Gilger, Patrick L., S.J.

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 44 Article 259-1-2013Talking Back: Eloquentia Perfecta in the Digital AgePatrick L. Gilger S.J.Follow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationGilger, Patrick L. S.J. (2013) "Talking Back: Eloquentia Perfecta in the Digital Age," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 44,Article 25.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol44/iss1/25Conversations 39For Jesuit basketball sup-porters, the madness isending as I write. Nolonger will we contributeto the estimated loss offour million productivework hours by watching,for example, theMarquette men’s basketball team–the laststanding Jesuit school in the annual pit ofproductivity quicksand that is the NCAAtournament–on our work computers.Marquette just had the life crushed fromthem by the Orangemen of Syracuse. Butafter reading the last issue ofConversations, it’s clear that the samecannot also be said of the liveliness ofeloquentia perfecta in Jesuit universities. In making a contemporary case foreloquentia perfecta, that issue pointedout that much of what was always true ofgood predigital rhetoric remains true ofgood digital rhetoric. Two points regard-ing this continuity are particularly impor-tant. First, as Paul Lynch gracefullyreminded us, rhetoric remains the tool fordiscerning the “available means of per-suasion” in a given situation. While theavailable means and the problems to beovercome change, the demand that weevaluate our options with care in order toproceed with efficacy remains. Second,the tight bond between the cultivation ofrhetorical skill and the cultivation of goodcharacter remains a goal of Jesuit rhetor-ical education. It was John O’Malley whonoted that such character formation isshaped by the same perennial questions“of life and death, of virtue and vice.”And Stephen Mailloux noted that in clas-sical rhetoric it is the good person who isable to speak well for the common good.Both of these traits remain the same.But what has changed? We mighthypothesize that if it’s not the essence orthe ends of rhetoric that have changed,then it must be the means. And this ispartially true. Persuasion is certainlyaccomplished through different means inthe digital age: the constraints of the 6-second Vine video and 140-characterTweets are both new. But neither is fun-damentally different from the constraintsof, say, the sonnet. It seems to me thatwhat has changed more substantially isnot just the means themselves, but theincreasingly small number of ways weare willing to allow ourselves to be opento persuasion. In other words, when con-sidering the ideal of eloquentia perfectafor Jesuit educators in the digital age, weought to consider not just how digitaltechnology provides different conduitsEloquentia Perfectain the Digital AgeBy Patrick L. Gilger, S.J.For example, resources within the department could becommitted to an ongoing oral history project. A relativelysmall amount of funding could incentivize a few students toreach out to various groups and communities in the Bostonarea to collect their stories and recollections as they pertainto historical events or developments. From a more strictlyhistory-department point of view, this effort would yield arich resource for future research (similar to the famed WPAslave narratives), and it would furthermore give graduatestudents an expanded opportunity to hone their skills in oralhistory collection. This would also challenge the ivory towerstereotype. Additionally, such a project would encourage students toauthentically engage with the surrounding community andhear the stories and lived experiences of individuals in waysthey might otherwise not have over the course of their stud-ies. By creating new bonds and actively working to preservethe city’s history, a commitment to local history would be anexperience in service that would not only supplement histor-ical training. This sort of project would also be a uniqueanswer to the call for the promotion of justice and the for-mation of women and men for others that is so central to aJesuit education. As I hope to make these proposals concrete actions, itremains to be seen whether they will gain traction within my his-tory world, and I am very prepared that these efforts may notbear any fruit. Either way, I am thankful for the opportunity toexplore this tension between my graduate training and BC’sJesuit identity, as well as for the length of my training, whichgives me time to think of other ideas should these not work! ■Patrick L. Gilger, S.J., is a cofounder ofThe Jesuit Post, a website staffed byJesuits in formation across the UnitedStates; after completing his studies intheology, Father Gilger was ordainedon June 14, 2013.1Gilger: Talking Back: Eloquentia Perfecta in the Digital AgePublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201340 Conversationsfor interaction but also how those con-duits have affected what it is that makessomething persuasive or not. In a digitalage, the way we receive information hasitself changed what counts as persuasive.For example, the “narrowcasting” ofcontent, to use Diana Owen’s articulatedescriptor, is unique not just because it tar-gets audiences precisely, but because ofwhat it reveals about the kind of contentpeople (read: ourselves, our colleagues,our students) are willing to receive at all.Digital technology encourages the tenden-cy to enter into echo chambers of the like-minded. But the bigger effect may be thatit has raised our consciousness of being thetargets of coercive attention. We filter out“rhetoric” (in the colloquial, pejorativesense) because we are increasinglyimmersed–all of us–in the kind of worldwhere we are constantly barraged byattempts to persuade us. And the vastmajority of these attempts at persuasionhave absolutely nothing to do with formingus to be good persons who speak well forthe common good. The task of Jesuit edu-cators in a digital age is so difficult because,in order to function well in such a world,we have all turned our B/S filters up to 11.We have developed a practiced invulnera-bility when it comes to persuasion.The brilliant (and much missed!)John Kavanaugh taught us that it is adver-tisers who have most effectively dis-cerned the available means of persuasionin this environment. But since we haveall become aware of their skill, advertis-ers must use increasingly nonsensical,self-aware, or sensational advertising tograb our attention. The problem for Jesuiteducators attempting to be persuasive istwofold: Advertisers are much better atthis than we are; and we must persuadestudents to allow us through their“rhetoric” filters–or draw them out frombehind them–to accomplish the characterformation that Jesuit education, at itsbest, attempts.  A ll this to saythat we are immersed in a context thatmakes it very, very difficult to conceiveof an eloquentia to which the adjectiveperfecta can even be applied–becausethe primary kind of “character formation”through persuasion we normally experi-ence is actually manipulation. Our stu-dents and we ourselves as well don’t real-ly think of ourselves being made betterthrough exposure to rhetoric, becausebeing made better means trusting thatthere is a true end, a good which is real-ly good for us and toward which bothpersuaders and persuadees ought todirect themselves.So it will come as no surprise that Ibelieve that our task as Ignatian educatorsought to be to foster in our students theability to imagine an end toward whichtheir character can be formed and thusallow the difference between manipulationand persuasion to come to light once again.Whether this happens, as John O’Malleyput it, through the classical technique of“introducing them to cultures not theirown…and by thus giving them a sense ofthe wide possibilities of the human spirit”or through the liturgies and sacraments andtheological thinking that also characterizeour institutions is a discussion for anothertime. But, in my opinion, the ability toimagine the perfectibility of the humanspirit and the difference between manipu-lation and persuasion which it revealsought to be our task.It is just this task that The Jesuit Post,a website staffed by Jesuits in formationaround the country (of which I am acofounder), is attempting to accomplish.We approach eloquentia perfecta in thedigital age in typical Ignatian fashion, bypointing out how God is already at workeven in the confusing and apparentlyGod-barren stuff of our world–in popculture, politics, sports, philosophy, andeven advertising. It is our attempt toshow that behind even the strongestrhetorical filter there is not only market-ing manipulation but also reason forhope, a Spirit already eloquently pursu-ing our own perfection. ■University of San Francisco.2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 44, Iss. 1 [2013], Art. 25http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol44/iss1/25

Talking Back: Eloquentia Perfecta in the Digital Age

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Talking Back: Eloquentia Perfecta in the Digital Age

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