For my example, I am using the show Stranger Things, a Netflix original series. In season 1, episode 7 of Stranger Things the clip from 9:10-10:58 (can't find an actual video so here is the time of the clip) shows the Department of Energy workers at the Wheeler's house convincing the Wheeler parents they are good people and simply trying to help their son, Mike, who is hiding the Department of Energy's experiment, Eleven. Both Agent Fraizer (the female DOE worker) and Dr. Brenner (the male DOE worker) are bad, evil people, and are using their rhetoric to convince the Wheeler's they are just trying to help.
Agent Fraizer and Dr. Brenner are being very calm with the Wheeler family, telling them that their son is possibly in danger and they need to know anything about where he could be to help them. They reassure them that they are the government and just want to help their son. The Wheeler parents are extremely distressed in this moment, so they trust Dr. Brenner when he soothes them, telling them he will help, gives them his word even, saying they just need to trust him. Mrs. Wheeler believes Dr. Brenner, even though he just wants to take Eleven back because she is some sort of experiment to them and they are conducting other experiments that lead to the harm of many lives.
This goes against Quintillian's assertion, because these bad people have convinced the Wheeler's that they are actually good people. Because of the Wheeler's naivety to the DOE workers, they can come off as "good people" even though they are truly not, simply through using reassuring rhetoric and their positions within the government. If the Wheeler's knew more about the DOE, Eleven, and what was actually going on, i'm sure they would realize the DOE workers are bad people and would not have trusted their word; however, because they are unaware, the bad people's rhetoric was successful.
No comments:
Post a Comment