Dr. Roderick Hart, dean of the College of Communications at the University of Texas at Austin, stopped by this month’s Pizza and Politics event to discuss one of the nation’s most polarizing, controversial public figures in the past few years.
After an introduction by Dr. Norma Burgess, Lipscomb’s Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Craig Carroll, the dean of Communication and Journalism department, Dr. Hart walked on-stage to address the central theme of the evening.
“Why are we still talking about Sarah Palin?” he asked.
Dr. Hart began by stating that he enjoys being a college professor because he has an abundance of questions. One of these questions involves the desire to understand the national hype that follows Palin wherever she goes. Hart stated that he has no preference for Palin either way, but he has become captivated by her mannerisms and public acclaim/disapproval.
Hart believes that Palin truly has become an American icon.
“This is a woman who has captured the public imagination of the United States”, Dr. Hart said, even making a humorous comparison to Palin being a mix between Mitt Romney and Johnny Depp in the public eye.
Dr. Hart showed a poll taken in late May of this year, revealing that 97% of Americans are at least aware of her existence.
Hart zeroes in on the aspect of Palin being a “bi-polar entity”- a sort of love her/hate her personality. Hart believes that there is no middle ground in the debate. Those who love her, Hart explains, will focus on her down-to-earth, “real” sounding message. Those who hate her will likely focus on her highly attacked intelligence/lack of experience.
Hart believes that Palin draws these bi-polar reactions due many aspects, whether they are biases of gender, press, class, partisanship, or religion.
Using a program he developed alongside Dr. Carroll, Hart explained that he has pin-pointed a specific area where people will attribute their strong feelings towards the former Vice Presidential candidate.
The DICTION program helped Hart to see that insistence plays a huge factor in the way the public perceives Palin and her messages.
Insistence, Hart explained, is the measure of rhetorical focus and agenda control in dialogue. Insistence follows people’s ability to stay on topic.
Hart’s presentation gave a profound look into the way insistence plays a role in the public reception of Palin. He attributes her conversational method of speaking as a major draw to many of her supporters.
For the better or worse, Hart believes that Palin’s lack of insistence effects how the public receives her and her messages.
Dr. Hart may have a great understanding on the topic, but he still has questions.
“I’m a professor, and that’s what I have – these questions.” he stated.
Following Dr. Hart’s lesson, a Q and A session was held, featuring Dr. Hart, Dr. Carroll, and political science professor Dr. Dwight Tays.
The crowd, mixed with students and members of the community, asked many thoughtful questions concerning Palin’s effect on the future of women in politics, worries about electing officials based on self-resemblance, and wonders about the future of Palin’s political career, as well as the political system as a whole.
Dr. Tays believes that Palin “says a little about a lot and a lot about a little”. This statement seemed to be a reigning idea throughout the night.
Dr. Hart gave members of the audience at this month’s Pizza and Politics a highly intriguing look into the world of public reception, focusing on the one person who might be one of the most thought-provoking figures of the twenty-first century.
This concludes the Pizza and Politics series for the fall semester.
Those interested on more information on the DICTION program can visit http://www.dictionsoftware.com/.