I love general conference. Watching 10 hours of prophets, apostles and other Church leaders give talks is fantastically edifying (seriously though, no sarcasm intended). Typically, though, when I'm watch general conference, analyzing the rhetors' strategies is not high on my list of learning strategies. However, because my mind is being expanded by my university experience, I had to put on my Writing 150 cap and look out for a talk that exhibited some rhetorical technique.
Luckily for me, I was able to dedicate my attention to other strategies after the first talk, because the opening discourse of the Saturday morning session was a prime specimen, not to mention a fantastic talk by all other metrics. It was given by President Uchtdorf, a member of the first presidency of the Church, and thus an orator who enjoys natural ethos by virtue of his office. However, there are other aspects of his stye which further add to the ethos which, to me, is the bed rock of his rhetor.
First, President Uchtdorf is from Germany, not the USA. He has a different background than the typical general authority. He represents diversity, equality, and internationality in a Church which is led by a small group of American men (many of whom are not only American, but Utahn!). An aside: I in no way mean that this is an "American" or "Utah" church. I am quite proud of the fact that the majority of Church membership lives outside of the United States and is well represented in so many areas of the world. I love our international brothers and sisters and pray that the restored gospel will continue to reach new areas of the world. I would anticipate that being an "international" general authority will become the norm, rather than the exception in coming decades.
For now, however, President Uchtdorf represents a minority, and at least from my perspective, it builds his ethos as a rhetor.
President Uchtdorf is also fond of story telling, and this talk is no exception, though he refrains from telling as many aviation stories as we all know he'd like to. The two main personal experiences he share are his learning struggles with technology and his attempts to share the gospel.
The former casts President Uchtdorf in a very human light. Despite being one of only 15 people on the planet to whom God has entrusted possession of all contemporary priesthood keys, President Uchtdorf still has struggles which we all can identify with on a daily basis. We see him as a human, not as a robot or as some type of strangely and totally infallible spiritual being. Because we can identify with him, we trust him and are put at ease. At the same time, we see Presidennt Uchtdorf as a seventy year old man who has, despite all odds, learned to use "an email address, a Twitter account, and a Facebook page," and "owns a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, and a digital camera." By beginning with this experience, President Uchtdorf prepares us to more effectively receive the rest of his message.
The second story I'll mention (sharing the gospel) lends him ethos because it portrays him as a missionary in a normal setting. We further identify with him and his missionary struggles, and admire him for his efforts.
While the ethos alone does not lead to any action or spiritual experience (we don't listen to general conference just so we can admire Church leadership!) it does enable President Uchtdorf to bring ethos and logos together as he reminds us of the Plan of Salvation of our God in order to edify and encourage his audience to be more grateful and appreciative of God's love as we strive every day to become more like Him. And that is why we listen to general conference.
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