Today’s Plan:
- Dema and Demo
Questions
Introduction:
- What does Miller believe debates about slavery and debates about whether to invade Iraq have in common?
- What makes demagoguery so tricky?
Chapter 1: Democratic Deliberation
- How can we explain RM’s skepticism toward “objectivity”?
- What does RM see as the “real” problem (pg. 12)?
- What is one significant way to interrupt demagoguery? (see also 48)
- Who do her discussion of self-skepticism remind you of?
- Can we all agree her not-definition of sophistry on page 17 rocks? Who does this remind you of?
Chapter 2: How Not to Define Demagoguery
- What did Plutarch get wrong?
- Let’s talk eugenics a bit
- Why does RM describe demagoguery as “comfortable”? (see 65)
- So, the, what are the right questions to ask? (see 24 and 30 for the wrong questions)
Chapter 3: What is Demagoguery?
- For each of Miller’s points, which rhetorical theorist comes to mind?
Chapter 4: How Demagoguery Works
- What is “naive realism”?
- What are some implications of binary thinking?
- How does RM describe authoritarianism?
- What is another “attractive promise” that demagoguery makes?
- What are deductive arguments? When do they become problematic?
- What is “charismatic leadership”? Why does it happen?
- Let’s talk nostalgia
- What are the dimensions between demagoguery and fear?
Chapter 5: Demagoguery: A Case Study
I want to look at the last paragraph.
Chapter 6: A Culture of Demagoguery
- Why/How does demagoguery happen?
- What is a “compliance-situation?”
- What is (and what is wrong) about an expressive public sphere?
- Why does demagoguery amplify itself over time?
- What role does the media play in demagoguery?
Chapter 7: What Do We Do?
- Let’s finally address the question implicit at the end of chapter 2
