rhetorical question.ppt

Rhetorical Question
Rhetorical Question: Figure which asks a question, not for the purpose of further discussion, but to assert or deny an answer implicitly; a question whose answer is obvious or implied.
Examples
"It really is time to ask ourselves, 'How can we allow the rich and powerful, not only to rip off people as consumers, but to continue to rip them off as taxpayers?'"
-- Ralph Nader, 2000 NAACP Convention Address
"Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he had offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar?"
-- James 2:20-21 (KJV)
"But no one seems to mention morality as playing a part in the subject of sex. Is all of Judeo-Christian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological harm? And isn't it the parents' right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?"
-- Ronald Reagan, Remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals, 1983
Note: A "stacking" technique in which multiple rhetorical questions are asked in ession to intensify the point -- that sex and morality need not or cannot be mutually exclusive.
"Some have asked, 'How could you the United States Senate vote on Judge Thomas' nomination and leave Senators in the dark about Professor [Anita] Hill's charges?' And to this I