Analysis of My Rhetorical Situation

 Making it Worthwhile

A writer that wants to make a specific impact on people or wants to invoke feelings must first identify who that group of people is. In addition to this, the writer must also have a set purpose. This means that he or she also knows what he or she wants to convey to the audience and what type of feeling he or she wants to invoke. Finally, the author must also be interested in what he or she is writing. Lack of interest would almost certainly convey down to the reader. All of these considerations are known as the rhetorical situation.

1. The audience
      I believe that the majority of my audience will be people that are considered "techies." These are individuals that have a decent amount of technical knowledge on computers, malware, and cyberspace. They also have interests in computers, information technology, and networks. "Techies" most likely read magazines such as Wired, Popular Mechanics, Engadget, PC Magazine, and Technology Review. Furthermore, they are into tech blogs such as Gizmodo, The Verge, Tech Radar, and C-net.

ClkerFreeVectorImages. "Happy Computer Screen" 6/6/2014 via pixabay. Public Domain

As far as demographics, it seems that the majority of my readers will come from urban centers that have quick and easy access to the internet. Things that are important to my readers are the newest technological innovations or making computer systems faster. My readers will also probably be individuals that value cyber security, have their possessions under password lock-down, and have a type of anti-virus ready on their devices.


2. The purpose
     The primary purpose of my topic will be to inform "the reader of the Stuxnet cyber attack and why it mattered. To specify, I want to explain the emergence of cyber warfare, what happened with Stuxnet, why it should raise concerns, and what this means for future warfare. With my project, I would like to give the reader a slight sense of urgency. I want to make them consider cyber attacks as a real threat and that every single one of them is at risk when it comes to cyber warfare.

In addition, I believe that the reader should be informed about what the stake holders in this controversy have to gain or lose from the use of cyber weapons. For example, in the case of the United States and other nations with cyber strike capabilities, a well placed cyber attack can critically damage an enemy without ever physically being attacking them. However, after a cyber attack, the enemy can reverse engineer the cyber weapon and redirect it to the original user.

 In my project, I believe that the reader will miss the fact that there are really no Laws of War when it comes to cyber space. Therefore, there is no true definition to what makes a cyber attack an act of war.

BagoGames. "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Story Trailer" 7/29/2014 via flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic

3. The Author
      One trait that I bring to the table that no one else does is that I have been interested in Stuxnet since I first heard about it back in 2011. I have strong background knowledge on it from prior research. Secondly, I am very pro-technology; however, I believe that it can have its drawbacks. It can be harmful if we do not treat it seriously. I am also interested in cyber defense because I believe that our nation is particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks since most of it relies on technology.  I am actually planning on doing something related to cyber defense in the future. Finally I have always believed in doing what is right, regardless of the ends.

This story goes hand in hand in hand with me because cyber defense might just be a possible career for me. With that comes the ethics/ morals of the job. In that career, I might have to make decisions that are related to this story. I might just one day be asking questions like:

• Who were the good guys in this attack?
• Was this an act of war?
• Should we respond to this attack?