good vs. Good

It is an interesting notion on Quintillion’s part to say that an orator must be a good man, indeed that a man who is not a good man cannot hope to be able to become a good orator. He says that a mind that turns toward vice takes time away from his study. Vice leads to such unpleasantness as incarceration, ridicule, and a guilty conscience.

The study of Rhetoric should take a mind from all other cares, it should consume the student and be paramount among all other thoughts and intentions of the student, so when a student takes their mind from good and virtuous study of rhetoric and applies himself to his vices, he becomes unable to become a  great orator.

With all respect due to Quintillion, I think he’s full of it. A man need not be of noble heart to be cunning in his speech. The oration of a wicked man may not suit the noble purpose that Quintillion intends for himself and his students, but it is oration none-the-less, and oration that is applied for evil is capable of being just as stout and reasonable as oration that is applied for the good of mankind.

A few examples come to mind when I think of evil orators. There have been many powerful yet evil men who have used Rhetoric as a means to accomplish some evil deed. Even a man bent on world domination must be able to sway a supportive crowd, or he will get nowhere with his quest. The first and most obvious example that comes to mind here is Adolf Hitler. As an orator, Hitler was a genius. He was able to convince an entire nation to follow him towards destruction of the world as we knew it. Dr. Joseph Goebbels said this about him in a 1936 discussion of Hitler’s speaking ability:

“One cannot imagine the Führer ever spoke differently than he does today, or that he will ever speak differently. He speaks from his heart and therefore reaches the hearts of those who hear him. He has the amazing gift of sensing what is in the air. He has the ability of expressing things so clearly, logically, and directly that that is what they have always thought themselves.”

By using Rhetoric, Hitler, arguably one of the worst evils our world has ever seen, was able to convince millions to follow him blindly into tragedy. So, Quintillion, though he has a good point, is taking his definition a step too far when he does not include oration meant for evil purpose in his definition of good Rhetoric.