Paul Prins

After several years the time has finally come to send my camera into canon for some major repairs. I don’t yet know the cost but hopefully it will be sub $500 so that I can afford it… I’ve looked at the price to replace it and it is still very expensive. Then there are all those memories, don’t forget the memories snowflake. I shall miss you a bit. I hope that the doctors over at the Canon can take care of my camera.

If only Aristotle was alive today to observe and comment upon everything in our present world that he could have hardly dreamt of. Lately in two of my courses we’ve revisited his study of rhetoric in one form or another. They always say that ethos, or personal reputation, holds the most weight with people and is the most influential towards our decisions. Yet I wonder if this is true in the traditional sense anymore.

With the advent of the internet it has allowed anyone with grammatical skill, ability to research, and to present sound arguments and professional appearing materials and literature. What reputation does anonymous Joe have who creates an alias online under a presumed name and background. Only a perceived reputation and thus perceived ethos, this ‘phantom ethos’ would allow anyone with wit and skills to influence multitudes of people as themselves or as a fictitious character.
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