PART I.
The concept of fueling our machinery is measured by the effectiveness and convenience of the energy source. The potential for ethanol as a competing source of energy is an issue that can be used to forward the concept of energy for machinery and lively action within itself. Matthew L. Wald’s article, “Is Ethanol for the Long Haul?,” pushes the meaning of proper energy source ideology into question through the driver of ethanol, as it exemplifies a relatively alternative fuel beholding the potential to be harnessed as a primary energy source. Therefore, Wald’s article functions not so much on the usefulness of ethanol to become a potentially major resource, but the greater concept of any alternative resource outdoing fossil fuels in the future. It is through making this greater critical claim of an alternative fuel source rising into full competition with fossil fuels that allows Wald’s article to function successfully as sustainable public discourse. In other words, ethanol as a potentially major fuel source may be viewed not necessarily as the focus of the article, but as a tool for being ‘symbol-wise’ as Jessica Enoch builds upon in her article, “Becoming Symbol-Wise: Kenneth Burke’s Pedagogy of Critical Reflection.”
A clear comparison of utilizing meditation on linguistics to cultivate grounds of peaceful public discourse is one of the key aims of Burke’s work as outlined and emphasized by Enoch. It is this kind of meditation, in which “students …, [and therefore all people], spend … time … learning to “meditate upon the tangle of symbolism in which all men are by their nature.” ” (280 Enoch)
“Burke argues that it is through a kind of linguistic meditation or “methodic study of symbolic action[,]” that “men have their best chance of seeing beyond this clutter, into the ironic nature of human species.” ” (280 Enoch)
Wald’s article on ethanol serves as a commentary platform, a kind of intellectual think tank, for his audience to study and even apply the concept of an alternative fuel source becoming a major energy source through effective and convenient means.
PART II.
Stigma Surrounding Fuel Sources
As an individual who has worked to move the platform of energy sources and their inner-workings within diverse sets of communities and physical spaces, the cultural and historical discourse with which fuel sources are embedded is one of the fundamental keys to unlocking human willingness and drive to improve upon itself and adapt to the best energy source for a particular location. This may mean utilizing windmills on farms in Indiana, natural gas in a firing plant at a university, photovoltaic cells in Arizona, and other resources of energy such as hydro power, geo-thermal energy, and even carbon sequestration through the burning of coal that may just be the best choice for the critical claim of; produce energy where you need it.
Serious core areas driving the understanding within the audience and therefore, building conversation between the authors and the readers are ‘public awareness,’ ‘scientific and technical discourse,’ and ‘political rhetoric and public policy.’ ‘Daily persuasion and propaganda’ are not crucial as the essence of securing meaning within the spirit of the audience is more valuable than repetitive installation of facts. In other words, if the concept alone is understood in conjunction with its potential applications, there is no need to repeat the concept for building of persuasion, as the concept holds intrinsic value within the audience.
How energy relates to others is an issue of diversity in culture, location, and weather. Therefore, the greatest obstacle is achieving the understanding with the audience that finances are no longer a challenge when health, safety, and technological morals lead the forefront. Ultimately, the genre must evoke and meditate upon who specifically decides what values of energy consumption and location are of the utmost value. Is that group the majority? Is energy a question to be subjected to an authority or to be accepted as scientific fact.
I am wondering whether, in fact, daily persuasion and propaganda are indeed applicable to the fuel source discourse, especially are you (I think?) are proposing to look at what sorts of discourse prevent the best fuel technology possibilities from occurring in a given location. Perhaps the large amount of propaganda that may be published on this topic is one of the things that is preventing some forward motion in this area.
ReplyDeleteOne article that I think could be helpful in your case is Enoch's "Becoming Symbol Wise," especially since one of the article's focuses is how rhetoric may get in the way of certain social/political movements achieving their goals (in Burke's case, war). I am struck particularly by this quotation: "Rather than being symbol-foolish and using language to compete and combat with each other on a daily basis, students guided by Burke's educational theory and method would become 'symbol-wise' by adopting a technique of preparatory withdrawal." (page 273). Perhaps the idea of "Technique of preparatory withdrawal" would be a helpful theoretical concept.