#ISHRhetSilenceSeries
We all know the feeling of regret when we’ve said too much. Following the late-antique scholar Boethius, we should remind ourselves (#shhh): Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses. / “Had you kept silent, you would have remained a philosopher”. Thus Boethius allegedly mocks a pseudo-intellectual who tries very hard to prove himself otherwise. Speaking is a slippery business. We hope that you can persuade all the Boethii in your life! #rhetoric #RhetoricOfSilence #TeamRhetoric

#ISHRhetSilenceSeries
What comes to mind when you see this statue? Maybe is it telling you to be quiet (#shhh)? Well, that's what the Greeks and Romans thought—they misinterpreted the raised finger near the lips as a gesture of #silence. The Graeco-Roman god of silence and secrecy Harpocrates was born. But originally that gesture simply meant “child”: a representation of the Egyptian child god Horus, the newborn sun. #Silence is often more than #silence.
#RhetoricOfSilence #TeamRhetoric

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“I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!” #RhetoricOfSilence #shhh #politics #rhetoric #silence #TeamRhetoric #rhetodons #RhetoricalFigures

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Donald Trump in 2016 about the US journalist Megyn Kelly: “I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!” #RhetoricOfSilence #shhh #politics #rhetoric #silence #TeamRhetoric #rhetodons #RhetoricalFigures

See: Jung, Theo: Le silence du peuple. The Rhetoric of Silence during the French Revolution. In: French History 31 (2017), p. 440–469.
Picture: Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau, (probably) used the phrase in the Assemblée Nationale in 1789
#rhetoricofsilence #shhh