SPEAKER AND GAVEL 1999

The Media and the Law and Order Myth
in American Political Discourse

Mark Meister

Abstract

A significant topic in American political discourse is that of law and order. Politicians, civic leaders, and policy makers often propose a hard-line towards crime so that "law and order" is maintained. In this essay, I contend that the discourse of "law and order" has taken on mythic properties in American political discourse, and that the media, in large part, has contributed to the creation of a "law and order" myth. The "law and order" rhetoric of J. Edgar Hoover, Estes Kaufaver, George C. Wallace, and Richard Nixon all have been greatly aided by a media presence that extends the topic of "law and order" beyond the realm of political discourse and into the realm of political myth. This essay discusses the influence of Hoover, Kefauver's, Wallace's, and Nixon's "law and order" rhetoric, and points out the media coverage, in each of these cases, aided in creating a powerful cultural and political "law and order" myth.

Introduction

Crime in America has at its foundation, a "law and order" myth that warrants strategic political action. Public officials, policy makers, law enforcement officials, political candidates, and civic leaders all address the issue of crime in American society as a way to promote their political clout (if not for purposes of capturing a vote) (Trent & Friedenberg, 1991). Such political responses to crime are necessary because public opinion demand that those in leadership roles protect "law and order" (Pepinsky & Jesilow, 1984, O'Keefe, 1985, O'Keefe & Reid-Nash, 1987). Thus, the prominence of crime in American public discourse is due, in large part, to the various rhetorical functions generated by a "law and order" cultural myth. As a mythic symbol, "law and order" tells a story that includes both ideological and mythic representations of society. As the story of crime in America has evolved and changed, so too has the influence of "law and order" on different contexts. Among these "law and order" contexts are the images associated with organized crime, protests, demonstrations, riots, and, of course, street crime. Each of these contexts are personified in American culture by popular crimefighters and gangsters such as J. Edgar Hoover and Al Capone; while the conservative personae of President Richard Nixon and Senator George C. Wallace demonstrate intolerance for war and civil rights protesters.

Additionally, street crime is one of the most significant contexts addressed by the media's touting of "law and order." Mediated images of "diseased" streets

Mark Meister, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of in the Department of Communication, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105. The author wishes to thank Dr. Ron Lee for his helpful comments during the development of this essay.

Speaker and Gavel, Vol. 36 (1999), 1-18

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littered with crime and filth are captured in innumerable television dramas, tabloid and talk shows, and documentaries. Often the images of street crime and violence are mediated messages that reinforce the need for, if not the lack of, law and order. The NBC television series titled Law and Order, for example, tells the "real-life" stories of the crime investigators and prosecutors in New York City, while ABC's NYPD Blue focuses on the tragedies experienced by those directly involved with street crime. Among the assumptions representing "law and order" in these and other contexts is one that is potentially discriminatory. The assumptions in many of these mediated programs is that those who disturb the peace and interrupt the social order are generally members of ethnic and minority groups who must be punished in order to re-establish social order (Pepinsky & Jesilow, 1984).

In this essay, I critically evaluate the mediated manifestations and contexts of "law and order" and how they potentially contribute to the often discriminatory nature of the American criminal justice system. I contend that the creation and evolution of the "law and order" has at its foundation the television and film coverage directed at Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover during the 1930s, and 1951 senator and Crime Committee Chairman Estes Kefauver. To illustrate this influence, I will discuss how the "law and order" myth takes shape as its focus is transformed from fighting organized crime (Hoover and Kefauver's influence of the 1930s and 1950s) to street crime. U.S. Presidential candidate and senator, George C. Wallace, and President Richard Nixon both demonstrated intolerance for the street crimes associated with anti-war protests and civil rights demonstration.

Although there are many other examples in American history of bold crimefighters, arguably Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon represent those whose crime rhetoric was highly mediated. Hoover's glorified "G-Man" image, Kefauver's widely watched televised crime hearings, Wallace's cankerous positions on crime during his presidential campaign, and Nixon's intolerance for crime both as a presidential candidate and as president were highly visible precisely because Americans watched "law and order" take shape. The "law and order" myth, I contend, did not evolve and shape American ideals because of policy or legislative warrants about crime. Rather, "law and order" evolved into a mythic rhetorical manifestation because of the highly mediated and visual "anti-crime" images that Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon communicated and that the media happily broadcasted. In the examples of Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon, we witness how the media embraced law and order as a significant cultural issue, and glorified or vilified those associated with it.

Aiding my analysis of the American "law and order" myth is the provocative notion of the "rhetoric of other" as discussed by critical discourse analysist Stephen Harold Riggins (1997). According to Riggins (1997), critical discourse analysists are "more interested in dissecting texts than in theorizing about the interpretive practices of readers and listeners" (p. 3). A text, in this vein, is not only limited to the realm of spoken or written discourse explicitly, but can include the symbolic constructions that permeate spoken and written discourse in implicit ways. One such manifestation of implicit dynamic is the symbolic force prescribed to cultural myth. Cultural myth becomes part of the ingrained consciousness of a culture be

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cause it is reinforced both discursively and non-discursively. I am interested in critically analyzing the cultural myth of "law and order" as I see it created by Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon and reinforced and maintained by the media. Thus, the "rhetoric of othering" is of particular interest to those interested in the critical discourse analysis of cultural and political myth (Riggins, 1997).

Many rhetorical critics engage the "other" construct in their scholarship (Berkowitz, 1997; Engnell, 1993; Gaonkar, 1993; Hasian, 1994; McKerrow, 1989). The term Other, as a rhetorical construct, can be traced back to the Plato, who used it to represent the relationship between an observer (the Self) and an observed (the Other) (Riggins, 1997). Presently in rhetorical scholarship, the Other refers to all people the Self perceives as mildly or radically different. McKerrow (1989) discusses "othering" in his notion of critical rhetoric that seeks to "unmask or demystify the discourse of power. The aim is to understand the integration of power/knowledge in society—what possibilities for change the integration invites or inhibits and what intervention strategies might be considered appropriate o effect social change" (p. 91). Basically, there are two aspects of the Other that facilitate its tendency to define peoples in terms of dominance and submissiveness.

First, Riggins (1997) points out that language reveals boundaries that separate the Self and Other. Othering happens because languages are bound by grammatical rules and standards that include "inclusive and exclusive pronouns and possessives such as we and they, us and them, and ours and theirs" (Riggins, 1997). For example, Carbo's (1997) analysis of political discourse in Mexico shows that an elite speaker's claim to believe in inclusiveness may be undermined by contradictions between words and syntax. A close reading of political speeches in Mexico reveals that the identity of "we" fluctuates depending on the particular rhetorical point the speaker or writer is trying to make. The term "we" may refer in on sentence to the whole Mexican population, both aboriginal and European, whereas in another sentence the aboriginal population may be implicitly excluded (Carbo, 1997).

Second, the Other is evidenced by the repetitious and contradictory nature of stereotypes (Riggins, 1997). Stereotypes are fantasies, "a substitute and a shadow" of the Other (Bhabha, 1994, p. 82), and ensure that differences between people are recognized. Through stereotypes, the Self expresses ambivalence toward Others, expressing not just derision but derision with desire (Riggins, 1997). For example, Jan Mohamed (1985) believes that the perception of difference is influenced by economic and political motives. Because the functioning of Othering is exploitation, the political and economic consequences contribute to a rhetoric of Othering that dehumanizes and diminishes groups.

Because of our dependence on the media for the formation of perceptions concerning crime, the term "law and order" has come to have many connotations. Symbolically, "law and order" represent a "straight-line"—a line, when crossed, exemplifies disorder and chaos. Laws are implemented to perpetuate order, and function to gauge appropriate actions from those considered inappropriate. Part of the problems associated with the "law and order" myth are a result of how American culture gauges appropriate actions from those actions generally associated with the "other." The "eye-for-an-eye" assumption that is used for the basis of

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punishment for crime is generally associated with length of incarceration. As French Philosopher Michel Foucault (1975) has pointed out: "[w]hat a remarkable achievement it has been for Americans to decide that harm can be measured in days, months, and years" (p. 36). In this way, the criminal justice system has come to equate law and order with social order—distinguishing the "other" from the law abiding society. The system assumes that unless a strong governmental agency uses law enforcement to control the citizenry into line, the citizens will carry out a war among themselves. It is this chaos that laws are intended to prevent. Law and order is intended to reduce uncertainty and to reduce confusion, thus insuring the comfort and stability associated with "peace." With law, one assumes that order will follow, and that peace is insured, and that those potential threats for the "other" will be stopped. Laws become policies guaranteeing the maintenance of social order by distinguishing the "other" from the lawful.

If the phrase "law and order" is rearranged to read "order and law," the assumption is that a virtuous time existed where no law was needed. No laws were needed because peace was firmly established. Various forms of hierarchical systems that insured order and maintained a peaceful environment dominated social, public, and political order. What becomes apparent is that the phrase "law and order" is a response to the violent incidents that have displaced "peace" and order. In essence, the law and order myth discriminates because the images of crime, as portrayed by the media, are of those who do not necessarily "fit the order." The assumption is that society has become diseased through the actions of "others." Television screens light-up with images of the whacked-out drug addict stealing and killing for money to buy his next fix. "Real world" crime television shows like Top Cops and Rescue 911 reinforce the images of discrimination, because the focus of these shows is on breaking-up crimes generally committed by young, black men who are part of a corrupt society. According to Pepinsky and Jesilow (1984) television illustrates the poor as breeders of violence and corruption because they do not have the resources to protect themselves against eventual prosecution. Where the rich have these protections against prosecution, Pepinsky and Jesilow contend that "the poor are less likely to get out of jail before trial, more likely to get convicted, and more likely to be imprisoned if convicted" (p. 15) which reinforces both that crime is committed by the poor, and that the criminal justice system of authority is inherently discriminatory. "Equity," according to Pepinsky and Jesilow, "would require that almost all police resources be needed to look for crime in the business suites rather than crime in the streets" (p. 15).

A persistent myth throughout history that perpetuates itself in society after society is that a populace can be forced to behave as those in authority seem fit. In instances of violent crime, the same myth exists—that people can be made to behave the way a superior armed authority would have them behave (Pepinsky & Jesilow, 1984). Inherent within the "law and order" myth and demonstrated throughout history by Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon, for example, is the notion that those in authority must react with force in order to stop isolated instances of crime. But because the citizenry accepts the myth that minority groups who inhabit the inner-city perpetuate crime, the once virtuous community has been transformed into one that further distinguishes between "us" and the "other."

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The influence of the media and the dissemination of images associated with a corrupt society are part of a culture whose perceptions about crime are formed by the media. Television projects two contradictory images that flood the airways concerning street crime. The first image illustrates those in authority as strong, powerful, and intolerant "tough cops" who fight street crime generally started by minorities. The second image reinforces the discriminatory nature of the criminal justice system because television illustrates criminals as morally corrupt minority groups who resort to street crime in order to buy or sell drugs. The amount of time allotted by television in the coverage of crime both in programming and newscasts suggest that street crime is a rampant and uncontrollable force in society.

The Law and Order Myth

In his book Mythologies, Roland Barthes (1988) contends that a myth "hides nothing and flaunts nothing: it distorts; myth is neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion " (p. 129). Stated metaphorically, "myth illuminates and projects a light in the darkness of reality and the haze of misperception over the glow of truth" (London & Weeks, 1981, p. 17). "American values" are very much supported by myth (Edelman, 1988, Rushing, 1986). This myth is influential in the reinforcement of an American value system because it illustrates a relationship between politics and virtue (Dorsey, 1997). The virtuous citizen exemplifies American values because they support the notion of "law and order." This representation of virtue illustrates the emotive influence that myths have on perception, and ultimately, cultural formation. Myths provide legitimacy to a culture because the stories they tell are timeless "lessons" which serve as emotive forces for maintaining social order (Osborn, 1990, Hart, 1990, Hocker Rushing, 1990, Rowland, 1990, Solomon, 1990).

Like myths, ideologies are "capable of binding people together, not through a set of immutable truths, but through references to historical and political events, and appeals to a material orientation of the world" (Bass & Cherwitz, 1978, p. 215). Ideologies are a collection of beliefs, but where myths attempt to transcend social divisions, ideologies express the interests of the dominant group that provides plausible interpretations of political realities (Bass & Cherwitz, 1978, Lucaites & Condit, 1990). McGee (1980) calls these references "ideographs" and purports that "[t]he significance is in their concrete history as usages, not in alleged idea-content" (p. 10). In order for myths to evolve, the expectations and demands of historical (traditional) audiences must be met (O'Leary & McFarland, 1989).

The joining of mythic and ideological elements does not take place spontaneously. According to Ellul (1973) "myth and ideology wed via a complicated mixture of ideas and sentiments which entails the grafting of irrational onto the political and economic" (p. 31). Kenneth Burke (1989) notes that "ideology is to myth as rhetoric is to poetry," (p. 303) since, "ideology, like rhetoric, gravitates to the side of ideas, and myth, like poetry gravitates to the side of image (p. 303). The result of this fusion of myth and ideology becomes a political myth because it entails both cognitive and emotive appeals that greatly impacts various aspects of culture (Hart, 1990, Lucaites & Condit, 1990). Barthes (1988) comments on the power and expansiveness of myth in reinforcing the image of the virtuous culture:

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"all aspects of the law, of morality, of aesthetics, of diplomacy, of household equipment, of Literature, of entertainment" (p. 148) are related to myth. The joining of myth as a cultural and political force, and ideology as a logical expression of these forces, creates a political myth that may rhetorically support the American manifestation of "law and order." For example, the uniquely American story of the strong-willed and virtuous western sheriff who protects his town and its citizens from harm is a popular American narrative and exemplifies the prominence of the "law and order" myth in American culture. Here the sheriff-hero character protects the community from the outside lawlessness that infiltrates the culture from an untamed wilderness. The sheriff protects the community from exterior dangers that penetrate the inherent interior virtues of the moral small town.

The "law and order" myth functions rhetorically because it recalls a virtuous, yet mythical time, when crime did not exist and social order was not threatened. As Dorsey (1997) argues, myths often do not represent reality and they generally have a violent and evil counter-part that threatens the virtuous core. Dorsey (1997) contends: "[m]ythic stories depict an ancient, dream-like, uncharted, and many times, dangerous universe with which the hero must then violently contend" (p. 453). The story of the small town, for example, with its pleasant images of "Main Street," church steeples, and afternoon barbecues, tends to reinforce the notion that social order is paramount in the creation of American values (Lee, 1993). Yet, as the myth evolves, the virtuous small town often faces the threat of an evil outsider who manipulatively infiltrates and corrupts the virtuous core of the community. The "strength" and "character" of the small town citizen lies in her willingness to fight for what is virtuous. Here the virtuous citizen combats intended evil with a clear and well-intentioned conscious. Thus, the small town survives because of the fortitude of its citizens.

In sum, an effective political myth includes those qualities that have emotive connotations (virtue vs. evil), while its ideological qualities recall a unrealistic time when "law and order" literally was not threatened. The influence of the "law and order" myth in the American value system is expressed through cultural symbols (London & Weeks, 1981) and evolves as the political ideologies associated with the myth recall emotive and logical instances. Thus, the presence of a "law and order" myth in the American value system narrative becomes an element of a larger, master story supporting the cultural myth of American values. I argue that during the 1930s, the "law and order" myth reinforced the American value system through television and film coverage that glamorized the "mythic" figures associated with crime and law enforcement (with specific reference to J. Edgar Hoover). Later, during the 1950s, this glamorization is replaced by Senator Estes Kefauver's fight against a "corrupt insider" who threatened the virtues associated with the American system of law and order. Finally, the political discourse of George Wallace and Richard Nixon illustrates a vilification, whereby the law breaker is the immoral and corrupt "other."

Law and Order: Glamour and Corrupt Core
The media and its impacts on the formation of public opinion about crime is often reflected in public perceptions concerning the causes and fear of crime

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(Pritchard, 1994, Sherizen, 1978). Since the majority of people have little direct experience with crime (and especially its causes), it seems reasonable to assume that public perceptions of crime are, to some degree, formed on the basis of information received from media presentations (McQuail, 1994. Page, Shapiro, & Dempsey, 1994). Stroman and Seltzer (1985) suggest that mediated crime messages help fuel perceptions of crime by arguing that the mass media is a primary source of information about crime, that the media provides details about crimes which enable users to discuss the causes of crime and solutions to the crime problem, and that crime, in comparison to other topics, is a well-covered topic. Additionally, governmental agencies concerned with the proliferation of violent crime on American streets have established crime prevention programs which advise parents to limit the amount of violent programming children watch on television (O'Keefe, 1985). Arguably, the perceptions of crime by the people who watch television frequently are more likely to express a generalized fear of crime than those who watch less frequently (Stroman & Seltzer, 1985).

Because the media, particularly television, has a profound impact on perception formation, the "law and order" myth of crime is fueled, reinforced, and solidified within the American culture's psyche. Of specific interest here is the J. Edgar Hoover "G-Man" image portrayed in popular films during the 1930s and 1940s. These films helped symbolize an intolerance for organized crime, yet they also glamorized both the criminals associated with organized crime and crime fighters intent on stopping it. Crime fighters during the 1930s in pursued the likes of "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Rocco Fischetti, "Scareface" Al, and "Tough Tony" Capezio, all of whom enjoyed significant popularity because the media aided in the promotion of these characters as cultural icons. Later, the gangsters, hooligans, and convicts investigated by Crime Committee Chairman Senator Estes Kefauver in 1951 were no longer glamorous because these criminals were corrupt law enforcement and justice officials. The "notoriety" and popularity of "Scarface" Al, or Rocco Fischetti no longer warranted media attention during the 1951 Crime Committee Hearings. Instead the media focused on the corruption that existed within the once virtuous community. During the 1920s and 1930s prohibition made otherwise law-abiding citizens into racketeering law-breakers. Breaking the law by consuming, distributing, and selling alcohol became a national pastime (Kefauver, 1968). What had began as simple bootlegging organized itself into powerful gangs which associated themselves with gambling, robbery, prostitution, and dope peddling (de Toledano, 1973). What was needed to stop the crime movement was "a symbol of law and order that could dish it out to the underworld exactly as they dished it out—only better. An individual who could toss the hot iron right back at them along with a smash in the jaw thrown in for good measure" (Powers, 1987, p. 22). This individual was FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the 1930s was one of the New Deal's political triumphs and J. Edgar Hoover was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's most valuable and trusted lieutenants (Powers, 1987). The New York Times described the FBI under Hoover as "one of the government's formidable crusaders against crime," and claimed that "law-breakers of high and low estate have come to have a wholesome respect for the Bureau" (Powers, 1987, p. 48). Prior to Hoover's

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leadership of the FBI, no hero of the law existed that was charismatic and powerful enough to counterbalance the anarchic power, defiance, and popularity of the criminal. Al Capone's gang in Chicago, for example, was estimated at more than a quarter of a million dollars, and as a result of Capone's charismatic and certainly his financial prowess, he became a cultural enigma of corruption and wealth. Films showed an America in which the underworld had overpowered legitimate society, and exposed its protectors as incompetent (Powers, 1987). Movies featured gangster heroes modeled after celebrity criminals like Capone as illustrated by the 1931 movie Public Enemy starring James Cagney. Fifty other movies were released in 1931 that seemed to follow an amoral "crime without punishment" formula. The challenge to the legitimacy of traditional authorities, as illustrated by a cycle of money-making prison pictures with sensational titles like The Big House (1930), Convict's Code (1930), and Ladies of the Big House (1931), symbolically portrayed criminal gangsters who laughed in the face of law and order authorities.

As director of the FBI during the 1930s, Hoover wielded a power that also grew from an incredible popularity during a decade that seemed fascinated with the celebrity and hero. Hoover, himself, became a popular and glamorous symbol of law and order for his fearless work against organized crime. The Lindbergh case and the man-hunt illustrated Hoover's "tough" attitude toward organized crime for car thief and cop killer Martin James Durbin. These cases projected the FBI and Hoover onto the national stage, and for the first time, gangsters became fearful of law enforcement officers. Newspapers sensationalized the kidnapping of Charles A. Lindbergh's son from his crib by organized gang members, and the pursuit of Durbin through Illinois, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Hoover recounts one such sensational instance:

Back in September of 1933, a group of special agents surrounded a house in Memphis where George `Machine Gun' Kelly was hiding out. For two months the FBI had been trailing this gangster and his wife. As the FBI agents and local police surrounded the house and entered, one of them called out, `We are Federal officers. Come out with your hands up.' `Machine Gun' Kelly's hands were trembling as he reached for the ceiling he screamed, `Don't shoot G-Men, don't shoot. (de Toledano, 1973)

The "G-Man" abbreviation for "Government Man" became a symbol for the renewed law and order emphasis that Hoover brought to the FBI. This "G-Man" character resembles the sheriff-hero character associated with the American western myth. In the "G-Man" manifestation of the American western myth, the hero is a bureaucrat who provides safety for the virtuous community from the gangsters who try to infiltrate the culture. Hoover took pride in the fearsome reputation that the FBI had among members of the "outside" underworld. This reputation again caught the attention of popular entertainment. The movie G-Men had marked the beginning of a new era for Hoover. Hollywood aided in creating the G-Man myth and Hoover fueled this glamorization by creating an agency strong on regulations and low in tolerance (Theoharis & Cox, 1988). The social forces that once challenged the legitimacy of law enforcement later coalesced into the myth of the G-Man projected a renewed interest in the maintenance of law and order. The popular fascination with rituals of crime and punishment, an interpretation of crime as

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an attack on the nation and its values, and a hunger for mass involvement in anti-crime action became the battle cries of a nation who once glamorized organized crime, and who now whole-heatedly denounced it by glamorizing the crimefighter.

Crime during the 1950s was still propelled by racketeers associated with organized crime gangs. The popularity of anti-crime measures introduced by the mediated glamorization of Hoover and the "G-Man" myth did not stop violent crimes in America from rising. Corrupt law enforcement officers joined organized crime groups by taking "kick-backs" from crime bosses for not interrupting their crime business. Here the virtues of the society are threatened internally. Frustrated with the corruption within the law enforcement community, Senator Estes Kefauver introduced in 1951 Senate Resolution 202, calling for an investigation of organized crime in the United States. This investigation propelled Kefauver's career and lifted him from a relatively obscure and conscientious and hard-working junior senator, to a position of national prominence that made him one of the most famous and respected supporters of law and order and a serious contender for the Presidency a few years later (Gorman, 1971).

The 1951 Senate Crime Committee Hearings conducted by Kefauver, was a series of televised investigative hearings in several American cities. Millions of people were drawn from their daily activity to the television screen to view the proceedings of the Senate Crime Committee. Moreover, previously obscure politicians participating in the hearings found themselves suddenly transformed into popular national symbols of law and order (Garay, 1978). Kefauver, the most celebrated member of the committee, was transformed by the influence of television as a "video knight in armor," and in 1951 Kefauver was awarded two Emmy's from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for best public affairs program and special achievement. The special achievement award was a symbolic boost for Kefauver's career. According to Look magazine, Kefauver deserved the Emmy's "for bringing the workings of our government in the homes of the American people" (Gorman, 1971).

The influence television had on the committee hearings not only effected Kefauver's political career, but also it significantly effected the lives of the millions of people who watched the hearings. Public response to the televised New York City hearings, if measured in both volume and manner of attention given the daily telecasts, was nothing short of spectacular. Because of the televised crime hearings:

housewives formed listening clubs and held television parties while they delayed shopping until after the hearings had recessed. Public officials, business executives, and secretaries were found crowded around any available television set. Several motion picture theaters in the city canceled regularly scheduled movies and instead projected the Crime Committee hearings onto their screens while admitting the public free of charge. (Garay, 1978)

Because of the popularity of the televised committee hearings, Kefauver's "law and order" image became a battle cry that propelled his bid for the 1952 presidency. Kefauver's candidacy demonstrated his initial interest in investigating organized crime. In his book Crime in America, Kefauver explains how his passion for "law and order" became the reason for calling the investigation:

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for some years . . . I had been troubled by the unpleasant realization that there was a tie-up between crime and politics . . . Later, as a member of the House of Representatives, I was named chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee to investigate the conduct of a crooked federal district judge in Pennsylvania. In the process of gathering evidence . . . the full import of what rottenness in public life can do to our country came home to me. From then on the subject never was far from my mind. (p. 1-2)

Kefauver's bid for the presidency demonstrated this commitment, and combined with his honest and hard-working image, Kefauver was leading Adali Stevenson for the Democratic nomination for president going into the national convention. Although Stevenson received the nomination for President by the end of the convention, Kefauver's honest and hard-working law and order image—an image fueled by television—helped shape the law and order myth. But television was not solely responsible for Kefauver's popularity. America's system of law and order was threatened by internal corruption. The American public saw Kefauver as the virtuous American citizen capable cleaning up the threat to America's virtual core (Garay, 1978).

The influence of television and film on the on the careers of "law and order" supporters Hoover and Kefauver, demonstrates examples of a long tradition in mass communication research investigating the effects of media, particularly television and newspaper, with the formation of public opinion (Stroman & Seltzer, 1985; Carlson, 1983; O'Keefe & Reid-Nash, 1987; Prichard, 1985; Ammons, Dimmick, & Pilotta, 1982). Paramount in these research studies is the assumption that the public utilizes information appearing in the media for the formation of opinions about and perceptions of a given phenomenon (Stroman & Seltzer, 1985). More importantly however, is how the media rhetorically communicates the "law and order" myth while at the same time reinforcing the American value system by illustrating crime threats as external factors not part of the virtuous society. In essence, the media coverage about Hoover's "G-Man" image and Kefauver's leadership role in ending law enforcement corruption illustrates how law and order differentiates the "other" from the virtuous citizenship. Hoover's though image and Kefauver's rhetoric of intolerance exemplifies how distinctions are made between the law-abiding and the law-breaking. It is in this distinction that the "law and order" myth takes root. Law and order becomes a symbolic and mediated manifestation of difference; invoking and reinforcing a perception of "other."

Law and Order and the "Other"

Wallace and Nixon on Street Crime

The political success of Hoover and Kefauver can, in large part is due, to the coverage of each by television and film. During the 1960s, however, the glitter and glamour associated with "law and order" was tarnished by media coverage of street crimes resembling anti-war riots and civil rights protests. In this context, those who participated in street crime included college students, corrupt law enforcement officials, and "peace" activists. What is distinct about the response to law and order during the 1960s, was that members within and from the virtuous community threatened the virtues of the small-town. The "other" came from within the

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community.

While law and order during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s was fueled by Hoover's symbolic portrayals in film, and Kefauver's televised crusade against corruption, during the 1960s, an era riddled with violent riots and demonstrations against traditional authority, Senator and 1968 presidential candidate George C. Wallace called for putting lawbreakers in prison, "until their hair turns white or they go to the electric chair" (Carlson, 1981, p. 36). Wallace's discourse is the most vivid example of how hard-line law and order must be reinstated in order to counterbalance the actions of those "others" that threaten the "American way." In Wallace's view those who rioted and demonstrated represented a small group of revolutionaries, anarchists, and communists ("others"), and the reason for their existence and cause for their dissension was the permissiveness on the part of the federal government (House, 1969). Wallace asserted:

Well, it's a sad day in the country when you can't talk about law and order unless you want to be called a racist. I tell you that's not true and I resent it and they gonna [sic] have to pay attention because all people in this country, in the great majority, the Supreme Court of our country has made it almost impossible to convict a criminal. And if you walk out of this building tonight, and someone knocks you in the head, the person who knocked you in the head will be out of jail if you don't watch out. (Armstrong, 1970)

Wallace is intolerant for civil disobedience and for "others" who break laws because they do not follow the "American way of dissent," which he defines as picketing and voting (Carlson, 1989). Wallace stated: "A good crease in the skull would stop some of this lawlessness" (Carlson, 1981, p. 42). Wallace called his supporters "law-abiding," and asserted that tolerance for "others" who remain lawless is neither logical nor reasonable. In touting the issue of law and order as a presidential candidate, Wallace concentrated on "common criminals," and complained about lenient courts that made it almost impossible to convict those criminals. Court leniency, according to Wallace, threatened the rights of the "common man." The "common man" lost his own rights to the rights of the criminal. Wallace warned that "unless law and order is restored in this country and people can walk on the streets safely, there may come a time in which civil rights will have to be abrogated" (Carlson, 1981, p. 44).

For Wallace, hard-line law and order became a major issue in his bid for the presidency. If elected president, Wallace promised to "clean-up" the streets, and unlock the closed doors which "millions of our citizens are locked behind . . . captives in their own homes, because they are not safe on the streets of American cities" (Carlson, 1981, p. 79). According to Wallace, only through hard-line law and order can a resurgence in those traditional American values that make America great can crime be prevented. While campaigning for the presidency, Wallace promised: "You elect me the president, and I go to California or I come to Tennessee, and if a group of anarchists lay down in front of my automobile, its gonna [sic] be the last one they ever gonna [sic] want to lay down in front of" (Carlson, 1981, p. 68). Wallace's rhetoric clearly distinguishes between what is "accepted" by the majority, and what the "other" rejects. In the years following Wallace's hard-line stance, Richard Nixon vehemently displayed his intolerance for the "others" who

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disobeyed his plea for law and order.

Wallace's hard-line responses to these crimes helped shape the "law and order" myth, but in terms of illustrating an absolute tough and strong position of law and order, Nixon, became the image of how a government's intolerance toward crime helped shape the myth. Nixon's tough anti-crime stance during the campaign consisted largely of leftover proposals from the Johnson Administration, but upon election to the presidency, Nixon came in direct conflict with street violence and crime. During the 1970 presidential campaign in San Jose, California, a hostile crowd tried to interrupt Nixon's speech and chanted "One, two, three, four, we don't want your fucking [sic] war" (p. 637). As Nixon walked to his limousine, instead of making a rapid exit—Nixon jumped up on the hood of the limousine and stood there for a moment in the television lights—flashing the victory sign at the noisy crowd (Wicker, 1991). This instance implicitly demonstrates Nixon's "toughness" on not accepting the beliefs and values of the "other" protesters. Through this act of defiance, Nixon defies the rebellious "other" of any opportunity for acceptance in virtuous society. Nixon, with the media capturing his every move, defies the positions and arguments held by the protesters, and in an attempt to further vilify the protesting "others," Nixon flashes the victory sign implicitly illustrating his staunch and virtuous social position.

Later as president, Nixon continued to come into direct contact with crime. During his inauguration parade, sticks, stones, and beer cans were hurled at the presidential limousine (Wicker, 1991). Nixon did not forget or forgive those who had interrupted his inaugural parade. In a speech at General Beadle State College in South Dakota, he offered the pointed warning that students and demonstrators had better begin to exercise some self-restraint or "we have the power to strike back and prevail" (Wicker, 1991, p. 617). Nixon spoke at this obscure college because rioting and demonstrating were unlikely, while on major campuses they were commonplace. Additionally, Nixon described the demonstrations on college campuses during a press conference at, of all places, the Pentagon:

You see those bums, you know, blowing up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are burning up the books, storming about this issue. You name it. Get rid of the war, there will be another one. (Wicker, 1991, p. 632)

Here, Nixon further alienated the "other" from the law abiding. By labeling the protesters as "bums" and "boys," Nixon displayed his attitude toward the protesters. The protesters were inconsiderate ("bums") and immature ("boys"), who because of their ignorance and corruption, were not able to realize how "lucky" they were to be going to the world's greatest institutions. Instead, the protesters are made out as "others," intent on corrupting the intellectual tradition and virtue associated with the U.S. university system.

Nixon's direct contact with street crime, both as a candidate and as president, directly influenced his responses to crime. Nixon's definition of street crime included a disrespect for authority . Like Wallace, Nixon's responses were hard-line, and his responses helped shape the "law and order" myth as one that does not tolerate disrespect of governmental authority. Inherent within these responses is

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the notions that the war protesters and rioters were not part of the virtuous society. They are "others" whose beliefs and positions present a direct threat to the virtuous community's moral core.

In Nixon's discourse, the influence of "law and order" takes on mythic proportions. The "law and order" story is part of the mythic narrative, and Nixon tells this story by reinforcing "American values" and contrasting these values with the immoral actions of the protesting "other." Nixon's stories about patriotic, law abiding young American men sailing off to Vietnam are a means to further vilify the "other." Likewise, Ronald Reagan later demonstrates his commitment to "American values" with his "small town" mythic discourse (Morreale, 1991). In Reagan's rhetoric, the small town is celebrated because it symbolizes law and order. The images of green lawns, afternoon barbecues, church steeples, and town halls illustrate a virtuous, orderly, and law-abiding white citizenry (Lee, 1993) that Reagan uses to distinguish between the virtuous and the "other." So influential is the small town myth in our civic ideals that "the small-town ethos," "is one of the most interesting cultural creations of the American nineteenth and twentieth-century experience, having left and indelible imprint on urban attitudes, political practice, hero models, popular culture, and more generally, on American values" (as cited in Lee, 1993, p. 63). These tales have in their plots an inherent need for order and the rejection of chaos. Furthermore, the settings of these stories are by no means inner-city slum neighborhoods and projects. Notice that the characters in these "virtuous" mythic stories do not account for the "others" whose stories are told in the less "acceptable" stories of Native American folklore, those stories about black slavery, nor the images of the teenage prostitute soliciting herself outside the inner city liquor store. Rather, the "American value" story reinforces the order and values associated with a predominant white culture and the virtuous community, and exclude those stories from the street and of the "other."

Moreover, the "law and order" myth generally illustrates how minority ("other") groups commit crime. It is hard to find examples about white-collar crimes in daily and weekly newspapers and magazines. It is rather easy, however, to find examples of how the "other" participates in crime. In this vein, the "other" represents those groups who are subverted by a white dominant culture. Quite possibly the places where we "place" "other" groups in American society is a result of the mythic stories that reinforce predominately white American values (Grossberg, 1993). For example, consider the areas where the U.S. federal government "reserves" for Native Americans. images of poverty, drug addiction, and dysentery are rampant in these places, while the symbols of suburban America, generally inhabited by white, upper class families, include manicured lawns and gardens, homes with basketball courts in the garage driveways, and automatic sprinkler systems. The places reserved for minority groups further distinguish them as "others" distinct from dominant groups (Carbaugh, 1996, Kirby, 1996, Rose, 1993). This discrimination prompts a frustration that results in strong violent, and often times, criminal reactions to the system (Foucault, 1975, 1980, Rose, 1993).

Establishing order is a characteristic generally associated with dominant white culture. It is for this reason that many Americans fear street crime. Street crime is associated with danger, randomness, and chaos of a diseased society. The opposite

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image, I assume, of the diseased society is that of a healthy garden. According to Garrett (1993) "[g]ardens are mirrors of ourselves, sometimes representing safety from the threat of wild nature..." (p. 307). Gardens are symbols of order and beauty—tranquil places where people can arrange flowers and plants in symmetrical designs—and whose propieter's sole intention is to stop weeds from choking her plants and invading the garden. The garden resembles a clean suburban street, with fruit stands, barber shops, and hardware stores lined and labeled in "Main Street" fashion, just as the vegetables and flowers are patterned in an order dictated by the gardener. The gardener and virtuous white police officer are the law enforcement authorities of the garden and of "Main Street" and both maintain law and order to the street or garden while picking out the "weeds."

It is this same "picking-out-the-weeds" philosophy that dictates how our system of criminal justice responds to street crime. In essence, the dominant authorities pluck those from the street those who are not part of the dominant system—the discriminatory nature of these policies—sets off a rebellious reaction by those being subverted by the system. As a "place" where crime exists, the street represents and encompasses all the fears that Americans have of crime. In the Golden Age of the small-town myth, the story of American values did not include tales about street crime in suburban America, or small-town America. Crime, particularly the danger associated with street crime, has always been a city problem. The city's danger and mystique is encompassed within the contradictory stories found within the urban-city myth. The city has always been a place of progression, industrial strength, and danger. The steel-outline of a skyscraper in construction, and the sharp-dressed Wall Street broker in the Armani suit carrying a brief-case full of important documents, are both images that illustrate the growth and progress related with the city. But there are other images. Consider the dark alleyways, the littered sidewalks, and the filthy park-bench. Recall those movies like Taxi Driver, Batman, and Chinatown that tell the stories of crime, mental illness, and drug addiction that is associated with the city. Although the city represents progress, it is also a fearful and ominous place. It is this "place"—his street—where our system of criminal justice targets those who are not part of the authoritative and dominant culture. On the city street, the progressive elements of the urban myth are destroyed by the images of oppression that include the confused homeless person who mumbles for a handout, the teenage gang member who leans against a condemned office building waiting for his drug dealer, and the young child who purchases a handgun to carry to school. images of street crime, ultimately, encourage the distinction between the law-abiding and the "other."

One other point needs to be addressed concerning how images of street crime reinforce the perception of the "other." The street, arguably, is a uniquely male place (Rose, 1993). Young men are able to escape from the trials and perplexities of life, by escaping to the street, where other males surround them. Men have a physical security when they are in the street. The street encompasses, what Rapp Reiter (1975) describes, as male leisure practices. City streets are crowded with young males loitering on street corners and playing stick ball. In essence, the street is a place where male-bonding occurs. The cultural mystique associated with "cruising" is dominated by a male presence. Young males cruise city streets in their

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customized, low-rider vehicles, listening to loud music and squawking at the few women who are walking down the street. Conversely, the street is not a place typically associated with women (the "other"). Women, generally, are scared of the street. For women, the street represents many threats of physical danger including murder and rape. It is as though the fear women have of the street is due to the male dominance that crowds city streets. The street is dangerous for women because it is perceived as a male dominated "place of crime." Those women who do occupy the street are "street-walkers"—women ("others"), who because of a desensitized relation with the street—are able to "handle themselves" in this male dominant place. The women who inhabit the city street are seasoned veterans of the street; they are "street-wise" and are knowledgeable of the male authoritative rules and procedures of the street.

The mythic tale of "American values" illustrates how street crime once was a social problem that occurred within the system. For example, the pristine community, illustrated by the small-town myth, threatened by the gangster, organized crime boss, and the corrupt police officer, describes circumstances that do not tarnish the image of the small-town. Under these threats of street crime, the society was still perceived as basically a good and virtuous place where law-abiding citizens freely walked the street unconcerned with being physically harmed. If corruption entered the community, the town sheriff, personified clearly by the Matt Dillon character in the western television series Gunsmoke, and the "G-Man" character exemplified by Hoover, functioned to rid the community of the "outside" threats presented by the "other."

Conclusion and Implications

My hope is that this essay contributes to a further understanding of how myth and ideology help shape culturally salient discourses. It is my hope, also, that this essay illustrates the effectiveness and usefulness of a focus on the rhetoric of "other" and how cultural myths contribute to a further alienation between the social dominant and the social "other." I have illustrated and critically analyzed some discourse by Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon about crime. I have discussed crime discourse in relation to the media coverage it generated. Thus, I have argued that the "law and order" myth is a culmination of mythic characteristics, ideological assumptions, and media attention. Through the glamorization of Hoover's "G-Man" image in Hollywood films, the televised coverage of Kefauver's crusade against corrupt law and justice officials, and Wallace's and Nixon's hard-line toward the "others" associated with street crime, the "law and order" myth has shaped cultural perceptions toward crime.

I have illustrated how the media functions to shape, reinforce, and maintain how prominent cultural myths "other." Although my analysis is limited to discursive examples from Hoover, Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon, it does illustrate how discourse becomes mediated. The media remains a significant contributor to how discourse is transmitted, yet as I have illustrated, the media's shaping function is what contributes to "othering." When discourse, like that which is as powerful as discourse about "law and order," the media contributes to shape this discourse into mythic constructs that arguably discriminate and alienate. Thus, as I have pointed

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out, "law and order" is not a serious topic in political debate. Rather, it is an ambiguous myth with rhetorical threads that romanticize and glamorize "law and order." Yet as this rhetorical thread (glamorization) continues to weave the fabric of the "law and order" myth, other threads, as illustrated by Kefauver, Wallace, and Nixon, contribute the threads of corruption, intolerance, and defiance—threads that arguably work to "other" those who are considered "law-abiding" and "law-breaking." It has been my contention that the media potentially shapes how this "law and order" fabric is displayed to the public.

Hoover's Hollywood "G-Man" image, Kefauver's mediated crusade against corruption, and Wallace's and Nixon's intolerance for street crime function as rhetorical threads that the media weaves into the mythic "law and order" fabric. The media in this way, does not function in a linear way, rather, its function is more subtle—it shapes discourse and reinforces an attitude of "us versus them."

References

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Diversity of Academic Areas of Interest

Among Forensic Participants

Scott G. Dickmeyer

Travis Boerboom

Introduction

Forensics, as an educational laboratory, attempts to bring the learning enterprise to life by having students consistently demonstrate their abilities in a number of areas, interpretation of literature, research skills, analytical skills, poise and confidence. Students are evaluated by their effective demonstration of the abilities at tournaments. The student is rewarded for their work in several ways, including receiving complimentary comments from evaluators, receiving awards, and by qualifying for national competitions. The forensics community provides a unique educational experience for students, yet the criticisms of the activity are often not unique. Forensics education, like many other academic activities, has received a degree of criticism. Specifically, criticism of forensics education taken aim on the diversity of activity.

Diversity is a constant in the realm of American education. After all, America is the land of the immigrant. The issue of diversity, however, goes deeper than the ethnicity of the student. A student at an academic institution has the opportunity and is often asked to diversify his/her life on many different levels. A student may expand her horizons through different emphasis in academic study, exposure to a wide variety of cultures and participating in extra/co-curricular activities. Diversity and higher education go hand in hand. Not only is a student encouraged to diversify endeavors while attending college, a student is expected to encounter a variety of ideas.

We need to recognize, as forensic educators, the diversity of the college community. We must ask ourselves what diversity means to competitive forensics. Moreover, we need to ask ourselves how educators may better relate to the variance in students' lives and how forensics experience may become more applicable/more "realistic" to the population participating in competitive forensics. Diversity allows us the opportunity to enrich our activity through a number of different perspectives. Furthermore, we have responsibility to examine forensics' diversity and have the courage to determine whether we are successfully meeting the wide educational needs of all the forensic community.

Literature Review

Our project was developed in order to examine one aspect of diversity: academic emphasis. More specifically, we examine whether collegiate forensics/individual events fulfills academic needs. We believe a need exists to highlight the degree to which competitive speech serves as an educational activity. In order to examine the level of diversity in competitive forensics, we first investigate literature addressing the competition versus education debate, in particular the growing schism between competition and education. Second, we dissect the debate by

Scott G. Dickmeyer is an instructor and director of individual events at Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota. Travis Boerboom is a graduate student assistant in the Department of Speech Communication at Minnesota State University, Mankato. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the National Communication Association National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, November 1997 We wish to thank Daniel Cronn-Mills, Minnesota State University, Mankato, and Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Minnesota State University, Mankato, for suggestions to the manuscript.

SPEAKER AND GAVEL, Vol. 36 (1999), 19-29

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looking exclusively at trends toward competition and discussing how to restore 1the delicate balance between competition and education. Third, we use the competition versus education debate as a lens to view the diversity of forensic competitors. Precisely, we detail the notion of forensics as a laboratory. Finally, we address the lack of literature addressing diversity of forensic competitors.

Education v. Competition Debate

The first issue is the education versus competition debate. Forensics has been and will continue, by its very nature, to be a competitive activity. Forensics is often perceived as an extension of the classroom. Forensics has been defined as a co-curricular activity in which students use competitive opportunities to practice skills learned in the classroom (Herbeck, 1990). The goals of competition appear complementary to the forensics as "an educational activity primarily concerned with using an argumentative perspective in examining problems and communicating with people" (McBath, 1984, pp. 5-11). The speakers, as in any educational activity, receive expert feedback from critics recommending ways of improving their work (Herbeck, 1990). The laboratory of forensics is based on the assumption the competitive experience drives students to greater levels and ultimately leads to deeper and richer educational experiences.

However, in recent years, forensic educators have asserted a definite shift between the competitive and educational goals of forensics (Herbeck, 1990). The inconsistency between education and competition has had repercussions from oral interpretation to public address to Lincoln-Douglas debate. Gernant (1991) posits oral interpretation has the potential to be, as McBath described, an argumentative, communicative and decision-making tool, yet competitive norms have diminished the goals of oral interpretation. Gernant (1991) limits her analysis to oral interpretation, yet we recognize the same arguments of a shift in competitive norms and educational goals may cross all genres of forensics.

The problems associated with a shift from education as the primary goal to competition as the ultimate goal is illustrated when considering the role of the coach/forensics educator. The activity is based on educational principles and principles do guide forensics today. The coach, however, has specific reasons to emphasize competition. At present, the role of coach/forensic educator is a rather turbulent one. Specifically, the field of speech communication is maturing and more individuals are acquiring Ph.Ds, while at the same time, the requirements for tenure are becoming more stringent. Additionally, forensics teams are expensive and are extremely vulnerable in times of financial crisis (Herbeck, 1990). The obstacles the coach faces (e.g. job security, financial restrictions) lead to an individual having to decide on which role to play—coach or forensic educator—and the internal debate may become tumultuous. The coach and the forensic educator are both evaluated on success. However, coaches often find winning easier to demonstrate than a claim to education. Many individuals will, therefore, describe their success by counting trophies instead of discussing the educational experiences of their students. Herbeck (1990) reminds the forensics community of the tendency to place competitive success over the educational needs of the student. He offers a scenario of the tendency toward competition by how we prepare and coach our students: "everyone can recount instances in which a topic or a selection of literature was dismisses because it `could not win.' The win-or-leave scenario has several repercussions on the students, our teams, and, ultimately, the activity.

One of the most obvious problems associated with the "success scenario" is provided by McGee (as qtd. In Herbeck, 1990) who claims, "we are concerned with `performance' opposed to `substance'" (p. 5). A coach opts toward the "performance paradigm" (Dickmeyer, 1994; 1995) as the most important aspect of the forensics experience leads Herbeck to posit individual events has slipped to nothing more than "intellectual athletics"— a situation in which one institution tries to

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establish supremacy over another institution on the intellectual battlefield. Herbeck (1990) states:

the "best" speakers are those who can amass the highest number of trophies during their careers. The "best" coaches are those who can consistently produce winners. The "best" programs are those that earn sweepstakes award at major tournaments. (p. 4)

The intricacies of the coaching quandary has led some to believe competition has taken precedence over education. Fortunately, an abundant amount of literature exists implying a student with a strong forensics education may excel in individual events competition and the education may extend to the classroom.

The literature discussing the extension to the classroom, however, is often category specific. The literature, in other words, addresses one aspect of forensics in relation to gained classroom skills. Geisler (1985) argues students should take a hermeneutic approach to oral interpretation. Geisler notes dangers occur when competition is emphasized in oral interpretation. "Students in competitive forensics have cut and pasted texts, changed the sex of major characters and rewritten portion of text which did not `flow right'" (Geisler, p. 75). The practices of current oral interpretation would not be acceptable manipulations of the text in other performance arts situations. Geisler (1985) contends the student is better served and more challenged when they dig deeper into the text, as it is meant to be read, and come to understand what the author is attempting to accomplish. We should note, Giesler's (1985) approach does indicate the importance of "learning" the most from a text. The aforementioned approach may not be practical (in light of current competitive practices).

Swarts (1988) asserts an introduction is a students opportunity to establish vital descriptive data and a chance to encourage the audience to be active, analytical evaluators of the literature. The introduction, according to Swarts (1988) is bigger than the performance. In other words, literature should be more than performance (e.g., literature is not simply meant to be performed, but appreciated) and thus, the introduction should coincide with the literature—either should not be dictated by the performance. A proper introduction brings the audience to a deeper understanding of the literature and a greater appreciation for the performer's knowledge of and attachment to the work.

Williams (1996) claims the individualized form of debate, Lincoln-Douglas (LD), has a number of transferable advantages to other aspects of an educated individual's life. Some of the aspects Williams discusses include increased development of communication skills, diversity in analytical skills and different insights on the audience. Williams continues the discussion by addressing the additional benefits to a student by "crossing over," or doing both public speaking and LD. The qualities of Lincoln-Douglas debate help the student of public speaking achieve the six standards of public address as described by the Second National Developmental Conference on Forensics:

1. The speaker's presentation should identify a thesis or claim for which the speech is developed

2. The speaker's presentation should provide a motivational link between the topic and the audience

3. The speakers presentation should develop a substantive analysis of the thesis using appropriate supporting materials.

4. The speaker's presentation should be organized in a coherent manner.

5. The speaker's main presentation should use language that is appropriate for the topic and the audience.

6. The speaker's presentation should be delivered using appropriate vocal and physical presentational skills. (p. 61)

The concern for education described in this base of literature is a vitally im

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portant issue. Again, we should note the preceding research is application based. All of the research is based, in other words, on speeches presented, perspectives on how to make the speech better, the elements one must include in a specific type of speech, ways in which the speaker can make the speech clearer, and academic positions on whether the speech making process is educational in nature. Ultimately, the greater concern for us is how the array of literature regarding specific individual events does not address the individual. We see a distinct gap in the literature when considering the educational diversity of forensic competitors. Education in forensics and transfer of education to the classroom has been addressed. The literature on education, however, has dealt the benefit of the activity in the classroom, not how the activity benefits the individual in the classroom.

We do not mean to imply forensic professionals are not concerned with the education they are providing students. However, the literature indicates there are stresses which lead the coach/educator into making decisions that are not indicative of the educational perspective of the activity. The literature addressing the educational aspects of specific individual events shows a growing concern for maintaining the educational benefits forensics presents. Research indicates competition does complement education in forensics, yet the literature also expresses a concern for the dangers competition presents.

A plethora of research has been done in a diverse number of areas addressing the educational values of forensics. The research, as one can easily see, is focused on the events themselves. Unfortunately, amidst the diverse range of literature emphasizing education in forensics, the research has not explicitly addressed the educational diversity of the contemporary competitor.

We examine the diversity of the literature by first, considering the tournament as a laboratory, and second, examining how forensics benefits communication students as well as noting the shortcomings of literature regarding non-communication majors.

The forensics laboratory

Several researchers have argued forensics is an excellent laboratory for communication research. Harris, Jr., Kropp, Jr., and Rosenthal (1986) assert the intercollegiate forensic community "traditionally has emphasized the pedagogical nature of the activity while often neglecting the research opportunities inherent in forensic education" (p. 13). Forensic tournaments are the perfect opportunity to conduct research. A tournament may be a place to research the relationship between communication, rhetorical theory and practice: "A potential laboratory for inquiry which could add much to the field of speech communication" (Harris, Jr. et. al., p. 15).

Swanson (1992) posits, however, that during the last two decades a schism has widened between forensic programs and the speech communication field. Nonetheless, the 1990s are displaying a new interest in forensics:

Because of the diverse features of a forensic program, it can provide an exceptional laboratory experience in communication for undergraduate students. In particular, forensic programs provide and opportunity for communication studies majors to apply principles they learn within their curriculum. (Swanson, p. 49)

Friedley (1992) examined value of interpersonal communication in forensics. She focuses her discussion on "the coach-competitor dyad found in every facet of the forensic activity" (p. 52). Friedley asserts the importance of exploring forensics as a communication context with vital interpersonal elements, including rule-based communication, disclosure, confirming communication and empathetic communication. "The interpersonal nature of the forensic activity can provide an ex

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cellent training laboratory for the observation, development, practice and eventual mastery of those skills" (p. 56).

Zeuschner (1992) considers forensics as a laboratory experience in small group communication. Zeuschner asserts, using Mills' quasi-mechanical, organismic, conflict, equilibrium, structural-function and cybernetic growth models, "the opportunities of team or group focused on communication activities delineates this activity from others" (p. 59). Zeuschner concludes, "the combination of being a small group, spending extended amounts of time together, longitudinal requirements, the presence of a teacher probably trained in a small group communication create a unique experience and setting for the forensics laboratory not found elsewhere" (p. 64).

Swanson (1992) argues forensic educators may enable a program to become a laboratory in organizational communication. All of the complex elements of an organization are present on a forensic team, particularly when one considers Goldhaber's (1990) definition of organizational communication: "organizational communication is the process of creating and exchanging messages within a network of interdependent relationships to cope with environmental uncertainty" (qtd. in Swanson, 1992, p. 65). Swanson posits several educational benefits to studying forensics from an organizational point of view. First, studying organizational communication in relation to forensics provides an applicable extension of the classroom for organizational communication students. Second, forensics programs may benefit from the constructive criticism of an organizational perspective. Third, educators and competitors in forensics are typically not the same group actively studying organizational communication. Ultimately, forensicators may benefit by bringing diverse elements of communication together.

Rhetoric/argumentation students will see the relevance and contributions of social science/organizational communication perspectives to their focus" (Swanson, 1992, p. 74). Conversely, students applying organizational communication to forensics may appreciate the value of argumentation strategies, public performance techniques and aesthetic sensibilities.

Research focusing on communication major

One can see by examining the literature that a competitor who is not a speech communication major is not really considered in the education-forensics-equation. Dean (1990) argues "forensics pedagogy should be, in some way, to enrich the educational experience of the activity" (p. 33). Pedagogy, to some degree, is moving in this direction (e.g., interpersonal, small group and organizational perspectives to study forensics). The trend toward pedagogy, however is not the norm:

Attention has focused more on judging/performance standards (e.g. "Are Women More Successful in Extemporaneous Speaking Than Men?" and "What Judges Look For In After Dinner") and philosophical arguments (e.g. "Must There Be A Need To Know Informative Speaking" or "Crossing The Fine Line in Oral Interpretation.") than on articles to instruct. (Dean, p. 32)

Furthermore, even if forensics pedagogy is able to enrich educational components of the activity (which does not always happen) we are still not addressing the real issue—enhancing the educational experience for forensic competitors. We, as forensic and communication educators, need to question how we can enrich the educational experience of the activity considering educational diversity of the competitors. We need to investigate the educational factors we are teaching; whether these factors or benefits are limited to the speech communication discipline; and most important, if we hindering or complementing the diverse needs of forensic competitors. Harris Jr. et al. (1986) argue a need "to study the relationship between what we teach in forensics and the knowledge we need to succeed in the

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`outside world'" (p. 15). Much of the literature at least implies support for applying forensics to the outside world. Furthermore, a distinct gap in the literature exists in defining the outside world, and, save for the literature addressing competitors who are speech communication majors, no effort has been made to define the educational diversity of the competitors (i.e., non-speech communication majors).

The void in the literature regarding the educational diversity of the competitors is, as Dean (1990) stated, "both a concern and an opportunity. It [lack of diverse competitors] is a concern because the forensics activity is weakened without it. It [lack of literature dealing with educational diversity] is an opportunity because it is a "wide open" field ready and eager for scholarship" (p. 35). The range of literature addressing the general educational benefits of forensics is diverse, yet too often the literature establishes a broad set of objectives and then discusses how competitors are not meeting these objectives. Moreover, we need to define what is "educational" considering the educational diversity of the competitors. We need to reevaluate the competition versus educational debate and decide whether the current educational situation is meeting the educational diversity of the students. The forensics community has always prided itself on its ability to attract and provide benefits to all students across college and university campuses.

We, as forensic educators, need to question not only what we are teaching, but who are we teaching. We need to be sure, for the health of forensics, we are meeting the needs of our students by appealing to their diverse education needs.

Research Questions

Our study was intended to investigate the degree of diversity existing in the academic interests of student competitors. Additionally, the study describes the academic attributes of the national-level competitor in forensics. Finally, the study allows students access to express their views on whether forensics helped or hindered their academic performance. Considering these concerns, four questions guided the study.

RQ1. Does forensic competition attract a wide range of academic majors?

RQ2. What is the mean grade point average of forensic competitors at the AFA- NIET?

RQ3. Do competitors at the AFA-NIET feel forensics competition helps their educational endeavors?

RQ4. In what ways do forensic competitors feel their involvement in this activity is beneficial to their education?

Method

The method used for the gathering of data was a survey consisting of several open and closed-ended questions. The survey is an appropriate method of data gathering (Bailey, 1987). The national tournament brings a representative sample from across the nation and the choice of the students to return the survey provides a randomness to the sampling. The survey was administered at the 1997 American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament. Surveys were offered to every student at the tournament by way of the packet of information and tournament-related materials which each team receives when they register for the tournament. Each director/coach was asked to have their students fill out the surveys and have them returned to a box at the ballot table. Approximately 550 surveys were distributed and 67 were returned. We realize the number of returned

and usable surveys is small, however, Frey, Botan, Friedman, & Kreps (1991) posit: "The most important characteristic of a sample is not its size, but the extent to which it is representative of the population" (p. 131).

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The purpose of the survey was to identify the diversity of academic areas of study in which forensics competitors are involved. The surveys required respondents to identify their major area(s) of academic study, their minor area(s) of study, their cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA), whether they felt involvement in collegiate forensics helped them succeed in their academic area, and if so, to identify the ways in which forensics involvement helped.

The data analysis is descriptive. The number and types of majors and minors were recorded, the GPA was calculated for a mean score, and the answer as to forensics being helpful to classroom performance was calculated. A thematic analysis was used for the opened-ended question regarding the identification of the ways in which forensics proved helpful to the students classroom performance.

Results

The results of the study are based on the 67 completed and returned surveys. The small percentage of returned surveys (12%) was not ideal. We strongly believe, however, the diversity of the majors represented was enough to draw conclusions specifically about the educational value of forensics for different areas of academic emphasis. Thirty-five different major areas of study are indicated in the responses (see table 1). The number of different majors provides an answer to our first question, indicating a healthy diversity of academic interests were facilitated by forensics competition.

Table One

Academic Majors

Major # in Major Major # in Major

Anthropology 1 Law 1

Biology 4 Law Enforcement 1

Broadcasting 1 Management 1

Business Administration 1 Marketing 1

Communication Studies/ Music Performance 1

Speech Communication 25 Philosophy 1

Economics 2 Political Science 9

English 4 Pre-Law 1

Environmental Studies 1 Pre-Med 1

French 1 Psychology 6

German 1 Public Relations 1

History 2 Russian 1

History of Science 1 Secondary Education 13

Industrial Engineering 1 Sociology 1

Interdisciplinary Studies 1 Telecommunications 1

International Business 1 Theatre 4

Justice Studies 1 X-Ray Technician 1

Language Arts 1

The GPA spanned from a low of 2.33 to a high of 4.00. The mean score for GPA among the students at the AFA-NIET was 3.4. The GPA is quite good, especially for an activity which takes students away from campus often and for extended periods of time. The individual events student seems successful in his/her academic endeavors, given the GPA. The GPA, however, might also be misleading because the type (or difficulty) and number of classes comprising the GPA were not questioned.

Three of the 67 respondents did not believe forensics helped them succeed in

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their areas of academic interest (a surprising note: two of these three were communication majors, the third a political science major). The answer to question three, then, indicates students generally believe their involvement in collegiate forensics helps them perform well in the classroom. Additionally, students offered several responses to question four (what ways do forensic competitors feel their involvement in this activity is beneficial to their education). Table two summarizes the responses to the ways in which forensics helps in the education of students.

Table Two

Themes to Academic Advantages of Forensics Participation

Helps public speaking skills Provides an edge over other students

Improves writing skills Helps overcome fears in life

Improves research skills Develops thought processes/organization

Improves reasoning and analysis Illuminates knowledge in diverse disciplines

Helps create time management skills Active involvement in group processes

Provides networking opportunities Improves social skills

Increases self esteem/confidence Increases exposure to literature

Improves understanding of literature Improves critical thinking skills

Provides life lessons Helps for graduate school

Teaches responsibility to group Pushes you to excel in all aspect of life

Gains respect from professors & administrators

The results of the study provide several reasons for forensics educators to be enthusiastic about their contributions to the education of college students. Students at the very highest level of competition come from very diverse ends of the academic spectrum. Additionally, national level forensics competitors are excellent students in the classroom. The GPA mean of 3.4 would be strong enough to graduate with honors from many colleges in the United States. We think we should note the students generally believe forensics has helped them in their academic endeavors. In answering the open-end questions students indicated forensics experience has helped them become more educated individuals. One student remarked:

Every aspect of forensics helped me better myself not only academically, but as an individual. Forensics has contributed to my ability to organize thoughts into a logical, organized, cohesive format and express them effectively (a skill that instructors not only appreciate, but point out periodically) . . . . I feel obligated to point out that forensics is an activity that has helped me not only academically, but in all aspects of my life. It teaches some of the most important lessons that life has to offer and I wouldn't exchange my experiences or the friends I've made for all the world.

Obviously, the student believed collegiate forensics provided a great educational experience. However, the experience was not the only positive evaluation of the forensics value to education.

One of the concepts previously discussed was competition being an compliment to the educational process (e.g., Herbeck, 1990; McBath, 1984). One of the respondents indicated forensics (specifically the esteem gained in competition) has directly impacted his/her academic performance:

My G.P.A. was .8 when I began working with the forensics team at my Junior College. Since that time I have increased my G.P.A. to 2.6. I think that forensics gave me a place for my talents to build so that they could take me in a positive direction.

The dramatic example above explicitly suggests competition can and does

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compliment the educational process. The example does not imply, however, forensic coaches/educators should focus on the competitive success over the education involved in the activity. The students' responses remind us the two may go hand in hand. Furthermore, the results may offer insight upon the difficult position of the speech coach Dickmeyer (1994, 1995) and Herbeck (1990) discussed. One student was so bold as to say, "I learn a lot more from forensics than I do from many of my classes." Yet, if forensics does help in the academic enterprises of our students, how does an activity calling for major time commitments on campus and extensive travel during the academic year accomplish these advantages?

Several of the responses to our survey described ways in which forensics helped them academically. One student described the attributes of forensics as providing organizational, verbal and presentational skills. The student responses related to the benefit of forensics on academics indicate the analytical skills and development of communication skills discussed by Williams (1996) transferring to the classroom. The important skills students learn in forensics include involvement in class discussion, the ability to express their positions effectively and writing skills. The skills involved in preparing academic texts is yet another area where forensics appears to help students excel. Several students point out that forensics improved their research and evaluation skills insuring their papers are filled with sound backing. Additionally, students claim their analytical skills are enhanced by their involvement.

Perhaps the skill most often overlooked by forensics educators is balancing. Several students claim they have the ability to balance their time better and be involved in several activities while maintaining strong study habits. One student explains forensics, "keeps me focused on other aspects of my life—meaning time management with work, classes, other extra activities . . . I concentrate and allocate time better in all areas of my life." The skill of balancing several different aspects of ones life is difficult to accomplish through a lecture in a classroom, yet balancing is one of the most important skills we can hone in our lives.

The forensics community needs to be aware of the educational advantages it offers students in regard to their level of esteem. A great number of the students surveyed indicated involvement in forensics gave them confidence in other areas of their lives. One student succinctly expressed the importance of esteem stating forensics "gives me confidence to push myself to expect excellence." The results seem to intimate a connection between believing in ones ability to succeed and the accomplishment of a task. Forensics helps students believe in themselves and, therefore, achieves an educational goal which cannot be evaluated against the costs of time and energy. Additionally, the survey found several students believed forensics is their collegiate family. One student put it all into perspective, claiming, "forensics makes me a more driven student, helps me focus, and at the same time, provides a diversion from the rigors of academia."

Finally, forensic coaches must recognize the academic diversity and the level to which forensics enhances all areas of academia. Forensic coaches must continue addressing the needs of all students. Coaches must continue to ask not only what we are teaching, but who we are teaching. As Dean (1990) notes, the academic diversity is an opportunity, yet we need to be cautious about limiting the scope of what we define as "educational." Finally, coaches need to be aware of the education they give when increasing esteem, teaching balance and demonstrating academic curiosity.

Limitations and future research considerations

The purpose of this study was to find out the diversity of the academic interests of collegiate forensics competitors. Two limitations of the study can be seen in regards to this goal. First describing the diversity of academic areas based on 67 responses is tenuous. Fortunately, the number of different major areas of study

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found indicate great diversity in the activity. The second problem deals with the choice of only surveying the competitors at the AFA-NIET. While competitors at the AFA-NIET are a convenient group to survey and represent dedication to the activity. The surveyed population may not be a template for the average forensic competitor.

Our study provides a base for potential new research in the area of forensics education. We believe the findings of the diverse skills of balancing may be an interesting avenue to understand at a deeper level. Perhaps a study which would create a typology of time management/balancing skills learned in forensics would prove interesting. Additionally, the choice of giving the students the voice in discussing their perspectives on how forensics influences their academics is a positive outcome. We suggest additional research focus on the students' experience of forensics. The students are the consumers of the activity. Coaches need to understand students motives for participating and thoughts on the activity so we are better able to enrich the individuals' educational experience.

Finally, the expansion of the debate about education versus competition is important. This study indicates we may be doing a better job of educating than previous essays indicate. The forensics community must define its educational goals and objectives. While working towards definition, we need to keep the academic discussion alive. We encourage scholars to continue this debate by offering new studies to indicate the successes or problems of forensic education.

Conclusion

This paper has provided a discussion of the problems facing the forensics educator in dealing with the education v. competition debate. The results of the survey indicate forensics is an activity which effectively facilitates and educates a diverse group of learners. The population of the forensics community showcases students from every corner of the college campus and provides an important educational outlet to teach a diverse group of skills. Perhaps the greatest gift we give to the students is an opportunity to showcase their talents among a group of driven people who care.

References

Aden, R., & Kay, J. (1988). Improving the educational value of extemporaneous speaking: refocusing the question. The National Forensic Journal, 6, 43-50.

Bailey, K. D. (1987). Methods of social research (third ed.). New York: The Free Press.

Dean, K. (1990). Encouraging forensics pedagogy. The National

Forensic Journal, 8, 29-36.

Dickmeyer, S. G. (1993). Questioning the use of questions in interpretation events. Paper presented at the Speech Communication Association annual meeting, Miami, Florida.

Dickmeyer, S. G. (1997). The Problem of the Performance Paradigm in Interpretation Events: An Explication of the Unique Qualities Which Should Guide Our Judging. A paper presented at the 1997 Bi-annual meeting of the Pi Kappa Delta Honorary Fraternity in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.

Frey, L. R., Botan, C. H., Friedman, P. G., & Kreps, G. L. (1991). Investigating communication: An introduction to research methods. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Friedley, S. (1992). Forensics as a laboratory experience in

interpersonal communication. The National Forensic Journal, 10, 51-56.

Geisler, D. (1985). Modern interpretation theory and competitive

forensics: understanding hermeneutic text. The National Forensic

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Journal, 3, 71-79.

Gernant, R. (1991). Oral interpretation: what are students learning?

The National Forensic Journal, 9, 41-49.

Harris, Jr., E., Kropp, Jr., R., & Rosenthal, R. (1986). The

tournament as a laboratory: implications for forensic research. The

National Forensic Journal, 4, 13-22.

Herbeck, D. (1990, August). Competition vs. education in

intercollegiate forensics: restoring the fragile balance. Paper

presented at the Second Developmental Conference on Individual Events,

Denver Colorado.

McBath, J. (1984). Rationale for forensics. In D. Parson (Ed.)

American forensics in perspective (pp. 5-11). Annandale, VA: Speech

Communication Association.

Swanson, D. (1992). Forensics as a laboratory experience in

communication studies. The National Forensic Journal, 10, 49.

Swanson, D. (1992). Forensics as a laboratory experience in

organizational communication. The National Forensic Journal, 10, 65-76.

Swarts, V. (1988). The function of the introduction in competitive

oral interpretation. The National Forensic Journal, 6, 35-42.

Williams, D. (1996). Educational criteria in forensics: an argument

for Lincoln-Douglas debate. The National Forensic Journal, 14 57-69.

Zeuschner, R. (1992). Forensics as a laboratory experience in small

group communication. The National Forensic Journal, 10, 57-64.

SPEAKER AND GAVEL 1999

Fire on the Right

Terry Robertson

Abstract

An alarming paucity of research exists concerning the communication practices of the Christian Patriot Movement in the United States. Even though well publicized cases, such as the Branch Davidians in Waco, the Weavers at Ruby Ridge, and Timothy McViegh in Oklahoma City, illustrate the weight of the issues surrounding the movement, a woeful lack of scholarly literature inhibits understanding of marginal movements. This paper utilizes fantasy theme analysis as a rhetorical lens in order to discover the persuasive communication practices adopted by members of the Christian Patriot Movement. The research illustrates, through in-depth interviews and field observations, how Christian Patriots in southwest Missouri create consciousness by rhetorically adapting current events to socio-religious doctrine in order to create new fantasies which bond disenfranchised individuals to the movement. Next, Christian Patriots attempt to raise consciousness through dramatic messages that feed the social, economic, governmental, and religious dissatisfaction held by members and potential converts. Finally, Christian Patriots sustain consciousness by sanctifying the rhetoric as the "words of God." This essay describes, interprets and explains the rhetoric of the Christian Patriot Movement.

The American people must know that the plan for the New World Order means total regulation and control of the people by the government - a government of tyranny which will determine what resources the people may use, what property and possessions they may have, what and how much they will eat, where and how they will live, and even who may be permitted to live. The time is at hand when men and women must decide whether they are one the side of freedom and justice, the American Republic, and Almighty God; or if they are on the side of tyranny and oppression, the New World Order and Satan. (The Militia News, 1994, p. 3)

Although popular media has given much coverage to right wing social movements there has been a paucity of research performed by communication scholars concerning groups existing on the extreme far right fringe. Communication scholars have also tended to overlook the phenomenon of religious communication, including proselytization, as a common denominator among many of the groups located on the far right. This article illustrates the communication pro-

Terry Robertson is a student in the Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

SPEAKER AND GAVEL, Vol. 36 (1999), 30-46

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cesses within the Christian Patriot Movement.

Through qualitative analysis, the communication employed by Christian Patriots is observed and a clearer understanding of the communication practices used in the Christian Patriot Movement will emerge that will facilitate scholars' attempts to comprehend why people join extremist groups.

Finding a tool to uncover communication, motivation, and persuasion in humans is problematic. Is it possible to explain the actions of Timothy McVey? How do people become Baptists? How do politicians strike the "responsive chord" that convinces electorates to place one party in power at the expense of another? A tool does exist that describes, explains, and illustrates communication inherent in people and groups. Symbolic convergence theory (SCT) explains how humans come to share symbolic realities through rhetorical visions and commonly held fantasy themes. SCT provides a lens for scholars to observe human communication and describe how groups of people create, raise, and sustain consciousness that provide meaning and motivation for action (Bormann, 1972).

The incidents at Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Oklahoma City tend to serve as the most revealing instances of the conflict between members of the Christian Patriots and governmental institutions. These incidents also serve as a feeding ground for rhetoricians who hope to lure others into the their specific group. The Coalition for Human Dignity (1994), for example, reports that recent developments have created fertile ground for the more radical elements within the movement to flourish:

Each of these (large evangelical meetings) developments follows directly from the Weaver siege and good old fashioned political expediency and each poses special problems for the government. Johnny Trochman, at a Patriot Picnic, wove a convoluted conspiracy theory, combining the Brady Bill as a United Nations plot to take away American guns with the Waco siege as an inevitable consequence of the plot. (p. 9)

Waco and Ruby Ridge tend to serve as sanctioning agents, or grant cognitive permission for people to join right wing movements.

Review of the Literature

There is little research in the field of communication concerning the Christian Patriot Movement or conversion into the Movement. Fortunately, communication scholars have the opportunity to look to other disciplines in order to examine portions of the Movement's communication practices. Religious communication research has tended to focus upon the fantasy types perpetuated in mainline religious denominations or upon religious cults (Bormann, 1985a; Griffen, 1990 Lofland, 1966). There is, however, little research depicting the correlation between right wing religious rhetoric and social movements.

This literature review will synthesize the research that has taken place in the communication field as well as other disciplines pertaining to the Christian Patriot Movement. First the review will define many of the terms associated with the Movement. Then the review of literature will examine fantasy types associated

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with religious conversion, social movements and socialization into movements. The review will then mention the apocalyptic rhetoric that is inherent within the Christian Patriot Movement. Finally, an explanation of Symbolic Convergence theory is tendered in order to clarify the theoretical foundation of the research.

Christian Patriot rhetoric is often similar to the communication used within the more mainstream religious right. Perhaps even more significant is that a number of similar fantasy themes occur. The mainstream religious right and the Christian Patriot Movement often share enemies, i.e., the government, secular humanists, liberals, etc (Aho, 1990). The two organizations overlap in belief and while a snowball effect (i.e., first mainstream religious right, then Christian Patriot) cannot be claimed, a significant number of individuals take that path. Aho (1990), for example, places groups such as the right to life movement, the Moral Majority, and the Eagle Forum as a subset of the Patriot Movement. In earlier work, Aho's (1990) definition of Militia members placed the Fundamentalist Christian and Identity Christian movements within the Christian Patriot Movement. This essay, however, notes several conspicuous differences in the belief systems of mainstream religious right and Christian Patriots. Christian Patriots, for example, tend to portray more violent and racist rhetoric than their mainstream fundamental counterparts (Secondin, 1993). Therefore, delineation should be drawn between Identity Christians, Fundamental Christians, and Christian Constitutionalists (militia members). For the purpose of this article, the Christian Patriot Movement will include Identity Christians and Christian Constitutionalists, but will not include Fundamentalist Christians. While it is true that Identity Christians and Christian Constitutionalists hold Fundamentalists' beliefs, that does not mean that Fundamentalists hold a majority of Identity or Constitutionalistic beliefs.

I provide the following discussion of terms associated with the Christian Patriot Movement to increase clarity. The term Christian Patriot will be used to signify membership within one of two groups, Identity Christian and/or Christian Constitionalist (militia). Christian Patriots are usually individuals with Fundamental beliefs, i.e., assent to faith in Jesus Christ as savior. This person believes that the promise of salvation has been given to all human beings and that only through Jesus can one be saved. He or she feels duty bound to reform the world after God's will, as discerned in the Bible and as manifested in the Constitution of the United States. (Aho, 1990) This individual has a moral obligation to submit to secular law only if it conforms to God's will. They also believe a secret Satanic conspiracy has infiltrated America's major institutions to subvert God's will. Christian Patriots also hold the Fundamentalist belief in the verbal inspiration and infallibility of the Bible, the open rejection of critical exegesis, the conviction that Fundamentalism is the antidote to modernism and demonstrating intolerance toward the thinking of others. Furthermore, Christian Patriots (and Fundamentalists) believe in and have a desire for extraordinary religious experiences, miracles, and a millennial expectation of the endtime (Secondin, 1993).

The Identity Christian is a subset of the Patriot Movement. Members of this sect believe that other races are inferior to whites. Identity Christians are Fundamentalist in their other religious beliefs (Ezekial, 1996). The Christian Constitutionalist is the second subset of the Movement. They are Militia Members who

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have a belief that God ordained the Constitution. They believe in an upcoming apocalyptic war and have a cynical mistrust of government (Aho, 1990).

This project was concerned with the process creating, raising, and sustaining consciousness within the Christian Patriot Movement. By creating a social myth, messengers offer one another new cognitive patterns or a conceptual ideology that act as a mechanism to facilitate new beliefs. Bales (1950) explains the hope of blotting out the past and creating a bright new future as one of the more compelling aspects of changing one's reality.

The culture of the interacting group stimulates in each of its members a feeling he has entered a new realm of reality - a world of heroes, villains, saints, and enemies - a drama, a work of art. One is psychologically taken into a psychodramatic fantasy world, in which others in the group are also involved. (p. 152)

The process of entering a social religious group often entails a high level of commitment; indeed, religious groups demand a higher level of commitment in order to be accepted as a true member of the group (Lofland, 1966). The socialization of the individual within the group is linked to the rhetoric that the group uses in order to convey the message to the individual as well as the communication that the individual uses in order to speak to the group. Bormann (1981) argues:

The dramatizations which catch on and chain out in small groups….serve to sustain the members' sense of community, to impel them strongly to action and to provide them with a social reality filled with heroes, villains, and attitudes. (p. 213)

Early investigations by Bormann (1972) offer the beginning lexicon for terms associated with SCT. The findings of these studies describe the basic communicative process by which people experience symbolic convergence as the dynamic process of sharing group fantasies. The moments when communicators are caught up in the sympathetic participation of a common drama are fantasy chains (Bormann, 1982a). A dramatizing message is one that contains imaginative language, metaphors, narratives, similes, and personifications and is always set somewhere other than the here and now (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields 1994).

The actual content of the message in which the fantasy is elicited is called the fantasy theme or complete scenarios which contain major dramatic elements such as dramatis personae (characters), plotline, scene, and sanctioning agent (justification of the drama) (Endres, 1989). Rhetoric is transmuted into consciousness through fantasy chains. A group experiences a fantasy life similar to the stream of consciousness fantasy life of an individual. Therefore, a fantasy theme is the content of the dramatizing message that initiates a fantasy chain. Although the content of the message is the same as the theme, the difference is that the theme has become part of the group consciousness through the dynamic process of chaining and sharing (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields 1994). Fantasy themes provide a rhetorical means for groups of people to interpret experience. The following example, using

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the Christian Patriot Movement (CPM) illustrates the concept. Individuals involved in militia groups tend to share dramatized messages about an upcoming apocalypse. The dramatized message chains and becomes a fantasy theme shared through group consciousness. Studies (Aho, 1990; Collins, 1984; Talmon, 1962) done concerning the militia movement indicate that a notable amount of the group's motivation comes from preparing for holocaustic war.

Fantasy types are overarching themes that include several fantasy themes (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields 1994). Members of a group may share several similar dramas, outlines of plot, heroes and villains, and settings and generalize a fantasy type. The militia provide an excellent example. The apocalypse that different militia groups foresee vilifies an "unholy other." Unholy others might be any number of individual entities. Included in this far ranging taxonomy are sexual orientation, gender,

races, religions, systems of government, belief systems, or a combination of all characteristics. Fantasy types evolve through realizing that the group must have an antagonist in its drama concerning the apocalypse

Rhetorical visions are a unified putting-together of the various themes and types that give the participants a broader view of things (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields 1994). Rhetorical visions are often cued by a special word, slogan, or label. Once an individual shares in the drama of a fantasy theme, they may then be able to understand and respond to rhetorical imagery of either a fantasy type or an inside cue (Endres, 1989). For example, Ronald Reagan's depiction of the former Soviet Union as "the evil empire" contributed to the shared fantasy of the enemy, thus allowing Reagan to continue SDI research and development. People come to share fantasy themes and types through rhetorical visions, forming social reality within their group. Ultimately, shared fantasies provide group members with comprehensible forms for explaining their past and thinking about their future - a basis for communication and group consciousness (Bormann, 1985). The explanatory power of the fantasy chain lies in its ability to account for the development, evolution, and decay of dramas that catch up groups of people and change their behavior (Bormann, 1972). Symbolic convergence theory provides power for explanation and description. SCT provides researchers with the opportunity to experience the vision or fantasy, thereby living vicariously the drama of the group being studied. SCT draws back the curtain to the stage of life and allows the researcher, even at a distance, to experience the play.

Ultimately, the research in this study owes much to the work of Bormann (1972) for his explanation of fantasy theme analysis as well as Lofland's (1966) experiences with conversions into deviant (cultic) religions. O'leary's (1993) dramatistic approach to Apocalyptic rhetoric was also influential. Aho's work with the Idaho Christian Patriot Movement added to the research. The work done by these scholars suggest that fantasy themes are prevalent throughout the rhetoric of the Christian Patriot Movement and resulted in the following research question:

RQ1: How is communication used within the Christian Patriot Movement to create, raise, and sustain consciousness in its members?

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Methodology

In order to answer the preceding research question I created a qualitative research design. Qualitative research is best when performing exploratory research. Since there is a paucity of research concerning the Christian Patriot Movement exploratory research needs to be conducted. Second, Taylor and Bogden (1984) explain that qualititative methods make it possible to observe and explore cultures that are not easily accessed by other methods. Therefore, qualitative method provides the framework in which to observe the communication processes within the Movement. Qualitative methods are helpful to the researcher in discovering and interpreting the culture within mass movements. I believed that the best way to gain insight into the Christian Patriot Movement was to not reduce individuals to numbers. Taylor and Bogdan (1984) suggest that, "When we reduce people's words and acts to statistical equations, we lose sight of the human side of social life" (p. 7). Seidman (1991) suggests that by utilizing the qualitative interview, the researcher may understand the experience of other people and the meaning they make of the experience. This study is enhanced by utilizing qualitative interviews in order to better understand the Christian Patriot Movement.

Setting and Participants

Two observations of Christian Patriot meetings in South Central Missouri took place in the spring of 1995. Access to the meetings came from the leader of the group after several phone calls explaining to him the nature of the observation. The leader seemed eager to speak of the meeting and I received sincere cooperation from the leader. After each observation, notes from the meetings were broken into data segments. The data segments were clusters of sentences or phrases that completed a thought. The segments were then separated into themes that reoccurred during the observations.

Interviews were also conducted with members of several different Christian Patriot groups in South Central and Southwest Missouri. I chose to interview a convenience sample (Babbie, 1973) of twelve males and four females. All participants were Caucasian due to the lack of minority members within the Christian Patriot Movement. Both subsets of the Christian Patriot Movement are represented within the interviews, i.e., Militia (8) and Identity Christian (8). All of the females (4) represented in the interviews were Identity Christians. All of the participants were located in rural areas in southern Missouri. Each participant willingly signed an informed consent allowing the researcher to audio-tape the interview. Pseudonyms were used and the interviewees were assured that their names would not be released.

The participants in this study were asked a series of open-ended questions concerning the actions and communication within the group. The responses to these queries were analyzed to determine the framework of the movement and its social constructs. The members were questioned about their thoughts upon the role of religion, government and the Christian Patriot Movement. The answers were then used to determine the groups' fantasy themes.

The transcripts of the interviews were also analyzed to discover the themes

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within the movement. Several questions within the interview schedule dealt with how the individual became members of the group. Ultimately the interview transcripts were encoded to discover similar themes. Themes were then clustered together in order to find connections between individuals.

Members of the movement were asked about their political, religious, and economic beliefs as they moved toward converting into the Christian Patriot Movement, and how the Movement helped to maintain and cement those beliefs. From this series of questions fantasy themes were observed. Bormann (1972) suggests:

Not only does the fantasy analysis of rhetorical visions provide at least as great if not greater power of prediction than the fixed schedule of motives approach but, more importantly, once we participate in the rhetorical vision of a community or movement, even if we keep an aethetic distance, we have come vicariously to experience a way of life that would otherwise be less accessible to us, we have enlarged our awareness, we have become more fully human. Certainly the discovery and appreciation of rhetorical visions should be one possible function of criticism. (p. 401)

By observing the fantasy themes of a group, it becomes possible to understand the conversion process of members joining the group. Individual incorporation of the vision into their cognitive schema is a significant part of the conversion process.

Results

The data obtained from the interviews and observations provided several clusters of fantasy themes within the group. The primary clusters included: 1) Apocalyptic, 2) The Holy Quest, 3) Good versus Evil. The clusters are paramount in the communication used in creating, raising, and sustaining consciousness in the Christian Patriot Movement.

Consciousness Creating Rhetoric

Consciousness creation is originating new symbolic ground for a community of people (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields, 1994). How do groups create consciousness? Study of the Christian Patriot Movement indicates the methods are varied, yet dynamic, and on-going. The Christian Patriot Movement continually creates new consciousness by rhetorically adapting current events to socio-religious doctrine already employed by the group. When news events, i.e., Waco, Ruby Ridge, or the Montana Freeman make headlines, dramatizations are made that create new conscious meanings in members' and potential converts' social realities. Consciousness creation does not necessarily remain static. Consciousness creation may fit into a social/political/religious paradigm already believed by people. Creation of consciousness tends to define a group or furnish a group with philosophical roots. CPM members define themselves as the direct church of Jesus Christ as founded by Wesley Swift of Lancaster California. After Swift's death the dogma of the Church was carried forward by Richard Butler. In one meeting a CPM leader explained:

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After World War II, Mr. Butler was troubled by events in this country and where the nation was headed. Government edicts always seemed to be in opposition to the best interests of the nation and the white race, in particular. Through the writings of Dr. Swift and Mr. Butler, we came to believe in the preservation of the white race, individually and collectively, as directed by the Bible. We believe that the true, literal children of the Bible are the twelve tribes of Israel, now scattered throughout the world and now known as the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Teutonic, Scandinavian, Celtic peoples of the world. We also believe that there are literal children of Satan in the world. These are the descendants of Cain, who came to be as a result of Eve's sin. We know that because of this sin there is a battle and a natural enmity between the children of Satan and the Children of the most high God. (Int. 3, page 12)

One of the major fantasy themes that creates consciousness is that of an apocalyptic war which has an outcome already decided in the Bible. The pastor of an Identity Church recited the dogma by stating:

The Book of Revelation tells us what is going to happen in the future. The Bible tells us that we will rule this planet with Christ, and judge the people here. I'm going to be one of the saints that rule after the second coming of Christ, just as all of those who are God's chosen will. God knows the future. It's preordained who will be saved and who will not and the children of Satan will not be the rulers or saved. There is going to be a great war to end all wars and in it, God's people will finally prevail. Satan and his children will be tossed in the flaming pit of Hell. Jews can't be saved, they killed Christ, but blacks can be. They can't have the blessings or position that God's chosen people will have, but they can have a place in heaven as people who help. But being a slave for God is not a bad thing. People just have to realize their destinies how high they can go. Now niggers can't go into heaven's temple, that's what revelation tells us, but they can perform certain jobs in heaven, if they haven't been deceived by Satan here on earth and they realize what their role is. (Int. 4, p. 17)

The apocalypse of the Identity Christian is laced with racist communication and matches much of that of the Militia members. The tone of the Identity Christian when alluding to the apocalypse serves the need to give self-affirmation, legitimization and assertion. Identity Christians often feel oppressed by other groups and races of humans (Aho, 1990). In their search for justice or vengeance, depending on the individual desire, the Identity Christian wants a role reversal. For example, when a CPM member exclaims that, "Niggers have been given all sorts of special treatment in the country" (int 3, p 19) the member justifies his hate by noting the favoritism that minorities supposedly receive. They perceive that they have been economically distressed because other races obtain jobs they feel they should have received. They feel they have been politically oppressed because they have no avenue in which to address others in political discourse. One member, for

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instance, stated that "no one listens to the white man," (int 7, p 22). They feel they have been racially oppressed because of the union other races have gained within their respective groups. The apocalypse presents a quest, where after great tribulation, members of the Identity Christian group will achieve heaven and power. Identity members believe that the sin that caused the fall from the Garden of Eden will be rectified in the apocalypse. This first sin is, according to interviews with Identity Christians, much different than what most mainline religions proclaim as original sin. Identity Christians believe the sin in the Garden included sexual intercourse between Satan and Eve. One member of the group explained:

"The serpent deceived me" in the third chapter of Genesis is a key verse. The word deceive is actually defined as the word seduce. After Eve had sex with the serpent, she introduced it (O.C. - sexual intercourse) to Adam. From these couplings came to sons, first Cain (O.C. - from the seed of Satan) and then Able (O.C.- from the seed of Adam). Cain is the evil one and after he killed Cain, was sent to the Land of Nod, where he met females created in Genesis One. From these relationships (O.C. - Cain and pre-Adamic females) came the ancestors of the Jewish race. The white race came after that. You know Jesus was a racist who believed some men are born evil, others good. Some are, pure blooded Adamic men, others fornicating Jews. What God created was good. Therefore Jews could not be God's creation, but Satan's creation. In the end time the good will win out. (Int. 8, p. 21)

The apocalypse is one of the more compelling themes within the Christian Patriot Movement and is utilized as a tool in creating consciousness. Many members see a holocaustic war on the horizon and warn members and sympathizers to become ready for it. The Militia's view of the coming apocalypse has a plot-line that is strikingly familiar. Soon, according to many within the militia movement, the right thinking citizens of the United States will become involved in a catastrophic war that will change the face of the planet. Many members think the war will be religious in nature, others think it will be a war between the races, and still others see it as throwing off the upcoming one world government. The following, given by one Militia member, illustrates an interpretation of the Apocalypse.

A New World Order is building like a thunderhead. Foreign troops under the control of the United Nations are training secretly on American soil. Blood will be spilled in the streets of America. It is inevitable. 666 and the Mark of the Beast is beginning right now with the development of computer chips that will fit into people's foreheads and hands. This shows irrefutably that the warlords of Washington and Wall Street are planning on putting devices on every person on the face of the planet. (Int. 8, p. 14)

Militia members are quick to give advice on how to prepare for the coming conflict. They offer non-members a sense of personal security that may be attained if you are informed and prepared for the war. The purpose of the Apocalypse seems to be the resolution of tension by perceived social crisis. One's enemies, including

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large numbers of basically unknown people with whom one supposes to be in disagreement, are given a demonic label for their role in the upcoming Apocalypse. The violent images in the myth of the Apocalypse are a way to release aggressive feelings (Collins, 1984). Christian Patriots argue that there may come a time when violence will become necessary to halt the demonic unknowns alluded too earlier. For those that are marginal in society, who have no other legitimate way to air their grievances, the militia offers a pathway to power (Aho, 1990). The communication of the Apocalypse is an enabling mechanism to those that feel they have no other recourse. The communication of the Apocalypse is about the communication of power. The powerless now, obtain power during the Apocalypse. The Christian Patriot Movement is an avenue to find that power. It is an attempt to create, within people, a new consciousness that predicates an extraordinary, entirely unique, worldview.

Consciousness Raising Rhetoric

The second major fantasy theme among Christian Patriots is that of the Holy Quest. To Christian Patriots, the only truth is the Bible, the Word of God. They are dogmatic in their insistence that those that go away from the Word of God are extremely evil. The Christian Patriot is involved in a quest to create into reality God's Word on earth. Christian Patriot members argue that God is obligated to fulfill his part of the covenant (blessing the white race) only if his people fulfill their part. This concept creates within the Christian Patriot a fantasy that they must live their life in accordance to the Bible politically, economically, sexually, and racially or they will lose God's favor. Inherent in rhetorical visions are fantasy types that motivate members of the group into proselytizing, thereby making attempts to gain new converts. In CPM circles, members of evangelical congregations attempt to add new members because, in their rhetorical vision, the only way to achieve eternal life is to accept the doctrine of the movement. However, there are shrouds of secrecy that surround many CPM activities, i.e., closed meetings and rituals where the general public is not invited. Conversely, at other times the CPM member tends to gain legitimization through furthering the dogma. To be a good member and find one's way into heaven, an individual must proselytize. Since, an individual's psychodynamics (he or she wants heaven) is such, the tendency is to proselytize or pass on the rhetorical vision. Bormann, Cragan, and Shields (1996) note that this fantasy type falls somewhere on a continuum from celebrating secrecy and mystery on one end to glorifying the spreading of the word on the other.

A principle of consciousness raising rhetoric is dedication. Dedication may be defined as planned events that inspire people to act in accord with the rhetoric of a vision (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields 1996). Dedication is often aligned with action by the new member. Public action testifies to the attitude change affirmation. It is common for CPM leaders to reflect the rhetoric of the following speaker, recorded at an assembly of CPM members:

I don't care how people do or what method is used as long as it brings people back to Christ and gets them out of their sin. If it works, its ok by me. Becom

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ing a Christian is much more important than anything else. If that means showing pictures of bloody aborted babies, so what? If it means protesting Doctors that perfom abortions, so be it. It is in God's will that we bring this country back to Christ. (Int. 6, p. 19-20)

Dedication is witnessed in CPM as fidelity to the precepts of the movement. The effort to fight and safeguard the existence and reproduction of the white race are held to be as proofs of dedication to the movement. Christian Patriots explain that the United States is losing favor in God's eyes because the citizens of the United States have left the tenets of God's Word. It is now up to the Christian Patriot to join the holy war (quest) against those who have departed from the will of God, or are, by birth, opposed to "God's children." Another member explains:

America is apt to be overrun any time because of the sins that are taking place now in the country. I mean God used other peoples in the Old Testament to punish our ancestors when those people got out the his will. I want you to look around right now. We got niggers marrying whites. Jews are running the banks and we got a man that is being run by his hippie wife in the White House. No wonder we got so many problems in this country. It is a fact that the niggers are the ones that are bringing the drugs into the country, with cocaine and all that and then they don't get sent to jail because they're niggers. It used to be that people knew how to live and act in this country but we're losing it right now. I look for us to be fighting the Mexicans that are on the border because they want what we got. It's up to us to stop this and if we don't we are going to lose this country to the niggers or Mexicans. (Int 9, p. 17)

Identity Christians use the idea of the quest to return the United States to God as one of the primary methods to bring new members into the group. The fantasy is that whites are the chosen people and the United States is blessed only if this chosen people agrees to keep the covenant of God. Christian Patriots play on the fantasy of the quest to bring others into the movement. The attraction for people that join the Movement is based upon the fantasy that the way to God is to join him on his quest.

Consciousness Sustaining Communication

A third overarching fantasy theme within the Christian Patriot Movement is the creation of an enemy under the canopy of good versus evil. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and communism no longer being a major threat, Christian Patriots have attempted to fill the void with the creation of a new enemy. The Movement offers several targets as an enemy and when communicating to members and nonmembers alike. One member explained:

When I talk to people who might want to join our group, I point out that it is the government that has taken away their ability to succeed. It's the government that takes away all of your money in taxes and gives it to people who don't do anything but collect a welfare check and then drink it up. It is liber

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als that are selling out the nation and making it impossible for an honest man to make a living. I'll tell you that if it weren't for feminists demanding that women no longer stay home and take away jobs from men trying to feed their families, the economy would be a lot better. There is nothing wrong with women staying home and raising their kids. It is a lot better that a stranger doing it. (Int 4, p. 16)

Consciousness sustaining communication is aimed at maintaining commitments of those already involved with the group. As groups mature, some of those who earlier shared the rhetorical vision begin to fall away and lose faith in the fantasy. Rhetors within the group must present additions to the grounded vision in order halt seepage of members away from the group. Creating new rhetoric, however poses a challenge. Belief shifts or paradoxes in faith may occur because the inflexibility of the old vision does not allow for the change new rhetoric proposes. Bormann, Cragan, and Shields explain:

Rhetorical visions may be placed on a flexible to inflexible continuum. On one end are flexible rhetorical visions that are sensitive to the breaking news and the changing experience of the participants in the vision. Participants in flexible visions often reshuffle their symbolic fantasies so that they have a shifting pantheon of characters plot lines, scenes, and sanctioning agents…At the opposite end of the continuum are inflexible rhetorical visions that maintain their internal integrity despite changing circumstances and experiences. (1994)

Rhetors upholding the vision attempt to take into consideration the flexibility or inflexibility of the mature vision as they add or delete from it. Several principles underly considerations concerning flexibility of visions. These include the principles of shielding, rededication, and reiteration. Bormann, Cragan, and Shields (1994).

The principle of shielding asserts that inflexible, righteous visions often remain pure and unchanged by containing motives to block counter messages in the formal and informal channels. Leaders in the Christian Patriot Movement (CPM) followed this communication strategy. One member gave this explanation:

Niggers have been given all sorts of special treatment in this country. Little nigger boys and girls get the best schools while God fearing people ain't got anything. Nigger men try to breed white women so they can make the white race less pure. Affirmative action is nothing but a slap in the face of the white man. Now people have said the Klan is bad because it stops interracial marriage and tries to give the white man an even break, but I tell you the Klan is not such a bad thing. God blessed this country because we are God's chosen and I can prove it to you in the Bible and if the Klan is trying to keep God's blessing, then this is something we all should be doing. (p. 81)

The argument, "God said it, we should do it," is prominent. All other arguments

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are outside the shield provided by the original rhetoric. The need to preserve the original order, to keep a staid course is uppermost in the rhetorician's mind. The rhetorical vision must be kept, because it has been sanctified by God. If one were to question the vision, that person becomes part of the enemy. To be outside the will of God provides dire consequences. Johnny Trochman, a leader within the Montana CPM states: "Memorize the face of your congressman. Some day you might have to shoot it" (Montana Human Rights Network, 1996, p. 26) Since the government does not follow the dictates of the CPM and remains outside the will of God, the government is the enemy. CPM members are shielded from argument and outside visions because of the source of opposing visions.

The second part of the principle of rededication comes from planned dramatizations to keep the vision fresh and vital. Fundamentalist preachers, for example, use changing news events as "proof" for the approaching Armageddon. CPM rhetoricians often use the same method:

The most significant thing we have experienced in our generation is homosexuality. Homosexuality has brought us AIDS and the loss of morality in the nation. Homosexuality is a sin that is an absolute moral outrage to God and the nature of man. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and he will destroy us unless we rid ourselves of the homosexual plague. (int.7, p. 18)

Dramatization provides underpinning for sustaining consciousness by illustrating the changes of scenery that have a goodness of fit with the original vision. In the example used above, CPM members already feel that the government is playing into the hands of those (homosexuals) who would lead the nation to destruction.

The principle of reiteration asserts that visions are sustained by restating the key fantasies and types in new patterns that encapsulate the dramatic structure of the vision in artistic symbolic cues. (Bormann, Cragan, & Shields 1994). Rhetoricians within CPM continually present the visions of governmental threat, race wars, sin of the unholy "other" and loss of liberty within the movement, keeping the visions vital in the minds of members.

The Government - that band of greedy self serving tyrants - is out of control. Diplomacy isn't working. Threats are being callously dismissed. The bureaucracy is bent on consolidating its power and quashing the rights guaranteed by our forefathers. The American people are under a very serious threat, and 95 per cent of the people are sound asleep to it. As a last resort somebody is going to get hurt. And that somebody would first probably be the agents for the ATF. After that, who knows? (Montana Human Rights Network, p.1)

Examples of such rhetoric abound in the CPM. The shared culture of those involved in the movement allows individuals to understand symbolic cues; the government is evil, bureaucracy is bad, rights are being abused or taken away, our forefathers envisioned a different America, CPM members face a threat. These symbolic cues serve to reinforce the vision of members within CPM. Members

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understand and share the visions that make the cues salient. Recent developments have created fertile ground for the rhetorical vision within the movement to flourish. Each of the CPM developments, including large evangelical meetings, follow directly from some sort of news event. For example, at a Patriot Picnic, after the Waco incident, a leader wove a narrative, combining the "Trilateral Commission as a United Nations plot to take away American sovereignty" with the Weaver incident as an inevitable consequence of the plot (obs 2, p. 19). The rhetoric provides cues, i.e., conspiracy theories, plots, Ruby Ridge, and the government, that enhance the original vision.

Creation of the enemy does not mean simply the government, however. Christian Patriot members were consistent in denigrating liberals, other races, abortionists, and homosexuals. Common were narratives like the following, given by a Pastor of an Identity Church:

There will come a day when I'll no longer be looked down upon by other people. Folks are going to find out that we were right. When people find out that God's Word is one hundred percent correct, then there will be a great day. I'm going to be one of the one's that rule on this planet, and all the liberals, and niggers, and Jews that think otherwise are going to have a rude awakening. (Int 2, p. 41)

Leaders in the movement vilify in order to gain dedication to the group from members. Dedication is planned, and inspires people to act in accord with the rhetoric of the vision. Dedication is related to action by group members. Public action testifies to attitude change. It is common for Christian Patriot leaders to reflect the rhetoric of vilification. For example one leader stated at an assembly of members:

We desire that every Aryan son and daughter of Yahweh know their duty and act upon it. We have a covenant that Yahweh has made with us as a nation of his people and we are bound to act upon that covenant for his blessings to come down to us. Those blessings come, or are withheld according to our actions as a white people.

The purpose of this research was to explore the communication used in both the conversion and maintenance of Christian Patriot members. The results of the qualitative analysis yielded interesting findings that help to explain the conversion and maintenance communication within the movement. In relation to the research questions, the results indicate that certain fantasy themes are prevalent in the communication that leads to conversion into the movement. The overarching fantasy themes were that of the apocalypse, the holy quest, and good versus evil. The study of the movement found that the members were engaged in a quest for racial purity. The quest also included the apocalypse. All of these themes are instrumental in the conversion and maintenance of members in the Christian Patriot Movement. Fantasy themes play a major role in the conversion process that enhance previous models of conversion.

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Conclusion

Radical social movements like that of the Christian Patriot are creating upheaval within the United States (Hawkins, 1994). One need look no further than Waco, Ruby Ridge, or Oklahoma City to observe the social tension that is existent between the Christian Patriot Movement and much of the rest of society. Christian Patriots are displeased with society in the status quo. Revolutionary rhetoric flows from many within the group and some have gone so far as to denounce their citizenship in the United States. Even the most benign of the sects have a large mistrust of government and profess a conspiratorial attitude toward institutions within the United States.

It is important to discuss the results of the study as presented in the last section and illustrate the results' significance in the conversion process. The research question in this study, i.e.: How is communication used to create, raise, and sustain consciousness within the CPM was answered as a result of the information gained through the qualitative process. Consciousness is created in the movement by rhetorically adapting news events to members and potential converts' social realities. Individuals develop their philosophical underpinnings through the rhetoric delivered by leaders. Many individuals sympathetic to the movement already hold beliefs that may be built upon by leaders within the CPM. Rhetorical visions presented by leaders chain throughout, grounded upon those previous underpinnings. For example, many hold beliefs concerning an end-time apocalypse. When presented with the CPM interpretation of the event, many find it relatively easy to adopt the fantasy as presented by leaders within the movement.

Leaders within the Christian Patriot Movement attempt to raise consciousness by arguing that people must live in accordance (dedication) with their view of the Bible in order to receive salvation. Christian Patriots often use racism as a proof that this dedication exists. It is the actions of an individual Christian Patriot that provides proof of his/her dedication to the cause. If one accepts the fantasy that white people are God's chosen, then one must act in accordance with that belief to gain acceptance in God's eyes.

Finally, Christian Patriots attempt to sustain consciousness through a fantasy of good versus evil. The movement demonizes various individuals, entities and organizations in order to create enemy. The dramatizations sustain consciousness by illustrating that "unholy others" threaten the freedom, culture and lives of members within the Christian Patriot Movement. Leaders within the movement provide visions that facilitate sustenance in order to cement members to the group.

The model of public discourse portrayed in this essay illustrates how marginal groups and movements attempt to enlist and sustain members. Studying groups such as the Christian Patriot Movement presents scholars the unique opportunity to better understand marginal rhetoric. The conclusions drawn from this study re-emphasize the importance of further analysis of contemporary fringe groups.

References

Aho, J. (1990). The politics of righteousness: The Idaho Christian Patriot Movement. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

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Babbie, E. (1973). Survey Research Methods. Belmont CA: Wadsworth

Bales, R. (1950). Interaction process analysis: A method for study of small groups. Cambridge MA: Addison-Wesley.

Bormann, E. (1972). Fantasy and rhetorical vision: The rhetorical criticism of social reality. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 58, 396-407.

Bormann, E. (1977). Fetching good out of evil: A rhetorical use of calamity. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 63, 133-145.

Bormann E. (1980). Communication Theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Wilson.

Bormann E. (1982a). A fantasy theme analysis of the television coverage of the hostage release and and the Reagan inaugural. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 68, 133-145.

Bormann, E. (1982b). Colloquy: Fantasy and rhetorical vision: Ten years later. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 68, 288-305.

Bormann, E. (1982c). The symbolic convergence theory of communication: Applications and implications for teachers and consultants. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 10, 50-61.

Bormann E. (1985a). The force of fantasy: Restoring the American dream. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Bormann, E. (1985b). Symbolic convergence theory: A communication formulation. Journal of Communication, 35, 128-138.

Bormann, E., Cragan, J., & Shields, D. (1994). In defense of symbolic convergence theory: A look at the theory and its criticisms after two decades. Communication Theory, 4, 259-292.

Collins, A. (1984). Crisis & catharsis: The power of the apocalypse. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Coalition for Human Dignity. (1994). Patriot Games: Jack Mclamb and citizen militias. (1^st ed). [Brochure]. Portland Or: Author.

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Ezekiel, R. (1996). Talking about race with America's Klansmen. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 42, p. B3.

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Hawkins, B. (1994, October 12). Patriot games. Detroit Metro Times, pp. A10, A16.

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Militia News. (1994, Sept. 04) Christian Civil Liberties Union, 12, pp. 1-5/

Montana Human Rights Network. (1994). Far right and militia groups in America. (C.ed) [Brochure]. Billings, MT.

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Formation, 14, 187 _ 194.

Talmon, Y. (1962). Pursuit of the millenium: The relation between religious and social change. In J. Gusfield (ed), Protest, reform and revolt: A reader in social movements. (pp. 436-452). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

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Dale Carnegie vs. Dale Keller:

An Evaluation of a Professional Business

Communication Course and a College Business Communication Course

Jill E. Harlan

Abstract

Surveys of business leaders indicate the importance of communication in the functioning of business and in our professional lives. Evaluation of a college business communication course and professional business communication course is based on five criteria: relevance, applicability, flexibility, cost analysis, and availability. These criteria are applied to commonality in both courses (presentations, group problem-solving, and conflict management.

Introduction

Why are communication skills important? Surveys of business leaders in the Central States Speech Journal, reports the most often mentioned skills for achieving business success include: listening, written communication, oral reporting, motivating and persuading, interpersonal skills, interviewing and small group-problem solving (DiSalvo, Larsen, & Seiler, 1978). In another study, in Communication Education, 450 corporate training directors were asked to identify the skills most needed in their company. Among the top responses were management-employee relations, problem-solving, leadership, and decision making (Meister & Reinsch, 1978). Clearly, these surveys indicate the importance of communication in the functioning of business and in our professional lives. College students also must realize the importance of effective communication. The career development center at Michigan State University asked over 700 college recruiters what they sought in college graduates. Oral communication, positive attitudes, good judgment, maturity, and interpersonal skills, were among the top responses (National Business Employment Weekly, 1989). Thus, for people already in the workplace, and for those looking to join, communication skills are absolutely essential. How then, as we move into the 21st century, do we develop and improve our communication skills? My solution is to take a course. But, the real question is which one . . . . ?

After taking a Business and Professional Communication course at Truman State University, the author earned an internship at Dale Carnegie® Training offered by Mark S. Norman and Associates, in St. Louis, Missouri. During the summer she had the opportunity to work closely with the Dale Carnegie® instructors and she also graduated from the Dale Carnegie Course", a professional business

Jill E. Harlan is an undergraduate student majoring in communication at Truman State University, Kirksville, Missouri. The manuscript was originally composed as part of an independent study with Dr. Dale Keller.

SPEAKER AND GAVEL, Vol. 36 (1999), 47-62

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communication course designed generally for individuals already employed. This paper analyzes the two courses based on areas that they have in common and also explores differences.

Background

Business and Professional Communication (BPC) is a 300 level course, offered in the communication curriculum at Truman State University. It is a 16-week course, meeting twice a week for 1 1/2 hours, open to all students who have completed an introductory speech communication course. The course objective is:

to expose students to differing principle of profession communication while providing opportunities to apply the principles. This course is designed to give students experiences in the oral and written skills required in business. Through a series of dialogues, readings, exercises, assignments, and presentations, students will practice various aspects of communication as it is currently utilized in the business world. (Syllabus, 1997)

The course is taught by Dr. Dale Keller, assistant professor of communication, who specializes in business communication, communication and technology, and organizational communication. He has been a part Truman's faculty for 9 years.

The Dale Carnegie Course® (DCC) is a 12-week course, offered to anyone who wants to improve their interpersonal skills communication skills. The class meets once a week, usually at a hotel conference room, for 3 1/2 hours. The program objective reads:

Every business and professional can have the right skills to communicate effectively, deal with problem-solving, and inspire co-workers. But in the heart of those professionals who attain their goals most successfully is . . . confidence. This leadership building process puts the emphasis on interpersonal skill development, strengthening confidence, communication that's persuasive and convincing and building a positive mental attitude. (Pamphlet, 1998)

The weekly assignments include readings, brief writings and preparation of two speeches, usually on ways students have applied the Dale Carnegie principles into his or her life.

Dale Carnegie® instructors usually come from executive and managerial positions in the business world, or actually work full-time for Dale Carnegie® Training. Regardless of their background, instructors have to go through rigorous training in order to be accepted and certified. For example, the instructors must complete the basic twelve-week course and also attend several seminars and intense training sessions in order to meet the minimum qualifications. Aside from the actual Dale Carnegie® instructor, two graduate assistants attend and help conduct the courses. These graduate assistants are not paid, and are usually in training to eventually become an instructor.

Areas of Emphasis

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The DCC® and BPC both offer training and development in many areas including: leadership, self confidence, problem solving, group communication, public speaking, persuasive speaking, and sales. Comparison is based on three main areas common to both courses: presentations, group problem-solving, and conflict management. Then an analysis of two areas of practical emphasis for each course is given.

Presentations

Being an effective presenter allows a person to clearly express his or her message, and communicate with professional presence. This is important in business, school, and everyday interactions. A recent report entitled "What Students Must Know to Succeed in the 21st Century" asserts the importance of effective oral communication: "Clear communication is critical to success. In the marketplace of ideas, the person who communicates clearly is also the person who is seen as thinking clearly. Oral and written communication are not only job-securing, but job-holding skills (Uchida, Cetron & McKenzie" (1996).

BPC revolves in part around four main presentations. The subject of the first presentation is on an Internet site. Each student selects a site based on its perceived relevance to the rest of the class. Five minute presentations are given and cover a wide variety of speech topics such as how to shake hands in the business world and cultural differences in business world. The next presentation is a mock interview where students get an opportunity to act as an interviewer and an interviewee in front of the class. The third presentation is a sales presentation using PowerPoint. Students are responsible for finding a product and ultimately convincing the class to buy it. In one semester, products presented ranged from potato chips to computers. The final speech is a group presentation in which students analyze different types of the same product, for example different brands of book bags. The students are expected to thoroughly research the products, create a formal report, and ultimately conclude which brand is the best buy. Aside from these presentations, the class is a high participation class where students consistently are expected to communicate and contribute.

DCC" places a greater emphasis on briefer presentations. In all, during the 12-week course, student give at least 24 speeches. The speeches must relate to personal experiences, usually about how the student has applied one of the Dale Carnegie principles in his or her life. Topics include: self confidence, improving memory, setting goals, managing stress, selling ideas, communication under pressure, stretching limitations, leadership, and group solutions. Instructors guide their students as they speak, offering suggestions and giving encouragement.

Although the classes are similar in that they offer the students chances to improve their public speaking skills, they are quite different in their approach to the use of visual aids. BPC approach to presentations focuses extensively on using technology, or multimedia, such as PowerPoint, to create better presentations. O'Hair and Stewart (1999), authors of the text Public Speaking, assert the importance of multimedia is public speaking:

Multimedia combines several media (voice, video, text, and data) into a single

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production. Today, multimedia is the presentation aid of choice in the business world...The idea behind multimedia is that the more senses you evoke, the more memorable the event will be. Studies confirm that the visual and auditory reinforcement of multimedia helps people to learn and master information more quickly than by conventional means. (295)

Keller not only teaches the use of this new technology, but he also covers layout and design. Furthermore, Keller supplements each of his lectures with the PowerPoint slides, exemplifying the principles covered in class.

In contrast, the Dale Carnegie Course" focuses more on content and personal skill development than on improving formal speaking skills. Out of the 24 speeches, two require visual aids. One visual aid is an object that is important to the speaker, much like an adult "show and tell." The other is a depiction of how the speaker suggests a defined problem might be solved. The Dale Carnegie instructors prefer the use of flip charts and the chalk board for their presentations and do not offer PowerPoint or other computer assisted visuals in this course.

Finally, the classes share both similar and different underlying theories for presentations. BPC places most emphasis on the four presentations given. Each speech is video recorded and analyzed by the other students in the class, the instructor, and the presenter. Not only do the students analyze each other through written evaluations, but they are also required to offer direct verbal feedback. The students tell the presenter what they liked, disliked, and also make suggestions for improvement.

Most of these concepts are taught through lecture and through student application in their speeches. Finally, Keller continuously stresses that the presenters speak with the audience's point of view in mind. He encourages extensive audience analysis through surveys, statistics, and other methods. He uses the well known example WII-FM: "What's in it for me," to help students remember to consider their audience.

In contrast, DCC® places less importance on each speech. The students evaluate the speeches by voting at the end of class on the best presentations. Winners receive award certificates and pens. Little feedback is given on the presentations. The course introduces the action-benefit theory, also known as "The Magic Formula," where at the end of each two-minute speech, after describing an incident, the presenter is required to summarize, by suggesting a certain action to the audience and then telling how they will from that action (Manual , 4.13). For example a student might say: "I encourage all of you to take the action of exercising everyday, and ultimately you will receive the benefit of better health and improved self confidence." Aside from this, the course does not place great importance on organization and structure. Instead, because most of the speeches are about personal experiences, instructors encourage class members to speak through storytelling. Although the course places less emphasis on the speeches themselves, it does designate more time to practicing delivery. In BPC, you get a around 30 minutes total speaking time, where as in the DCC®, you get at least 48 minutes of cumulative public speaking time. Furthermore, the Dale Carnegie Course offers other opportunities, besides giving presentations, that improve public speaking skills. For ex

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ample in one session, students must stretch outside of their "comfort zones" and act out a given role. Students have to animate a character's extreme expressions and emotions, and learn to travel beyond their limits. Finally, the class requires that you read The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking (1990), a book by Dale Carnegie describes mainly through examples, simple guidelines and tips for presentations. The following are some of the methods the course suggests, in a supplement booklet, to better appeal to an audience:

1. Consider yourself honored by being asked to address an audience - and say so!

2. Give your listeners sincere appreciation.

3. Whenever possible, mention the names of some of your listeners.

4. Play yourself down, not up.

5. Say "we," not "you."

6. Don't' talk with a "scowling voice and an upbraiding face."

7. Talk in terms of your listeners' interests. (The course also incorporates the example of WII-FM)

8. Have a good time making your talks.

9. Don't apologize.

10. Appeal to the nobler emotions of your audience.

(Speak More Effectively, 1996)

Other lists of topics in the book include: developing confidence, acquiring basic skills, delivery, and making impromptu speeches. In essence, the book uses simple terms, and many examples of people who were successful using these methods, making it easier for beginning speakers to grasp concepts.

Although both classes teach the basics of public speaking (eye contact, body language, etc.) BPC stresses visual aids, such as PowerPoint", and an overview of speech construction, while the Dale Carnegie Course" focuses on shorter speeches, the action-benefit theory, and simple ways to become a better speaker. Keller's course emphasizes such guidelines as clear preview statements and transitions. In contrast, the Dale Carnegie Course" focuses on less structure, and encourages a storytelling or personal telling approach to speaking. In both classes, peers are asked to give feedback and make judgments. However, in Keller's course this is an intricate part of students' understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, while in Carnegie's, it is more of a contest among participants. BPC offers a section in technology and PowerPoint", while the Dale Carnegie Course" prefers traditional means of visual learning. BPC is mainly lecture, while students are involved by answering questions, where as the Dale Carnegie Course" offers more interactive, fun-type, activities designed to improve speaking skills and self confidence. Finally, both classes place a great emphasis on talking in terms of the audience interests, and both give simple tips to improve public speaking style.

Group Communication

Groups exist everywhere. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of group communication, especially when comprised of diverse members.

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Both BPC and the Dale Carnegie Course" address the issue of group communication. Analysis is based on the each of the course's group activities and approaches to problem solving.

BPC offers lectures, readings, and application opportunities in group communication. For example, Keller offer's some general rules in group interaction:

1. Get to know one another.

2. Assign leadership.

3. Make a schedule.

4. Create an agenda .

5. Honor commitments.

6. Encourage input.

7. Accept group decisions.

8. Record and share group process.

9. Start early.

(Class Notes)

Furthermore, students are given a chance to apply their knowledge. 15% of the grade depends on a group project. Students meet in groups and prepare a formal report, a presentation and visual aids on a certain product. They are expected to research different brands of products and together decide which brand is the best investment for a target audience. This project involves many hours outside the classroom, and extensive cooperation. Moreover, it requires a major group decision, in which students have to reach a consensus conclusion. Aside from this project, group activities are otherwise limited.

In contrast, the Dale Carnegie Course" begins each session with students meeting in small groups to discuss their past weeks successes at employing one of the Dale Carnegie principles. Although the students do not have to make any major decisions as a group, they still have to select a leader and function as a group. In each session, students are formed into different groups, giving them opportunities to get to know and learn from each other. This course places a greater emphasis on getting to know classmates and utilizing groups to do so. Furthermore, often students will meet in two's or three's to rehearse their speeches and get feedback before their presentations. Finally, aside from the small group interaction during each class, one session specifically assigns each group with a problem. The group, during the next week, must organize a formal solution to the problem. Problem topics include: discrimination, sexual harassment, pollution, and other current issues. Students divide the tasks, and come prepared for the next week. No "out of class" time is expected or required. Although a visual aid of some sort is encouraged, most groups fall short in this area. Without the opportunity to meet outside of class, creating such a visual aid and researched conclusion to the problem is difficult. However, this activity does give students a chance to participate in a more group interaction.

Both classes offer an approach to problem solving in groups. BPC goes more into depth on group problem-solving. Students are expected to understand purposes, types, stages, variables, and problems in groups. Furthermore, the text for

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the course, The Business and Professional Communicator (1993), offers an agenda for problem solving groups:

1. A Well Worded Question of Policy

a. Define Terms

2. What is the nature of the problem?

a. Is there a problem

b. What is the extent?

(1) What is the harm?

(2) Is the harm widespread?

c. What are the causes?

3. What is the best solution?

a. What solutions are available?

b. How should we judge them?

c. Which should we pick?

d. What are the effects? Advantages? Disadvantages?

4. Report on findings and implications.

(Neher & Waite, 1993, 281)

This method helps students organize problems, and thus reach a solution more efficiently. In essence, BPC offers extensive background information, and also provides a detailed method for group problem-solving.

The Dale Carnegie Course", while offering little background information, focuses more on the actual method of group problem-solving. The course offers more concise, specific methods. Ask your group the following four questions:

• What is the problem?

• What are the causes of the problem?

• What are the possible solutions?

• What is the best solution?

(Manual, S.21)

Also, the course offers a method to ensure an effective group problem-solving presentation: "Evidence D-E-F-E-A-T-S Doubt." Each letter corresponds as follows: Demonstrations, Examples, Facts, Exhibits, Analogies, Testimonials, Statistics (Manual S.22). Incorporating these points into a presentation helps students appear more credible and convincing. Thus, the Dale Carnegie Course" offers less background information on group communication, and more specific methods to group problem solving.

Ultimately, both classes offer opportunity for group problem-solving. BPC offers one main opportunity, requiring extensive research and outside class time, while the Dale Carnegie Course" offers many group activities, with no outside class involvement, and little research required. Basically, the time in class that the BPC lacks in group activity is made up in out of class meetings. Thus, both classes spend about the same amount of time in group setting. In theory, the classes have similar methods of addressing a problem. Each method involves identifying a prob

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lem, analyzing possible alternatives and selecting the best solution. BPC offers a more detailed method for group problem-solving, while the Dale Carnegie Course" suggests a more concise method. Both classes provide guidelines for credible, successful presentations; Keller through his group presentation guidelines, and the latter through "Evidence D-E-F-E-A-T-S Doubt."

Conflict Management

According to Managing Conflict: An Interdisciplinary Approach , a book by D. Tjosvold, managers spend 20% of their time dealing with conflict (Neher & Waite, 1993). Conflict is both expected and necessary. It can be positive or negative and is a part of every culture and environment. I will analyze and discuss the theories and methods of each class in addressing conflict management.

BPC offers researched theories and approaches to conflict. The course discusses the positive and negative aspects of conflict, the nature and causes of conflict, and also the stages of conflict episodes. Furthermore, Keller's class devotes time to the discussion of cultural differences as a cause of conflict, and analyzes in depth some cultural differences in the business world as we approach the 21st century. According to the Center for International Briefing, roughly 25% of American managers fail overseas. This is 3 to 4 times higher than failure rates experienced by European and Asian companies (Fortune, 1995). Keller's class reveals that knowing certain facts about a culture before doing business could avoid this kind of failure. For example, a supplement article for the class, from Business America, "Recognizing and Heeding Cultural Differences Can Be Key to International Business Success" gives interesting facts on different cultures:

Never touch the head of Thai or pass an object over it, as the head is considered sacred in Thailand. Likewise, never point the bottoms of the feet in the direction of another person in Thailand or cross your legs while sitting, especially in the presence of an older person....In Denmark, the standard American greeting, "Hi, How are you?" leads Danes to think the U. S. business person really wants to know how they are. ... Remember that the number 7 is bad luck in Kenya, good luck in Czechoslovakia, and has magical connotations in Benin. Red is a positive color in Denmark, but represents witchcraft and death in many African countries. A nod means `no' in Bulgaria, and shaking the head side-to-side means "yes." (Business America, 1994)

Another example of a cultural misunderstandings occurs in translations of words. In Italy for example, Este Lauder means "Flowers," where as in South America, it means "Jack Ass Oil" (Allen, 1999). Furthermore, understanding cultural conflict is key as technology increases, and as distance is no longer an issue. Thus, aside from the theoretical background of conflict, Keller also incorporates important ways to handle the current challenge of cultural differences as we move closer towards the global village.

The Dale Carnegie Course on the other hand, while neglecting any serious discussion on cultural relations, devotes extensive training on conflict management. Much of the underlying theory of the Dale Carnegie Course revolves around

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dealing with people effectively. Without going into detail on the background of conflict (stages, theories, etc.), the course offers practical methods of effectively handling conflict. The main text in the course, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1981), by Dale Carnegie, includes chapters pertaining to conflict management: "Fundamental Techniques in Handling People," "Six Ways to Make People Like You," "How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking," and "How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Resentment." Each of the sections addresses conflict and ways to make it positive. The text again uses stories and examples of successful people to better illustrate effective ways in handling people:

Charles Schwab was passing through one of his steel mills one day at noon when he came across some of his employees smoking. Immediately above their heads was a sign that said `No Smoking.' Did Schwab point to the sign and say `Can't you read?' Oh, no not Schwab. He walked over to the men, handed each one of them a cigar, and said, `I'll appreciate it, boys, if you will smoke these on the outside.' They knew that they had broken a rule- and they admired him because he said nothing about it and gave them a little present and made them feel important. (236)

Through examples like this, the Dale Carnegie Course attempts to help people realize effective ways of dealing with people. The course and readings are designed to be entertaining and educational.

Both classes explain several methods or approaches in handling conflict. Dale Keller's course, while devoting much more time to theory, stages, and styles of conflict, does offer some applicable methods of handing conflict. Accompanied by class discussion, a short section in the chapter on conflict deals with actual applicable methods of resolving conflict, including effective listening and problem-solving skills. In summary, the text states: " . . . the expression of and the managing of conflict involves communication and is a function of the communication skills of the people involved (Neher & Waite, 1993, 397)." Thus, the book implies that all communication skills discussed throughout the book are important in conflict management.

In contrast, the Dale Carnegie Course® places greater emphasis on conflict management. Because most of the students who attend this course are already in the work force, many rate conflict management as one of their main learning objectives for the course. People enrolled in the course want to learn how to better handle unsatisfied customers, or improve employee relations. Among other things, the course is essentially designed to improve interpersonal skills, communication, and conflict management styles in order to improve daily interactions with others. The course specifically outlines applicable methods to better handle conflict:

1. To get the best of an argument- avoid it.

2. Show respect for the other person's opinion. Never tell a person he or she is wrong.

3. If you are wrong admit it, quickly, emphatically.

4. Begin in a friendly way.

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5. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.

6. Make the fault seem easy to correct.

7. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.

8. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.

9. Begin with honest, sincere appreciation.

10. Talk about your own mistakes first.

11. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

(Manual, 1996, S.7-8)

The course also stresses the importance of letting the other person save face:

Years ago the General Electric Company was faced with the delicate task of removing Charles Steinmetz from the head of a department. Steinmetz, a genius of the first magnitude when it came to electricity was a failure as the head of the calculating department. Yet the company didn't dare offend the man. He was indispensable- and highly sensitive. So they gave him a new title. They made him Consulting Engineer of the General Electric Company- a new title for the work he was already doing- and let someone else head up the department. Steinmetz was happy. (249)

The officers of G.E. had made a situation, that could have been a disaster, into a positive change by letting Steinmetz save face. Ultimately, the Dale Carnegie Course reminds people to constantly be thinking of other's feelings in order to achieve harmony in all areas of life.

In the area of conflict management, each course offers an area of expertise that the other does not. While Dale Keller's course addresses the current pressing issue of cultural differences, the Dale Carnegie Course offers more practical, applicable ways to handle conflict. Dale Keller's course provides extensive background on the nature and background of conflict management, while the latter uses actual stories of real people to illustrate their points. Both classes approach conflict from different angles. Comparatively, it is a relatively minor topic in Dale Keller's class. In contrast, effectively handling conflict is one of the central themes of the Dale Carnegie Course.

Practical Emphasis

The final section will analyze two different emphasis that each course stresses in applying their concepts.

Resumes and Cover Letters

One of the main sections in BPC involves the creation of a cover letter and resume. Keller provides information on methods for creating an effective resume and cover letter. The students analyze and study different examples of resumes and conclude which style best suites them. Next, the students select a company they would like to work for, and then create a cover letter and resume for this company. Then, students are paired up and perform mock interviews, one as the interviewer, the other as the interviewee. The interviewer learns about the desired company

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and then creates an interview for the prospective candidate. The actual interviews are video taped, and evaluated as part of the assignment. Altogether, this project accounts for 20 percent of the course grade. Learning to write a cover letter and resume, and practicing interviews provide students with knowledge, and more importantly, with confidence to get the job they want.

Business Etiquette

Keller doesn't just stop there. He also teaches students ways to more easily be accepted into the business environment. He wants students to not only be able to get the right job, but he also wants students to know how to act properly once employed. He gives presentations on business attire and business social skills. For example, he provides a handout from Philips-Van Heusen Corporation that lists appropriate attire and inappropriate attire for their business environment. Among other things, the company suggests that hosiery be worn at all times, and that sandals, and any jean products are inappropriate (Weber, 1997). Bob Lucas, manager of professional development at the American Automobile Association's headquarters feels it is important that young workers know how to fit into their company: "Young workers who speak and dress differently from seasoned co-workers tend to stand out in a corporate environment (Post Dispatch, Jan.8, 1998)." Other topics include business meal guidelines and appropriate handshaking methods.

Next, in order to properly fit into the modern business world, Keller addresses the issue of technology and the workplace. Not only does he require that the students do research on the Internet, but he also incorporates a section on how to write proper email messages. Finally, Keller switches focus to the more serious subject of sexual harassment. Students learn how to identify and avoid sexual harassment in the workplace. Thus, by teaching students things like how to write resumes, how to dress in the business world, and how to avoid sexual harassment, Keller is providing students a foundation on which to guide their careers.

Memory Building

The Dale Carnegie Course® on the other hand, teaches to appeal to a more mature audience. Most people who take the course are already employed and would not be interested in how to write a resume. Instead, this course devotes much more time to improving interpersonal skills. For example, in the first class, the Dale Carnegie Course® emphasizes the importance of remembering people's names. The best example is from the course text, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1981):

What was the reason for Andrew Carnegie's success? He was called the Steel King, but he himself knew little about the manufacture of steel. He had hundreds of people working for him who knew far more about steel than he did. But he knew how to handle people, and that is what made him rich . . . By the time he was ten, he used that discovery to win cooperation. To illustrate: When he was a boy back in Scotland, he got hold of a mother rabbit . . . and soon had a nest full of little rabbits. He told boys and girls in the neighborhood that if they would go out and pull enough clover and dandelion to feed the rabbits, he

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would name the bunnies in their honor. The plan worked like magic and he never forgot it. Years later he made millions by using the same psychology in business. For example, he wanted to sell steel rails to the Pennsylvania Railroad. J. Edgar Thomson was the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad then. So Andrew Carnegie built a huge steel mill in Pittsburgh and called it the Edgar Thomson Steel Works. Here's a riddle. See if you can guess it. When the Pennsylvania Railroad company needed steel rails, where do you suppose J. Edgar Thompson bought them? (106-7)

Through examples like these, the Dale Carnegie Course® illustrates why remembering names is so vital to business success. Then the course methods to apply this knowledge:

Dale Carnegie suggests we utilize A.C.M.E acronym. The `A' stands for action. See in your mind's eye the individual doing something. The `C' stands for color. Add color and vitality to the person's image. The `M' stands for me, the individuals themselves must be in your visualization. The last and the most important part is the `E' - exaggeration. The more exaggerated the and `far out' the picture image, the easier it is for you to remember the person's name. (Perkins, 1998)

The course also offers two other name remembering formulas so that students can chose which one works best for them. In essence, though, the key to each one is repetition and visualization. Remembering names makes people feel important. "From the waitress to the senior executive, the name will work magic as we deal with others" (Carnegie, 1981).

Worry, Stress and Tension

The Dale Carnegie Course® also teaches methods on the best ways to handle worry, stress and tension. Through helping students control stress, the Dale Carnegie Course hopes to not only improve business skills, but also life skills. One of the course texts, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living goes into detail on these methods and how they have worked for other people. Furthermore, it explains some of the effects of too much stress. For example, stress can cause stomach ulcers and other illnesses. Sr. Joseph F. Montague, author of the book Nervous Stomach Trouble, summarizes it best: "You do not get stomach ulcers from what you eat, you get ulcers from what is eating you" (Carnegie, 1984). In essence, the Dale Carnegie Course® encourages students to take control of their lives and stop worrying. The course outlines ways to prevent fatigue and worry. Furthermore, the course suggests ways to break the worry habit. Keeping busy, and not worrying about the past, are just two of these methods. More importantly, the text for the course details example after example of inspirational and people who believed in the power of attitude. For example, the text compares Napoleon and Helen Keller: "Napoleon and Helen Keller are perfect illustrations . . . Napoleon had everything men usually crave-glory, power, riches-yet he said at Saint Helena, `I have never known six happy days in my life'; while Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf,

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declared: `I have found life so beautiful'" (Carnegie, 1984). Carnegie also quotes people like William James, Henry David Thoreau, Alfred Tennyson, and Thomas Jefferson.

In summary, because the classes are targeted at different audiences, it seems that each class teaches some areas that the other does not. BPC offers sections on culture, technology, and resumes, while the Dale Carnegie Course® teaches memory improvement and stress management. Each of these topics are important aspects of each course. Thus, while the courses share many similar areas of emphasis, they also have very different ones.

Evaluation

Through an analysis of the approaches to presentations, group problem-solving, conflict management, and practical emphasis, the Dale Carnegie Course® and BPC have been compared and contrasted. Now, the two courses will be evaluated based on five criteria: relevance, applicability, flexibility, cost analysis, and availability.

Relevance

How relevant are these courses to you? The answer to this question depends solely on the person. For example, if you are a junior in college, about to enter the real world, BPC would be more relevant than the Dale Carnegie Course®. However, if you are a middle-aged business person, who wants to improve communication skills and relationships with co-workers, the Dale Carnegie Course® would be more appropriate. Ultimately, although each course could be of great benefit anyone, it comes down to specifically what you, the potential class member, are seeking to learn.

Applicability

Although BPC offers many applicable methods, the Dale Carnegie Course® offers only applicable methods. While BPC provides much more background and theory information; the Dale Carnegie Course® incorporates inspirational stories and simple, easy methods to improving anything from speaking skills to getting rid of depression. As exemplified in the group problem-solving section, both classes offer an agenda for problem solving, yet the Dale Carnegie® method is simpler, and more applicable in everyday activities. However BPC offers more applicable methods in the area of public speaking. Because much more emphasis is placed on each speech in this class, BPC devotes more time to teaching students the most effective ways to give presentations. Furthermore, Keller teaches step-by step methods on PowerPoint and resume building, which are the most applicable of all. Ultimately, the Dale Carnegie Course® offers more simple, applicable methods for improving all areas of daily life. In contrast, BPC, while incorporating more complex information, offers more business-related applicable methods.

Flexibility

Dale Carnegie® is a franchise company. Thus, in order for any major curriculum changes to occur, the whole company must agree. In other words, the Dale

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Carnegie Course® does not have the freedom that Dale Keller has to update and adjust his courses accordingly. For example, Dale Keller recently updated his course when he began teaching the section on technology and PowerPoint. He bought a lap-top computer and taught himself to use the system and then taught his students. In contrast, in order for a large company like Dale Carnegie®, to do something like this, all of the instructors would first have to be trained, many more computers would have to be purchased, and new manuals would have to be developed. Clearly, this process would be long and complex process. Thus, BPC is much more flexible than the Dale Carnegie Course®. On the flip side, however, because of the Carnegie organization's popularity and wide held success, larger companies are more likely to utilize these courses. For example, the organization has provided custom designed training programs for 400 of the Fortune 500 firms (Levine & Crom, 1993).

Cost Analysis

The Dale Carnegie Course® lasts for 12 weeks, 3 1/2 hours per week, and costs $1250. This includes the cost of three books, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1981), The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking (1990), How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1984), and an accompanying manual. In contrast, Dale Keller's course costs $444 for in-state tuition and $795 for out of state tuition, but does not include the cost of the text, The Business and Professional Communicator, which usually runs around $60. In all, the difference ranges from $455 dollars to $806. Financing for both classes is available. Many companies send their employees through the Dale Carnegie Course. Similarly, most college students have some sort of scholarship that could cover the cost of this course. Finally, both classes offer three hours of college credit for completing the course. Unfortunately, not all universities will accept the Dale Carnegie Course credits, although most community colleges will. The Dale Carnegie Course also offer 4.2 CEU's (Continuing Education Units) for graduating from the course.

Availability

Business and Professional Communication courses are offered at most universities and colleges around the world. The Dale Carnegie Course is offered in more than a thousand cities in the United States and in seventy other countries. Availability of each course is comparable.

Concluding Remarks

The Dale Carnegie Course" and BPC are targeted to fit the needs of different audiences. While anyone could benefit from either class, BPC is directed at college students, and the latter more for people already in the business world. Thus, although the classes address similar issues, they also cover completely different areas as well. I will explain two areas from each course that the other does not cover. BPC covers resumes and business social skills, while the Dale Carnegie Course addresses techniques for overcoming worry and stress, and also methods for improving memory. Regardless of which course bests suits your needs, communication education is vitally important to succeed not just in business, but in all

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areas of life. The Harvard Business School Professor, John A. Quelch, after conducting surveys of students, alumni, and recruiters, reports large measures of satisfaction with the technical competence of the graduating students. Quelch observes that the biggest area of improvement was needed in "oral and written communication, teamwork, and other human skills" (Levine & Crom, 1993). Effective oral communication and interpersonal relations were among the top skills sought in college graduates. The importance of effective communication is illustrated best by Dale Carnegie, himself: "Research done under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching . . . revealed that even in such technical lines as engineering, about 15% of one's financial success is due to one's technical knowledge, while about 85% is due to human engineering- to personality and the ability to lead people" (Levine & Crom, 1993).

References

Allen, Stephen, Associate Professor of Business, Truman State University. (Personal Communication, March 6, 1999.)

Carnegie, Dale. (1996). Speak More Effectively. New York: Dale Carnegie & Associates.

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Carnegie, Dale. (1984). How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Carnegie, Dale. (1981). How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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The Dale Carnegie Course" Manual. (1996). New York: Dale Carnegie & Associates.

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Don't be an Ugly-American Manager. (1995, October 16). Fortune, 10.

Ebert, Ronald J., and Griffin, Ricky W. (1998). Business Essentials. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

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Making an Impression. (1989).National Business Employment Weekly: The College Edition, Spring 1989 The College Edition, 30-31.

Meister, J. and Reinsch, N.L. (1978) Communication Training in Manufacturing Firms. Communication Education, 235-244.

Levin, Stuart L., and Crom, Michael A. (1993).The Leader In You. New York: Pocket- Books.

O'Hair, Dan, and Stewart, Rob. (1999). Public Speaking. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

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Recognizing and Heeding Cultural Differences Can Be Key to International

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Business Success. (1994, October.) Business America, 8-11.

Uchida, D., Cetron, M., and McKenzie, F. (1996) What Students Must Know to Succeed in the 21st Century, special report, (World Future Society) based on Preparing Students for the 21st Century, a report on a project by the American Association of School Administration, 1996.

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Editor's Essay

Kirstin Cronn-Mills

The most interesting communication event to hit Minnesota in the last year (the last century!) is the election of our Governing Body, Jesse Ventura. We should have predicted his victory, because his grass roots support was strong, and his name recognition was stronger. But we didn't, and we're still wondering what to think. We have been treated to overblown commentary, bad grammar, and defensiveness during Ventura's term. We've also watched the evolution of a statesman, and the slow reconstruction of previous norms for political office. Though Governor Ventura persuaded the voters that he was the best person for the job, he has yet to persuade all of us he will succeed. Ventura must do that with his communication. Ventura has his own versions of logos, ethos, and pathos, the three types of persuasion that make up Aristotle's rhetorical triangle. Some days Ventura seems to have his own rhetorical triangle—right, might, and fright. Sometimes the traditional persuasive strategies work for him. Sometimes we believe Ventura's true goals are adoration and commercial success.

This summer I asked my students to consider whether or not Ventura is a good governor. They must pick particular criteria (economic positions, legislative accomplishments), and they must consider the persuasive strategies of logos, ethos, and pathos. This essay is my contribution to their assignment. I have considered Ventura's logos, and I have considered his pathos as well. For me, what it comes down to is whether or not I believe in, or can even accept, Ventura's ethos. How you judge his logos or pathos depends on your acceptance of his character. For Ventura, ethos seems to be everything.

Ventura's ethos begins, for most people, with his reputation and his appearance. Most of the world still thinks of Jesse Ventura as "The Body," the pink-boa-wearing bad guy wrestler, or as the soldier in the Stallone films. On the night of his public inauguration party at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota's new governor brought "The Body" back to life (for one night only, he claimed). Ventura wore a buckskin fringe jacket, a t-shirt with Jimi Hendrix on it, sunglasses, a bandana over his baldness, and dangly earrings. At some point, he put on feather boas. Most of the world thinks this is the man we see every day, signing bills and appearing at civic occasions. It's not—but I don't think Minnesotans ever forget what our governor might choose to look like. Lately he's worn round spectacles and very nice suits. He looks good. We secretly fear, however, that the feather boas are just one TV appearance away.

His new autobiography contributes to his local and national ethos. Thanks to

Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Ph.D. is a co-editor of Speaker and Gavel and an adjunct professor in the Speech Communication Department and the English Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 56001.

SPEAKER AND GAVEL, Vol. 36 (1999), 63-67

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66I- Ain't Got Time to Bleed, we all know a lot more about Governor Ventura than we need to know, including when he does and doesn't wear underwear. After his autobiography's debut, Fruit of the Loom sent him several boxes of skivvies, in hopes of a "government coverup," as one news organization put it. Ventura laughed, said he appreciated the gesture, and donated the underwear to charity. Why do we need to know any information about Ventura's underwear? Why is the governor standing on the steps of the capital with his Fruit of the Loom boxes? Why is his lack of underwear a media event? I Ain't Got Time to Bleed reveals all sorts of salacious details about Ventura's life. Supporters praise his honesty, and critics curse his candor. Many claim his honesty is bad for his status as role model to Minnesota's (and America's) youth. Many claim his honesty is refreshing, and serves to model honesty as a positive virtue. Once again, no one really knows whether Ventura's ethos is positive or negative.

I Ain't Got Time to Bleed, his appearance, and his reputation are three examples of the contradictions in Ventura's ethos. His logos and pathos contain the same kinds of contradictions. And good or bad, contradictory or not, it all comes down to this: can we trust, appreciate, or even like his ethos? What should the character of a governor be? Is it out of the question for governors to wear feather boas, or to reappear in the wrestling ring (the latest controversy)? No one is sure of anything when it comes to Ventura's character.

His logos is wrapped in his ethos. As a communication teacher, I have always claimed that speaking and writing are two different arenas, and ungrammatical conversation is allowed. Provided your grammar is not too off the mark, we'll probably still understand what you're saying. I've changed my positions since Ventura's election. I'd recommend correct grammar at all times if you want to convince people you're a smart person. Ventura's credibility suffers from his lack of good grammar. When a recent audience laughed at his jokes, Ventura quipped, "I'm sure glad you have a sense of humor. The press don't" (Nixon Library address). Whoops. That statement made him sound like the uneducated country bumpkin many argue he is. Ventura claims he does not prepare his speeches in advance: "all during the campaign I never used a note, I never had a prepared speech, ever" (inaugural address). Critics and citizens alike pick up on this freewheeling logos. As one of my students said, "My main problem [with Ventura] is that he doesn't think before he speaks." My student's simple phrase hits the mark. Maybe it's not an issue of thinking as much as it is an issue of preparing. Having someone help you with your grammar doesn't mar your credibility or make you weak. Ventura's ungrammatical logos negatively influences his ethos, at best, and cripples it at worst.

Most people who follow the Ventura phenomenon are convinced of one thing: Ventura's pathos is evident. His various personas exude emotion. Usually it's a rough-and-tumble enthusiasm for whatever Ventura is doing. Ventura's honesty is also a large part of his ethos, and that honesty shows in his dealings with others. For him, honesty often means uncensored emotions. His anger can get the best of him, and he has snapped at reporters, detractors, and Minnesota citizens. He recently called one opponent a "fat load." State Senate majority leader John Hottinger argues that Ventura must stop the personal attacks: "The Governor is unhesitant to

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attack people on a personal level . . . Some of his supporters think it's cute, but it's not good for a governor to do that" (1B). The governor's director of communications, John Wodele, argues that the comments are part of Ventura's freewheeling style: "Governor Ventura is what he is. And he's going to go to the edge sometimes" (1B). Which edge is that? The edge of common decency?

At the same time, his deep love for family and friends is evident: he choked up at the Reform Party Nominating Convention when he talked about his parents, and openly sobbed when saying how proud they'd be of him. Ventura's ability to demonstrate positive emotion is the most refreshing aspect of his ethos. I admire a man who can express his love for others and can cry in public. One of Ventura's "governing slogans," posted on his State of Minnesota-sponsored web site, claims "love is stronger than government." According to Ventura, that quotation comes from his experiences with two friends:

I had two gay friends in the world of wrestling that were together 41 years. Unfortunately, one of them passed on. But when one was ill, the other was never allowed to be by his bed in the hospital. That was very inhumane. It's why in my campaign I had the quote "Love is bigger than government." (25)

Ventura argues that love should determine bedside vigils, not laws about two men and marriage. I admire Ventura for standing up for emotional commitment. Though I don't endorse his attacks on his enemies, I am in favor of his ability to govern from the heart. But whether we see the attacking Jesse or the loving Jesse, his pathos is never absent from his ethos.

So what's my conclusion? My students want me to answer the question I posed for them: is Jesse Ventura a good governor? I still don't know. I don't think like the typical Minnesotan Garrison Keillor describes in Time:

[On the night of the election,] all across Minnesota, the quiet decent people who believe in Good Government and Working Together To Resolve Differences are leaning forward in disbelief at the thought that the next Governor of their state might be THIS GREAT BIG HONKING BULLET-HEADED SHOVEL-FACED MUTHA WHO TALKS IN A STEROID GROWL AND DOESN'T STOP. And then he won. (57)

Keillor's characterization of Minnesotans is narrow-minded, and his description of Ventura is unkind. Ventura may currently be on a steep learning curve , but he is human, like the rest of us. Ventura argued recently, "There's no rule that says a governor can't have fun. There's no rule that says a governor, on his own time, can't be a human" (interview). I agree. Ventura is working hard (for better or worse) to defeat the stereotype of the stodgy, scripted politician. As my spouse claims, his ethos is completely counter to the political characters (no pun intended) our nation has known since Watergate. Since the mid 1970s, we've wondered what our politicians are hiding. As far as we can determine, Ventura hides nothing, including his lack of underwear.

Despite his questionable logos, ethos, and pathos, he is always himself. Our

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job, as citizens, is to try and understand his persuasive strategies, in all their misguided glory, and continue to pay attention. Political analyst Chris Gilbert argues that "Jesse Ventura's greatest asset is Jesse Ventura." Now we must be persuaded, by Ventura's larger-than-life self, that "Ventura's greatest asset" is a strong governor. I tell my students to keep their eyes open, their ears open, and their rhetorical skills tuned up. It remains to be seen how Ventura's logos, ethos, and pathos will serve (or haunt) him as his term continues. But no matter what, we must pay attention. And why not? The Rhetorical Body is too interesting to miss.

Works Cited

Gilbert, Chris. Lecture and interview, South Central Technical College, Mankato, MN. 12 July 1999.

Keillor, Garrison. "Viewpoint: Minnesota's Excellent Ventura." Time, 16 November 1998, 56-57.

Kirby, David. "The Body Speaks." The Advocate, 25 May 1999.

Passi, Peter. "Hottinger: Ventura must master basics." Mankato Free Press, B1, 5 July 1999.

Ventura, Jesse. Address. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, CA. 27 May 1999.

_____. Transcript of inaugural address, 4 January 1999. www.mainserver.state.mn.us/governor/inaugural_speech.html. 19 May 1999.

_____. Interview with Gary Eichten. Midday. Minnesota Public Radio. 13 July 1999.

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