PHL 163 - Rhetoric of Hate and Fear

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Examination of appeals to hate, fear, and related emotions and the place of such appeals in moral, political and ideological reasoning and persuasion. Critical analyses of assertions and arguments of individuals and groups active in contemporary American society, including paramilitary groups, radical religious movements and cults, anti-Semitic organizations, and extremist black and white supremacy groups. Theoretical analyses of the thinking of such groups and the place of such thinking in modernism and post-modernism. Emphasis on conspiracy theories, religious fanaticism, racism, misogyny and extreme anti-homosexuality. Graded ABCDE