Unit 2, Rhetorical Triangle

In a recent White House blog entry introducing President Obama’s Plain Writing Act of 2010, Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote an appealing call for the use of plain language to streamline communications and cut costs throughout the Federal Government.

The introduction quickly applied pathos in a particularly timely way for me. I just finished my taxes and identified with the writer/speaker because I have been decoding tax schedules without much luck and relying a lot on computer software to decide things for me while wishing the language was presented more plainly. This blog entry was posted the day after tax day when it seems like everyone around me is reeling against the complexity of the tax code, so perhaps the consideration of Kairos (timing) in this post isn’t as innocent as it appears. Putting any supposed agenda aside, language in government documents touches everyone so this was a good attention grabbing introduction. I could see right away that the author was familiar with my discomfort with government documents.

According to a recent government project that was overhauled in plain language, communicating more clearly cut down on waste and spending. Sunstein cites a recent example within the Federal Communications Commission in which plain language replaced jargon about how HAM radio was regulated by the FCC. With the new language a single regulator could answer all of the questions about the rules that previously took the work of five FCC employees (Sunstein). In the first part of the entry there isn’t a ton of data presented about how much more efficient this process is overall – whether additional tasks were created in other FCC downstream departments regarding HAM radio operation. Since the bill was only enacted in October of 2010 there is unlikely much data confirming these savings, but it doesn’t matter because of the balance deployment of the rhetorical triangle.

Overall, the blog entry contains a good mix of narrative and data, both identifying with a reader’s personal difficulty with understanding Federal regulations and compliance standards when language is especially technical or specific and showing specific examples of cost-savings benefit in the numbers. These appeals to reason and logic (logos) and suggested sympathy for just plain folks who have to deal with complicated jargon (pathos) are effective.

To codify the evidence that using plain language works, Sunstein briefly calls out a study in the journal of the Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business by claiming that this outside source found up to $73 million in savings on wasted reading time in the US Navy’s standard memorandum writing format (Sunstein). Including this reference resonated with me because it created a lot of credibility by demonstrating an outside source could confirm the type of savings that Sunstein was claiming about the FCC and their own work. Because the necessary elements of ethos is layered throughout the entry, Sunstein is able to execute the argument effectively despite not presenting a lot of data because as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Sunstein has credibility with an audience that bothers read the White House blog.

Works Cited

Sunstein, Cass. “Putting it Plainly”. White House 2011. Web. Accessed April 19, 2011.             <http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/19/putting-it-plainly>