Political rhetoric

Ian on Sunday

Right now the temperature of partisan dispute, and tempers on all sides, are rising sharply. Much more heat and smoke is being generated than clarifying light. The calm consideration of issues is on nobody’s priority list. The awful, grating noise of ranks closing is drowning out any voices trying to be objective. “Who is not for me unconditionally is against me unforgivably”; that is the rule which governs opinion at times like these. “My enemy’s enemy, however disreputable, is my friend.” It is dogma time in the barnyard.

It is not a good time for commentators and columnists. Any word doubting one side’s plan to inaugurate immediate Utopia will be greeted with scorn and derision. Further word opposing the other side’s favourite scheme to change human nature instantly for the better will be singled out for vituperation. Merit will only be recognized by one side or the other if there is total commitment to one side or the other. I believe that Immanuel Kant’s words – “Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made  nothing entirely straight can be built” – should be applied to any policy, plan, or programme devised by any government or political party whatsoever. However, persons with such a view are not likely to be persona grata with anybody at the present time.

ian on sundayVarious forms of attack or appeal are much in evidence and it may be useful to describe them. In the Middle Ages, when rhetoric was part of the educational curriculum, these were classified in the textbooks and could be easily recognized. Let us go through some of the principal devices which politicians through the ages have adopted. Ours are no different.

The argumentum ad populum is the appeal to irrational fears and hatreds that are close to the surface in raw human nature. In Guyana, the appeal to race is the most dangerous and despicable form of this argument. Let us hope our national experience has inoculated us against this plague worse than cholera.

The argumentum ad hominen is a favourite device. Look out for it. It rejects a person’s views by abusing his personality, character, motives, background, youthful escapades, qualifications and so on. “We should pay no attention to this man’s views on anything. He is bad-tempered, vain, adulterous and also rather ugly.” There is no necessary connection between a man’s temper, vanity, faithfulness or looks and a man’s views but that does not prevent the wide use of this class of argument.

The argumentum ad crumenam is the appeal to a man’s purse, a very potent appeal indeed throughout history. Remember Herbert Hoover promising to put a chicken in the pot of every American. Remember Harold McMillan’s “You’ve never had it so good.” Roman emperors, though not subject to election, still tried to keep the price of bread low to court popularity. All parties at all times employ ad nauseam the argumentum ad crumenam. The opposition parties will have you believe that wages will soar and the price of everything from rice to minibuses will be magically lowered under their inspired stewardship, while the government claims that their indefatigable management of the economy has brought untold material benefits to all Guyanese present and to come.

Then there is the argumentum ad verecundiam. This is the appeal to higher authority which really should not be questioned. High offices do no confer infallibility though flawed human beings holding them like to speak and act as if they do. Leaders of the opposition and speakers, not to mention presidents and ministers, are as liable to err helplessly as any of us poor mortals under the sun. But they find it very hard to get off their high horses and admit it. So they try to cultivate the illusion that mere position equals unquestionability. Naturally, any statement or action is either true or false, right or wrong – or partly so more likely – irrespective of who makes the statement or takes the action but that does not in the slightest prevent politicians (or indeed anybody) constantly employing the fallacious argumentum ad verecundiam. Why do you think famous movie and sports stars command such high fees to extol for our benefit the claims of this beer or that perfume?

Finally, we should merely take note of the argumentum ad baculum, the argument of threat or appeal to the big stick. The celebrated mafiosi “offer he cannot refuse” is simply one example of the argumentum ad baculum in action. The use of this argument, thank goodness, is relatively unprevalent here – not at all an essential part of the national ethos as it is, for example, notably and infamously in various dictatorships around the world. That is not our style. The military does not wait in the wings with the ultimate sort of argumentum ad baculum at the ready. That at least we should be spared. As the months pass, however, be prepared for all the other kinds of argumenta in profusion. Take something and wave when you recognize each of them.