Twenty-First Century Radical Rhetoric

In the current 21st century there are ten observations for understanding the rhetoric of contemporary activists which are our rhetoric; is anti-authoritarian, promotes diversity, is idealistic and prefigurative, is multi-historical, is anti-representational, privileges complex interrogation, is symbolically powerful, is confrontational, is visionary, and it is self-righteous and self-critical. For our rhetoric to be anti-authoritarian it means that there are to be no hierarchical power structures. Promoting diversity is beneficial both individually and collectively because individually we mix multiple experiences, knowledge, and actions; and collectively a more diverse community standing side by side to each other is more productive and powerful. It is idealistic and prefigurative because it embraces social justice for everyone not only white men and what we do and say try to bring things upon ideals that currently do not exist. It is multi-historical because we all have different sets of heritage which allows us to have multiple narratives and experiences not only one source. It is anti-representational because we can see that no one person's stories can represent another's past experiences. It privileges complex interrogation because that way we get full details rather than simple answers in order to challenge one another's viewpoints and make us reflect. It is symbolically powerful because one's actions can motivate others to do the same and take into consideration the purpose in order to take similar action. It is confrontational whether it is aggressive and upfront or subtle and laidback but it is about speaking truth to power and confronting all forms mistreatment. It is visionary because we believe that we can be a better society, a better person, and a better world and we can see these realities in our hearts and minds. Our rhetoric is self-righteous and self-critical because we want to change the world and we think we know how but our answers are specifically just for our time and place and there are others that must revolutionize their own realities.
There are five suggestions to mending the rhetorical gap which is to; specify your audience, make adjustments, name and explain your rhetoric, make more observations, and take personal responsibility. First, specify your audience because the general public is too broad and to talk to address certain groups helps you create more effective actions and messages. Second, make adjustments because this allows you to fit the wants and needs of your audience which increase the chances of people actually taking an interest in your saying. Next, name and explain your rhetoric because people often fear what they do not understand and it is better to be clear so that your full audience will comprehend. Also, you must make more observations than the ten named above because they are not the final word and more observations should be made. Finally, take personal responsibility because when we take personal responsibility for our action we eliminate the need for rhetorical leaders.
Network Rhetoric is a paradigmatic figure if contemporary activists. It is composed of three parts which are multiple and decentered messages, dialogue among those messages and the formulation of public statement, and message or action. Some examples of network rhetoric could be Indymedia, social forums, and protests.
There are three basic steps that can make your network more appealing and intelligible which are to create a rhetorical frame, use categories to manage the connections, and to strive for clarity and accessibility. To create a rhetorical frame you must summarize the connections among the different issues in a single word, phrase or title that is catchy and general to catch the attention of wide audiences. Using categories to manage the connections helps you maintain the focus of your audience and not let them tune out because it specifies and doesn't keep going on forever so that you could test people's patience. Striving for clarity and accessibility is essential because confusion alienates people and draws them out instead of making them intrigued by what you're saying.
The new form of activism is neo-radicalism which has five guidelines for developing a neo-radical agenda which is: neo-radicalism is based on the idea that human beings create their realities through communicative processes, neo-radicalism asks you to walk toward your innermost political desires and create whatever realities you so choose, neo-radicalism believes that every reality should be accepted, respected and appreciated so long as one reality does not impede another reality, neo-radicalism seeks to establish social systems that enable the free creation of our desired realities; this involves investigating, confronting and uprooting any social system that hinders this process, and lastly this struggle continues indefinitely, for even if we create a world of truly decentred realities, there is no guarantee against the reemergence of obstructive, controlling and oppressive forces.