Video by Jeremy Rifkin
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g&feature=player_embedded
Jeremy Rifkin is a bestselling author, an American economist, public speaker and activist who studied economics at the Wharton School of UPenn. He is also the president of Foundation On Economic Trends.
In the video, Jeremy Rifkin investigates the development of empathy in humans throughout time. Humans are soft-wired with mirror neurons which allow us to feel empathy. He claims that humanity's main drive in modern times is to belong. He continues to state that to belong is an empathic drive, and that civilization is as a result of being able to feel for one another. He therefore talks about the possibility to stretch our empathy to the whole word at large, rather than limiting it to nationality, religion, kinship or race.
The context is the study of human nature, neuroscience and social science. The audience is anyone looking for food for thought. The purpose is to provoke possibility and to create greater clarity.
Rhetorical elements of this video include, obviously, a visual and continuous string of cartoons exemplifying every word and concept spoken by Jeremy. This serves not only to interest, but to help people more easily understand. Jeremy also uses experiments and certain terms to establish his credibility.
For the most part, Jeremy's way of presentation made it very easy to agree with him. In that sense, I think he succeeded in his purpose. However, there are some points that I do not entirely agree with, some points I think he oversimplified and some enthymemes I think he might have assumed too surmisedly.
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