Despite its ubiquity, the study of persuasive attack is a relatively unstudied rhetorical genre. A search of the Communication and Mass Media Complete database in the Ebsco Host for "persuasive attack" OR "persuasive attacks" shows only 13 articles. On the other hand, a search of the phrases "image repair" OR "image restoration" AND "rhetoric" brings up 122 articles. It is clear that much more research effort has been devoted to the study of image repair than the attacks that often create the need for image repair. It is also clear that trends in our culture, including our increasingly polarized politics, intense disagreements over social and economic policies, and the ease with which attacks are leveled and go national on social media, suggest that more academic research should be devoted to this rhetorical form.
As the Editor of Relevant Rhetoric, I am issuing a call for manuscripts that focus on persuasive attack and will devote next year's issue to the submissions that are accepted by the editorial board. Given the limited research on this subject, authors are encouraged to explore new methods and case studies for the examination of persuasive attack. The submission guidelines for manuscripts can be found at: http://relevantrhetoric.com/Submissions.html. Please note: submission deadline for essays related to this call is October 30, 2016.
To initiate this discussion of persuasive attack, James DiSanza and I have contributed an article to the current issue of Relevant Rhetoric (http://relevantrhetoric.com/) that applies a taxonomy of tactics to one of Keith Olbermann's extended attacks on the NFL, and its Commissioner, Roger Goodell, during the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. I look forward to publishing an illuminating series of articles on persuasive attack in next year's edition of Relevant Rhetoric.
Nancy J. Legge
Editor: Relevant Rhetoric: A New Journal of Rhetorical Studies
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