Rhetorical Analysis

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Pages: 3

It was on the eve of the 2016 Presidential Election. My history teacher had decided that instead of doing a lesson we would take time to talk about our views on each candidate. He said that we were able to discuss our opinions free from the dreaded influence of “political correctness.” Then he went on a tangent about why he believed that Trump epitomized the values of a true American. After he was done he asked if anyone had anything they'd want to say in response to that.
I thrusted my hand in the air. I felt this deep-seated instinctual need to push back against everything he had said.
“Well, personally, sir I disagree with you. Trump is completely and utterly unqualified to be president. He’s inexperienced and not to mention a rampant misogynist
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He sighed dramatically, “You seem to think that you know all the answers, but have you bothered to consider why someone may disagree with you? Being so close-minded will do you more harm than good.”
Soon after that, class was over.
I easily dismissed my teacher’s assertion because it seemed ridiculous. Being close-minded and recognizing that certain views weren’t worthy of consideration were two different things.
I didn’t think about this conversation again until the day of a major debate tournament.
My partner and I were in the penultimate round and we had won two debates prior to this one. We had so fiercely and tirelessly argued our case, that by the end of the debate we were fairly sure that we had won.
However, the judge had decided to vote for the opposing team.
I was in utter shock. Was there some information that we forgot to include? Did we not speak eloquently or fast enough?
To my surprise he said that the reason we lost had nothing to do with the information or our oratorical skills, but our failure to successfully refute the ideas of the opposing team. By simply repeating what we had already said, we failed to show genuine understanding of their