Inconceivable and Unbelievable

Have you ever wondered if who you are determines how people influence you? In this episode we finish Season One by time traveling to ancient Greece, the theoretical home of rhetoric and persuasion. Host Elida will lead you into what Ancient Greek rhetoricians such as Plato and Aristotle thought about not only persuasion, but how to arrive at truth and trust amongst a city-state or nation. Elida th...

Have you ever wondered where you fall on the climate change spectrum of belief? This week we take a continued deep dive from episode 4 into the rhetorical tactics of climate deniers and corporate rhetoric to deceive the public and discredit scientific research and information. Host Jeni Frick introduces you to how corporations use precision campaigns to put responsibility for climate change onto c...

Ever wonder why trust in science is floundering across so many fronts in the 21st Century? This week we take a deep dive into how Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and other corporations have for the last 75 years produced doubt about science that challenged their profit margins. Host Ken will lead you through his research into the beginnings of how, in the 1950s, cigarette companies hired marketing firms to...

Do you have qualms about the ethics of fashion? Have you ever considered that fast fashion may use language duplicitously?  In this episode, we investigate fast fashion as not just a change in the way we consume clothing, but as an environmental problem with unique rhetorical framing embedded in misinformation. Fashion maven and rhetoric student Kieran Lombard will lead you through several case st...

Did you ever wonder how politicians, authority figures, or even your family members deflect accountability for their misdeeds and unethical actions? This week we talk about a specific misinformation and rhetorical tactic known as Whataboutism. Whataboutism has a long, dubious history in political rhetoric as well as in everyday attempts of users to evade accountability. Yet the tactic has increase...

How have prominent conspiracy theories spread across the U.S. at rapid rates? This week we discuss the spread of contemporary conspiracy theories across contemporary media. Jed Nelson leads you through how conspiracy theories such as these begin, who spreads the disinformation, and why people are susceptible to conspiracy theory. Jed focuses on two case studies: first, the homegrown Pizzagate cons...