By 10 am on Wednesday, April 8: Upload to this discussion board a link to the artifact you’ve chosen , along with your informal description of why (according to our definition**) you consider it “pathological.” We’ll workshop these descriptions in work groups. The more detailed you are in this, the better feedback you’ll get from your workshop partners.

From the assignment: “For our purposes, a ‘pathological text’ inscribes and propagates aberrant passions already in circulation. Partly in reaction against our shared exposedness to one another and so to “rhetoric’s sensorium,” pathological texts insulate and tribalize: they invite violence by inspiring or reinforcing passionate attachment (love, hope, loyalty, compassion, identification) to an us and bitter disavowal (hate, anger, fear, disgust, contempt) of a them, while resisting rhetorical engagement that could challenge the clean distinction.”

Then, on Wednesday, April 8: respond to your the posts in your assigned group on Canvas, under the “People” tab (Workgroups for Pathological Text Descriptions), offering feedback on the following: 

1) Is this an appropriate “pathological text,” given the criteria detailed in the assignment description ? Why or why not?

2) Does your peer make a compelling argument for why this is a pathological text, given our definition? Why or why not? Offer the most concrete and helpful feedback you can.