Conclusion

Rhetoric is not a “magic bullet.”

There, like a footstep that fells a house of cards, is the deconstruction of my delusion that my slick rhetorical appeals in my blog could win me a few readers. Perhaps the “quasi-pathetic” appeal of sex—or even that of being able to read a few original stories based on a relatively obscure manga series—brought me my dedicated FF.net fans, and no rhetoric was necessary. Maybe the few visitors to my WoW blog, upon visiting, realized they wanted to play the game more than they wanted to read about it, and promptly left, forgetting about its existence in the process; no amount of rhetoric could have compelled them to pull up my site again. Tangentially, the pathetic appeals inherent in WoW itself are probably only effective insofar as the players still find the game a fun outlet; not even the best-designed game can maintain a dedicated fan base if it isn’t, all rhetoric aside, fun. I don’t know. What I do know is, rhetoric is of paramount importance for any discipline that might require persuasion—but it cannot work miracles; it cannot be used as a remedy for other, more fundamental deficiencies. I hope I’ve demonstrated that sufficiently here.