Burke's concept of Dramatism in Ch. 22 was a little odd to me... at least when it gets to the theological terms. Guilt Redemption seemed odd to be included with Rhetoric. It was hard for me to put the pieces together of how it was related, but eventually it started to make sense... and the part of the chapter about Guilt redemption that stuck out to me the most was the idea of "Redemption through Victimage." To me personally, victimage sounds so harsh or even violent of a word. But what's interesting is Burke's theory claims that a speaker has two choices: mortification (confession of guilt and request for forgiveness) or victimage (scapegoating; the process of naming an external enemy as the source of all ills) [p. 293]
Since mortification requires purging through self-blame, Griffin uses interesting examples such as OJ Simpson and Bill Clinton, who have found it difficult to admit to the public that they are the source/cause of their own grief. A good way for me to remember this is through the idea of confession (catholicism)... if you imagine some of the things you may confess to the priest, you may find yourself "mortified" (embarrassed) because there is no one else to take credit except yourself. But as most people know, it is much easier to put the blame on someone else and play the 'victim' hence the term "victimage." You designate the fault to someone or something else. Which has been prevalent in many forms of rhetoric. Again, the examples that keep popping up in my head, are the presidential and VP candidates (politics in general) that use this... only because this is what's currently going on... And the examples listed include things from Al Qaeda, homosexuals, to religious fundamentalists, etc. The term "congregation through segregation" (p. 294) sounds like such a dated idea, but it unfortunately still holds true today:
"The easiest way for an orator to identify with an audience is to lash out at whatever or whomever the people fear" (p. 294) This quote is especially true of politics....
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Burke was interested in the ways the language of religion could move people. He examined other types of rhetoric as well, arguing that the essential terminology could be applied to all types of rhetorical events. You make a good point about how much easier it is to blame someone else, victimage, rather than accept blame for something, self-mortification. As I posted on another blog, my work in Al Anon was informed by Burke's guilt-purification-redemption cycle. Al Anon, for family and friends of alcoholics, could easily go the victimage route, arguing it's the alcoholic's fault for everything that's wrong with the family or friendship. Instead, Al Anon literature argues that members must take responsibility for their own role in the relationship dysfunctions--so self-mortification rather than victimage.
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