While reading Bitzer’s “The Rhetorical Situation,” I found myself reminded by some of the language (“In short, rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action.”) of the final episode of TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Captain Picard find the entire history and existence of humanity threatened by a spatial anomaly (ST:TNG, “All Good Things.”) For those unfamiliar with the series, there exists an omnipotent being known simply as “Q.” Q is cast as a sort of God figure (indeed, he and other members of his race were instrumental in the development of numerous races and their religious complexes) who casts an alternatively protective and scathing eye on the Enterprise. Q has numerous dealings with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise throughout the series, in particular Captain Picard. In this specific episode, Q uses his powers to alternate Picard’s consciousness between three different timelines. Without delving too much into the scientific devices of the episode, suffice it to say that Picard (in all three timelines) is spurred to action by the verbal influence of Q. Q essentially tricks Picard into thinking there is a danger from a particular section in space, and Picard’s modified thinking leads him to have his ship emit a particle beam. Picard switches back and forth from an earlier timeline, the present, and a future one. In all three timelines, Picard’s ship emits the same particle beam at the same point in space. This, done in response to Q’s suggestions, actually creates the anomaly with which Picard was initially concerned.
Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the Star Trek series, was an avid reader of philosophy and Shakespeare. Although by this point Roddenberry had passed away, his influence and stylistic approach were still very prevalent and noticeable in the content of the shows. This is made manifest by Q’s almost Socratic direction of Picard’s thought: through suggestion and his own form of dialectic, Q causes Picard to alter his thoughts and actions. When these are reviewed by Q and found to be lacking (Q consistently displays a level of concern for the well-being of humanity,) he is very careful to lead Picard back onto the right track. The exigence of the spatial anomaly in the in the differing timelines forces Picard into a rhetorical situation, where he must convince his rhetorical audience (the crew and his peers) that he is both sane and aware of a danger that they are not, in order to effect positive change (if the anomaly is not stopped, humanity will cease to have ever existed.) In Bitzer’s article, he defines a rhetorical situation as one that “may be defined as a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.” In the past and present timelines, Picard’s rank of Captain allows him a greater deal of influence over the actions and thoughts of his crew. However, in the future timeline Picard is an old civilian with only his word and name to bring to bear; his challenge is much greater. Picard finds himself in the rhetorical situation of being an old man suspected of senility and a degenerative neurological disease, but still in possession of the knowledge of the anomaly and a job to accomplish. In the end, Picard manages to work the constraints of his crew (they are still loyal to him although he’s no longer the Captain, and afford him leniency as he might be senile) to prove that he is fact not insane, and correct about the danger posed to humanity. As Bitzer says, “…discourse not only harness constraints given by situation but provides additional important constraints.”
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