I found it very interesting to read an article that was not focused on Western Rhetoric. The part I found the most interesting was reading over the Egyptian cannons.
The first of their cannons is silence. I found this to be the most interesting of all the cannons because when I had previously thought of rhetoric I had not considered silence to be a component. According to Egyptian rhetoric though silence is both a moral posture and a rhetorical tactic. After reading it and the more I thought of if I guess I could see silence as being a rhetorical strategy. For instance, when someone gets arrested the cop always says "You have the right to remain silent" It is then up to the person being arrested if they choose to utilize silence to their benefit.
The second egyptian cannon is Kairos. This cannon recognizes that speech must occur however, it also recognizes how difficult speech can be because you can't always find the right words. This portion brought me back to the readings regarding the sophists since they always had so much emphasis on the power of giving a speech.
The third egyptian cannon was restraint meaning to hold back your emotions, covering up your anger, and regulating carefully. To me this cannon seemed like a cannon that would be emphasized in a country where women are oppressed. Telling someone to cover up emotions seemed like something that would be said by a man to a woman he wanted control over. I don't know what life was like in Egypt for women that was just the vibe I got.
After reading all the various different materials I found it interesting that I never saw anything regarding persuasion. It constantly talked about the power of speech but never talked about persuading people. This is the main difference I saw between western rhetoric and egyptian rhetoric.
What differences did you see between western and egyptian rhetoric?
Wat were your thoughts on the Egyptian cannons?
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