Argument: Toby Keith v. Eminem
I start a new structured feature today: Argument
I'll be teaching a course titled Argumentation this coming fall and am looking for ways to "get" to the students. Auditus suggested music which I had already planned for a section on "Invitational Rhetoric." But now I'll move a couple of songs to an introduction to Argument:
Toby Keith v. Eminem
The contrast between Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" and Eminem's "Mosh" is extreme in a thousand directions. On the obvious level, the country tune is the patriotic tune. Keith employs every verbal icon he can: Fourth of July, America, U.S.A., eagle will fly, Uncle Sam, Red White & Blue, Statue of Liberty, justice, mother freedom. In contrast Eminem plays the American by taking his free speech right to criticize the President in the most contentious manner possible: "Fuck Bush." This rap/hip-hop song employs an anger with American politics, racism and warmongering as its center. But Eminem also appeals to patriotic motifs as when he raps "Let us beg to differ," "the stars and stripes."
Both use fathers in polar opposite manners. Keith employs his father to make an emotional argument about how soldiers have died for the flag. The synecdoches are manifest here - flag for country, Keith's father for the millions of soldiers who have died. Eminem, by contrast employs fatherhood as historical example. In "Mosh," Eminem suggests that Bush Jr. might want to impress "daddy" by strapping on an AK-47 and going to Iraq to fight the war himself.
Sonically, Keith has a chorus come in to buttress his argument as if "All Americans" (his phrase) come together to celebrate the flag and kick the asses of the bad guys as if we're all a giant cowboy posse. And the electric guitar solo, while reiterating genre, suggests the flying eagle that he speaks about in the song. The end of the song employs the sound of bells as if to reiterate Keith's use of the term bell in the song and, of course, the liberty bell. Eminem also uses sound to great effect though in more ways. "Mosh" opens with an interpretation of the funeral march which then threads through the entire song. He also employs the sound of children as if to remind us of our adult responsibilities (Keith talked about children raising the flag but doesn't use them sonically). And the finale is an extraordinary sonic reference to Martin Luther King. Eminem uses echo to imitate the sound of MLK's antiwar speeches during the 1960s. I wonder if this last is a matter of genre. Eminem can take more liberties with Rap/Hip-Hop than Keith with Commercial Country.
These songs define stereotypes. Keith's is blunt, blatant and not thoughtful. It is generic. But that's why it works. He uses arguments from emotion and patriotism and his sonic metaphors (eagle flying, liberty bell) reiterate what he explicitly says in the song. Republicans marshall the same kinds of arguments, their messages reflected in Keith's repeated choruses. Eminem uses sonic metaphors and verbal metaphors, often without explanation, providing his audience with enthymemetic arguments that allow listeners to assume responsibility for making their own arguments (another reference to the sound of children). I can listen to Keith's song twice and get the whole message. With Eminem, I'm still picking up metaphors, references, enthymemetic arguments . . .. Far closer to the Democrats and their messy messages. Indeed, there is less repetition in Eminem.
I'll be teaching a course titled Argumentation this coming fall and am looking for ways to "get" to the students. Auditus suggested music which I had already planned for a section on "Invitational Rhetoric." But now I'll move a couple of songs to an introduction to Argument:
Toby Keith v. Eminem
The contrast between Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue" and Eminem's "Mosh" is extreme in a thousand directions. On the obvious level, the country tune is the patriotic tune. Keith employs every verbal icon he can: Fourth of July, America, U.S.A., eagle will fly, Uncle Sam, Red White & Blue, Statue of Liberty, justice, mother freedom. In contrast Eminem plays the American by taking his free speech right to criticize the President in the most contentious manner possible: "Fuck Bush." This rap/hip-hop song employs an anger with American politics, racism and warmongering as its center. But Eminem also appeals to patriotic motifs as when he raps "Let us beg to differ," "the stars and stripes."
Both use fathers in polar opposite manners. Keith employs his father to make an emotional argument about how soldiers have died for the flag. The synecdoches are manifest here - flag for country, Keith's father for the millions of soldiers who have died. Eminem, by contrast employs fatherhood as historical example. In "Mosh," Eminem suggests that Bush Jr. might want to impress "daddy" by strapping on an AK-47 and going to Iraq to fight the war himself.
Sonically, Keith has a chorus come in to buttress his argument as if "All Americans" (his phrase) come together to celebrate the flag and kick the asses of the bad guys as if we're all a giant cowboy posse. And the electric guitar solo, while reiterating genre, suggests the flying eagle that he speaks about in the song. The end of the song employs the sound of bells as if to reiterate Keith's use of the term bell in the song and, of course, the liberty bell. Eminem also uses sound to great effect though in more ways. "Mosh" opens with an interpretation of the funeral march which then threads through the entire song. He also employs the sound of children as if to remind us of our adult responsibilities (Keith talked about children raising the flag but doesn't use them sonically). And the finale is an extraordinary sonic reference to Martin Luther King. Eminem uses echo to imitate the sound of MLK's antiwar speeches during the 1960s. I wonder if this last is a matter of genre. Eminem can take more liberties with Rap/Hip-Hop than Keith with Commercial Country.
These songs define stereotypes. Keith's is blunt, blatant and not thoughtful. It is generic. But that's why it works. He uses arguments from emotion and patriotism and his sonic metaphors (eagle flying, liberty bell) reiterate what he explicitly says in the song. Republicans marshall the same kinds of arguments, their messages reflected in Keith's repeated choruses. Eminem uses sonic metaphors and verbal metaphors, often without explanation, providing his audience with enthymemetic arguments that allow listeners to assume responsibility for making their own arguments (another reference to the sound of children). I can listen to Keith's song twice and get the whole message. With Eminem, I'm still picking up metaphors, references, enthymemetic arguments . . .. Far closer to the Democrats and their messy messages. Indeed, there is less repetition in Eminem.
posted by Definer at 4:12 AM
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