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diff --git a/chapter0.md b/chapter0.md index e97fafc..0f9bf03 100644 --- a/chapter0.md +++ b/chapter0.md @@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ word 'rhetoric' is often used to suggest empty or untrustworthy political speech, my sense is much broader than this. By 'rhetoric', I simply mean an utterance with an agenda. A speaker counts as a 'rhetor', and is producing 'rhetoric', just when they are putting forth an utterance (or writing, or -non-verbal communication) with the intention of causing their audience make +non-verbal communication) with the intention of causing their audience to make something happen as a result of their utterance. 'Rhetoric' in this sense is a very broad category of language. A politician making a speech, of course, might count as a rhetor, but so might a military officer issuing an order, or a lover @@ -23,42 +23,40 @@ tn?' By 'green', I am narrowing down that very broad category to specifically the political rhetoric belonging to a particular historical situation: the green -movement[^1]. - -[1]: We could use a range of epithets in the place of 'green': environmental, -conservation, nature, wilding, re-wilding, climate, ecological, to name but a -few. For the purposes of this dissertation, I will prefer the name 'green' to -refer to this movement and the closely-related cluster of issues which these -names represent. +movement^[We could use a range of epithets in the place of 'green': +'environmental,' 'conservation,' 'nature,' 'wilding,' 're-wilding,' 'climate,' +'ecological,' to name but a few. For the purposes of this dissertation, I will +prefer the name 'green' to refer to this movement and the closely-related +cluster of issues which these names represent.]. The green movement began in the 1960s. Major institutions rapidly gained mass membership, especially among the urban professional middle classes, in many -Western nations. Rachel Carson's _Silent Spring_ helped to kick green rhetoric -up to the highest level of politics in the US and other countries. Carson made -use of well-established forms of language which distinguished between 'nature' -and 'civilisation', and called on her audience to protect pristine nature from -the clutches of corrupting civilisation. This kind of rhetoric proliferated, and -in its wake followed wave upon wave of legislation. +Western nations \[EVIDENCE\]. Rachel Carson's _Silent Spring_ helped to kick +green rhetoric up to the highest level of politics in the US and other countries +\[EVIDENCE\]. Carson made use of well-established forms of language which +distinguished between 'nature' and 'civilisation', and called on her audience to +protect pristine nature from the clutches of corrupting civilisation +\[EVIDENCE\]. This kind of rhetoric proliferated, and in its wake followed wave +upon wave of legislation \[EVIDENCE\]. From the beginning, one of the central issues of the green movement was nuclear -power. - -Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, nuclear power functioned as the dominant -'master frame' of the green movement, so that all other green issues tended to -be framed in nuclear terms. +power. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, nuclear power functioned as the +dominant 'master frame' of the green movement, so that all other green issues +tended to be framed in nuclear terms \[EVIDENCE\]. At times, governments attempted to persuade their citizens that a nuclear war -could be fought and won, even though they knew this wasn't true. Such rhetoric -served to quell resistance to pro-nuclear policies, so those who opposed those -policies attacked this narrative. To do this, rhetors invented terms such as -'nuclear winter', 'nuclear holocaust', 'nuclear apocalypse', and 'nuclear -Armageddon', while attempting to persuade their audiences that a nuclear war -would bring about the end of the world, and must therefore be avoided at all -costs. +could be fought and won, even though they knew this wasn't true \[EVIDENCE\]. +Such rhetoric served to quell resistance to pro-nuclear policies, so those who +opposed those policies attacked this narrative \[EVIDENCE\]. To do this, rhetors +invented terms such as 'nuclear winter', 'nuclear holocaust', 'nuclear +apocalypse', and 'nuclear Armageddon', while attempting to persuade their +audiences that a nuclear war would bring about the end of the world, and must +therefore be avoided at all costs \[EVIDENCE\]. In the 1980s and 1990s, climate change moved in to take over the role of the -green movement's master frame. However, the movement's nuclear heritage left an -indelible impression on the way greens talked about climate change. +green movement's master frame \[EVIDENCE\]. However, the movement's nuclear +heritage left an indelible impression on the way greens talked about climate +change \[EVIDENCE\]. So, for the last three decades, the green movement has overwhelmingly framed climate change in terms of an impending catastrophe which would bring about the |
