{"id":270914,"date":"2020-10-06T04:41:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T08:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=270914"},"modified":"2020-10-06T04:41:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T08:41:04","slug":"why-donald-trumps-words-work-and-what-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/06\/why-donald-trumps-words-work-and-what-to-do-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Donald Trump’s words work, and what to do about it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Parsing the information transmitted by a president, determining whether it\u2019s true or false or what\u2019s really going on, is an ineffective way to understand what Trump\u2019s words actually achieve. It doesn\u2019t matter whether the information he transmits is accurate or inaccurate, and we make a mistake when we focus too much on accuracy and inaccuracy. (File Photo:<\/a> Donald J. Trump\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As America chaotically careens toward election day with President Donald Trump fighting a COVID-19 infection, we should stop and ask: Just why and how do Trump\u2019s words work? And how does the recent confusion sown by his doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center amplify that work?<\/p>\n

Perhaps more importantly: What can we do about it?<\/p>\n

These questions strike at the core of a deep and persistent misunderstanding about communication. Too often people assume that communication is a matter of transmitting information from one place to another and that words simply carry meaning.<\/p>\n

From this perspective, the president\u2019s words function as a conduit from his head to everyone listening. With this president, we have all become accustomed to the concept of \u201cmisinformation<\/a>,\u201d whereby we recognize that intentionally false or misleading information is transmitted to the listener, and how it\u2019s had a devastating impact during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also been awed by his use of Twitter<\/a> to communicate that misinformation.<\/p>\n

Trump rhetoric<\/h2>\n

The transmission model<\/a> of communications describes the technical movement of a signal over a channel and across a distance. But this is a poor description of presidential rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Too often we think that the complex, human task of communication is the same as the technical process of transmission. We worry whether someone \u201cgets\u201d our suggestions. When the president\u2019s doctors update us on his health status, we assume that they\u2019re just \u201cgiving\u201d us information. \u201cGiving\u201d and \u201cgetting\u201d are verbs of transmission.<\/p>\n

Parsing the information transmitted by a president, determining whether it\u2019s true or false or what\u2019s really going on, is an ineffective way to understand what Trump\u2019s words actually achieve. It doesn\u2019t matter whether the information he transmits is accurate or inaccurate, and we make a mistake when we focus too much on accuracy and inaccuracy.<\/p>\n

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Then what to focus on?<\/p>\n

What I and many others call the \u201crhetorical model of communication\u201d suggests that words have impact, and that meaning is an outcome of the effects words produce. About 2,400 years ago, Gorgias<\/a>, the famous sophist<\/a> and democratic theorist, argued that words had a similar effect as drugs on the body. Ancient Athenian soothsayers would speak to the wounds of soldiers in battle<\/a> in hopes that their words would heal.<\/p>\n

So instead of asking whether a president\u2019s rhetoric is true or false, instead of trying to interpret the information presented in order to receive an accurate sense of what Trump is really saying, we ought to start asking: What effect do the president\u2019s words have on us? For example, what is the impact of his anti-mask mockery on his followers and on public health efforts to keep citizens safe?<\/p>\n