A Rhetorical Stank

Here is an image of President Bush that's been attached to a popsicle stick and stuck into a pile of dog shit near the sidewalk in Baltimore, MD. The artist is anonymous and their intentions vague, but surely we can glean some information about the text with a good rhetorical analysis.

Obvously, this is a case of the medium affecting the message. It must be one of the few, if not the first, rhetorical texts to use un-scooped dog poop as a medium. Un-scooped dog poop is the bane of urban dweller. It’s a filthy, smelly mess that gets stepped in and tracked into the house; it’s the product of rude, inconsiderate lawbreakers with no regard for their fellow humans; and it’s just another someone else’s mess that we’re going to have to clean up.

Now what could this have to do with George W. Bush? Is there some sort of association the artist would like us to make? Apparently so.

It’s easy to imagine the artist as a member of the urban liberal elite; well-educated, wealthy, and with a little bit of time on his hands. Perhaps they’re a responsible dog owner fed up with the irresponsibility of other dog owners and they’re using these flags as a call to arms for citizens to stand up and pay attention to the lawbreakers. Perhaps they want us to do something about the travesties and injustice being perpetrated against people all over the world … ‘er in Hampden.

It’s also apparent (through analysis) that the intended audience is the artist’s liberal contemporaries and the rhetorical appeal is Ethos. The audience’s opinion of the credibility and character of George W. Bush is such that his portrait makes for the perfect marker to bring attention to the un-scooped dog poop problem in this city. His Ethos will certainly have a powerful persuasive influence on this audience.