These days, we don't have rhetoric, which would be fairly defined as persuasive but insincere speech. Instead, we have intellectual dishonesty, which I would define as a failure to apply a rational standards that one is fully aware of.
(Yes, I got those definitions with the help of the internet, defined as a place from which you can get information to help prove your point. Also, don't confuse these terms with another one of my favorites, 'truthiness', coined by Stephen Colbert as something people claim to know intuitively because it feels right, in the gut, without regard to the facts.)
Intellectual dishonesty is what political campaigners (and most people) engage in these days. It's when a person knows but ignores the facts, and says or does something contrary to those facts in an attempt to convince people otherwise. Let me use it in a sentence: "Every word that comes out of Michele Bachmann's mouth has the smell of intellectually dishonesty."
While this kind of thing obviously happens in politics, but just think about the day-to-day applications. What workplace doesn't have one or more employees who aren't as sharp as their co-workers, but tries to cover up their shortcomings by skewing the truth, and parsing the blame onto others? And don't get me started on the so-called 'financial advisors' who spend their days selling products to people who don't need them, in order to get a big commission.
(Yes, I got those definitions with the help of the internet, defined as a place from which you can get information to help prove your point. Also, don't confuse these terms with another one of my favorites, 'truthiness', coined by Stephen Colbert as something people claim to know intuitively because it feels right, in the gut, without regard to the facts.)
Intellectual dishonesty is what political campaigners (and most people) engage in these days. It's when a person knows but ignores the facts, and says or does something contrary to those facts in an attempt to convince people otherwise. Let me use it in a sentence: "Every word that comes out of Michele Bachmann's mouth has the smell of intellectually dishonesty."
While this kind of thing obviously happens in politics, but just think about the day-to-day applications. What workplace doesn't have one or more employees who aren't as sharp as their co-workers, but tries to cover up their shortcomings by skewing the truth, and parsing the blame onto others? And don't get me started on the so-called 'financial advisors' who spend their days selling products to people who don't need them, in order to get a big commission.
Intellectual dishonesty is the same as lying, and it is currently pervasive in our society.
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