Cherwitz: Nashville explosion — Rhetoric's ability to 'describe' reality | Columnists

Richard Cherwitz
Like many Americans, I awoke on Christmas morning to sadly learn about what news reporters described as an “intentional explosion” in downtown Nashville. This horrific tragedy is but one additional example of the tragic-ridden year we now are about to bring to a close.
Beyond simply lamenting and mourning events like this, in previous commentaries on these pages my tendency as a communication scholar has been to view such episodes through a rhetorical lens. I am especially fascinated by how certain phrases and words recur during tragedies like those in Nashville and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
How often, for example, do we hear the same words and phrases repeated to capture the crises confronting the country? Listening to the language employed by official spokespersons on the scene in Nashville reminded me that one of the most frequent discursive refrains heard in 2020 was: “out of an abundance of caution.”

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