Dress for Success

When reading Thank You For Arguing, I found how you present yourself to be an interesting portion of rhetoric in which I have never really noticed. Truth be told, I never thought why presidents or people of power dressed up, other than they had to. Like a social norm that everyone lived by. Never before have I thought about the power your appearance has on your argument. Decorum accompanies the audience, either by blending in to the the audience that will listen to your argument, or dressing up to impress that audience is a power

 After reading the chapter on Decorum, I wanted to know why decorum is an important aspect of the argument. I thought about how often we judge people, and how by appearance, a lot of judging has been done. Like the first impression, when we look at someone and determine who they are and how they relate to us. So if we judge someone when we see them, and we determine they look agreeable, then in that case we're more open to listen to them. Why else do used car salesmen dress up? They want to make a good first impression, and that's where decorum states your argument before you even start talking. Because everyone judges on the first impression, decorum accounts for their early judgement, and talks for you before you need to speak.