My Rhetorical Action Plan

Lights! Camera! Rhetoric!

zebedee.zebedee "funny-pictures-evil-plan-almost-complete" (10/24/2008) via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

In this post, I will outline my audience, genre, and potential responses for Project 3. This is my detailed 'Action Plan.'

Audience

• Librarians, patrons
• Librarians will know quite a lot about book banning and censorship through their schooling and training in Information Sciences, while patrons might not know as much due to their focus on usually centering on entertainment media (which may or may not be banned).
• As members of the library system, my audience will view the freedom and diversity of information as important, if not essential; they will also see book banning as a negative process
• Research of or concerning library systems and their relationship with censorship and how they address banned books will be essential to persuading my audience. This evidence might need to be more thoroughly explained or put in context of my argument for the audience to understand their relevance.
• My audience may respond to book covers of banned material and images of Banned Books Week may inspire the audience to view libraries as essential to respond to this issue, and can see what is on the table: community and information.
• My audience needs to understand that Banned Books Week isn't enough, and that we need to delve back into battling the book banning movement, because the job's not done.

Genre

• I will be writing a blog post or article that might be found on a popular new site such as the New York Times, or a quick reference guide to "Book Banning: How Libraries Have Fallen, and How They can Rise Again" that would be found in a similar place. 
• Blog Post Example 1
• Blog Post Example 2
• Article Example 1
• Article Example 2
• Quick Reference Guide Example 1
• Quick Reference Guide Example 2
• This genre is meant to present an issue or event in a certain light. I chose this genre because my audience will most likely be interested in news pertaining to the library system, and may access news sites more than blogs because they are more constantly checked and updated so that we can know what's going on in the world.
• I may use my field of study, my employment at a library, and the amount of research I've done to gain credibility (ethos). I will most likely use banned book descriptions, personal narratives, and shocking statistics to incite emotion (pathos). I will cite the pillars of the library system, the activity levels of book banning, and juxtapose the content of banned books with the reasons why they were banned to create a logical (logos) argument.
• I may include a few images, and potentially a visual of the statistics I plan to use.
• I think it will be informal / conversational so that I can make it more comfortable for librarians and patrons alike to read.

Positive Reactions

• The library needs to do more!
• We should get involved!
• Why is book banning still a thing?
• I didn't realize this was still an important issue!
• Let's go do something about this!
• We need to add more programs to our library system to make a stronger stand against book banning.

Negative Rebuttals

• Why does this still matter?
• Response: This issue will matter until it is eradicated - if any book or information is barred from someone, it will matter - and even then it should be remembered so that we don't make the same mistakes again. 
• We already have Banned Book Week, isn't that enough?
• Response: While Banned Book Week is certainly great, it's becoming a tired program that usually is the sole representing body of this issue; we need to support it with smaller initiatives that are year-round and / or more spread out through the year - if book banning is still being carried out, the library should be doing something about it. 
• Book banning isn't that bad, so we shouldn't care anymore.
• Response: Book Banning may seem reasonable at times, but in reality bars potentially formative and crucial information from people; while it may seem well-intended, it is used to suppress individuals and their growth in knowledge.