Rhet Ops: Rhetoric and Information Warfare

Abstract

In this edited volume, authors seek to document and analyze how state and non-state actors leverage digital rhetoric as a twenty-first-century weapon of war. Rhet Ops offer readers a chance to focus on the human dimension of rhetorical practice within mobile technologies and social networks: to reflect not only on the durable question of what it means to conduct oneself ethically as a speaker or writer, but also what it means to learn the art of rhetoric as a means to engage adversaries in war and conflict. If ever there was a book that illustrated the relevance of writing studies, this is it. A sobering account of the power of rhetoric to do harm, this volume reminds readers that knowledge and deployment of rhetorical strategies can literally cost lives. . . . But this rhetoric can also save lives. If ever there was a book that illustrated the relevance of writing studies, this is it. A sobering account of the power of rhetoric to do harm, this volume reminds readers that knowledge and deployment of rhetorical strategies can literally cost lives. . . . But this rhetoric can also save lives.