who they are but maybe who they would like to be.

Rhetoric in Everyday Life

            Rhetoric is something that is very prevalent in our society today and it is something that we can’t avoid.  We are exposed to it every day and use it every day, even if we don’t necessarily mean to. 

Rhetoric in my every day life isn’t something I’ve thought about often or something I’ve paid much attention to, but I’m exposed to it constantly.  The persuasive characteristics of rhetoric, whether I realize it or not, shape a lot of the things in my life, from the clothes I wear to the products I buy and the opinions I form about people and ideas.  When most people think of rhetoric and persuasive tactics, an advertisement is usually the first thing that comes to our minds because it is something that conspicuously tries to persuade us of something - usually to buy a product.  According to CBS news, the average person is exposed to around 5,000 advertisements per day.  I usually watch a lot of shows on TBS and Food Network so a lot of the ones I see are trying to persuade me to buy things such as hair care products or to eat at certain restaurants.  Advertisements are a huge part of how I am exposed to rhetoric because they broadcasted using a bunch of different mediums such as tvs, magazines, posters and billboards.

            However, rhetoric can take on many other forms besides advertisements.  One that a lot of people don’t think about is clothes and how people present themselves. This is one of the main ways that I use rhetoric.  For example, I wear certain clothes, such as American Eagle and Nike, and carry purses made by Coach and Vera Bradley to try to persuade people that I am fashionable.  Social media is another example of how a lot of people, including myself, use rhetoric. I use Twitter and Facebook to communicate my thoughts, ideas and opinions to people, sometimes in a persuasive way to get them to passively agree with me.

            Various other ways people use rhetoric are through political cartoons, debates, and art. We have been exposed to rhetoric since a young age and its various forms most likely have played a part in shaping the opinions, ideas and beliefs that we have today.