Erik Chang Research Summary Shin, Sarah.

"Slavoj iek at Occupy Wall Street: We Are Not Dreamers, We Are the Awakening from a Dream Which Is Turning into a Nightmare." VersoBooks.com. VersoBooks.com, 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/736>. When Slavoj iek spoke at the Occupy Wall Street protest he wrote through ethos, logos, kairos. He uses these three rhetorical devices to paint a picture of his views of the current state of affairs in the United States. iek uses commonplaces to reach out to his audience. The Occupy Wall Street protesters, who are made up of a wide variety of liberals, share many commonplaces which he plays upon during his speech. We are not Communists, if Communism means the system which deservedly collapsed in 1990and remember that Communists who are still in power run today the most ruthless capitalism (in China). iek plays on the liberal socialist ideology that communism is ineffective and was abandoned for the capitalist model. However, he states that ideology exerts enough material power to prevent alternate history narratives being taken with a minimum of seriousness. This is the situation that the Occupy Wall Street Movement is in. In the liberal American west, capitalism is so mixed into society that it is almost impossible to escape the ideology. The effective use of kairos is very apparent in when iek states that the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. Right after this statement he uses a list of commonplaces to make sure his point got across. In the same way we get coffee without caffeine is enough to make us feel good. The effective use of framing his contentions makes this paragraph effective because it also plays on the ethos and logos of the reader. iek also appeals to logos frequently through the awareness of society. We are not dreamers; we are the awakening from a dream which is turning into a nightmare. His analysis of America brings the reader to come to terms with his argument making it seem almost irrefutable. In the domains of personal freedoms and scientific technology, the impossible is becoming increasingly possible. When iek talks about the advancement of society and the adaptations made perfectly to fit what the American people wanted and needed makes the call for a change in the governmental system seem almost at hand. He questions the possibility of engaging in collective political acts and reiterated that the time has come for great social change in America. ieks speech is very effective because of his effective use of rhetorical devices. His speech can be read by a wide demographic of people while still retaining its rhetorical effectiveness because of his ethos, kairos, and commonplaces that relate to almost every American citizen. His historical commonplaces help shape his argument to appeal to everyone creating stakeholders. He refers to the movement as violent in the sense Ghandi was violent subtlety pushing upon the reader thoughts of peace and referring to losers that need the 99%s help to become bailed out. The speech is meant to rally the American people against capitalist thinking which worked out in the past and transition into a more socialist regime. The appeal to three types of rhetorical devices makes it hard for any reader to ignore his viewpoint on this situation.