Page 6 (Impact/Conclusion)

 The Lasting Impact of Rhetoric

Being the art of persuasion, rhetoric is a communication tool that has been used by humans since evolving and developing intelligence, and it will continue to be used until the day that there is one human left or less. 

Past uses of rhetoric have been impactful for how we view the world and it's history today, and we can learn from both the mistakes and triumphs of how rhetoric was used in the past. Even the rhetoric that is commonly used today, whether political or social or religous, will play a role in the continual progression of rhetoric, just as the past has done with today. 

However, harmful rhetoric will continue to be present throughout society. We saw examples of this firsthand, with the false rhetoric that the Covid-19 pandemic was a hoax and that the past American elections have been stolen or tampered with. 

This rhetoric is harmful not only because of the violence it can incite, but because of the doubt it instills and the threat it poses to the collective perspective of history. 

By allowing this harmful and false rhetoric to fester without challenge, we are leaving people susceptible to the fallacies and intentional manipulation that comes with the rhetoric. Events that we have witnessed firsthand in our current time may one day be misremembered, factual accuracies being neglected because of too many accounts of false rhetoric that are shadowing the truth of how the past happened. 

The world is constantly changing, so we must do what we can to preserve the factuality of history and combat the intentions of those using dangerous rhetoric. 

The future of our world and of human civilization depend on it. 

Conclusion

As we live in the beginning of the digital age, there is an abundance of news and opinion pieces floating around, much of which features harmful rhetoric cleverly disguised. 

No matter who or what it is that tells you something, 

it is important to question the validity of everything you read.

Even if the arguments or views presented are ones that you align with, 

you never know what motives someone might have for giving harmful rhetoric.

By understanding the reasons for why the rhetoric is being used,

and being able to identify casual conversation from rhetoric,

you can determine the credibility of whatever you read and protect yourself from harmful rhetoric going forward.