Rhetoric Ignored and Blocked Progress - but 'NewView' Writing Principles Enhance Progress

Provo, UT, March 08, 2010 -- Bill Drew, the CEO of NewView Options, recently published his new e-book, The Secret DNA of Writing Essays - And Everything Else, which has been well received in Amazon's Kindle store. Drew says his book helps students create content for their writings, unlike Rhetoric, which works only with form. Drew claims that, not only is Rhetoric focused mainly on form and not content, but that the followers of Rhetoric have ignored scholarly progress in their own field. He also claims there is historical proof to show that Rhetoricians have blocked the progress of western civilization.

When pressed to explain how followers of the Rhetoric camp have ignored progress in their own field, Drew explained, "Believe it or not, one of their own has said so. One of the most distinguished and popular of modern proponents of Rhetoric has been Wayne C. Booth, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Chicago. In his book The Rhetoric of RHETORIC (2004), Booth frankly states: 'Perhaps the most influential of all those [Rhetoricians"> discussed here, [Chaim"> Perelman is by now sadly neglected.' If 'sadly neglected' doesn't mean ignored, then I'm clueless as to what it really does mean."

Booth was referring to Perelman's book, The New Rhetoric (1969), which was a real answer to the growing demand for a 'New Rhetoric' in the field of Rhetoric and writing. "Perelman's ideas stressed the importance of audience and values in Rhetoric, which have been underemphasized for centuries. Perelman's emphasis fits perfectly with my own NewView principle of writing, 'What's new to the reader,' which also emphasizes audience and values."

Drew continued his explanation by pointing out another book that has been largely ignored, Rhetorical Traditions and the Teaching of Writing (1984), by scholars C. H. Knoblauch and Lil Brannon. He said the authors showed conclusively that Aristotle and other ancient sages did not provide any way for exploring new knowledge and new understanding, only for confirming already accepted knowledge. Knoblauch and Brannon also pointed to Renee Descartes, John Locke, and Hugh Blair - each a towering figure in the intellectual world - as stressing the importance of newness in thinking and in writing as being interrelated. "So why haven't Knoblauch's and Brannon's ideas made it into the mainstream of writing theory? In all fairness, I can only conclude that they have simply been ignored by the writing community - which I believe has been one of the reasons for the current crisis in writing in public schools.

Drew also claimed that Rhetoric played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire. He points to several historians - H. Idris Bell, Michael Rostovzeff, Dio Chrysostom, and William Gordon Holmes, among others - who recorded that Rhetoric corrupted the morals of the masses to the point where all they wanted was to be entertained. By the fifth century A.D., there was no inventiveness and no new thought in the Roman Empire. And without new thought or new insight, there was no new growth, just an aimless desire for passive pleasures, Drew pointed out.

"On the other hand," said Drew, "my new e-book, The Secret DNA of Writing Essays - And Everything Else ( http://secretdnaofwritingessays.com/ ), does just the opposite: it encourages creativity by providing a process for being creative. Not only does my NewView system show you how to write, but it also shows you a creative way for analyzing essays, short stories, novels, and everything else. Both students and teachers love NewView because it goes to the heart of content."

"And that's a far cry from what Rhetoric has traditionally done," continued Drew, "in its monotone insistence on nothing but forms - and ancient forms at that, handed down from the days of the Greek Empire, which died off over two thousand years ago. Rhetoric couldn't handle progress and newness then, and Rhetoric can't handle newness and progress now. Same old story, over and over."

Drew's e-book, The Secret DNA of Writing Essays - And Everything Else, is available now online ( http://bit.ly/BuySecretDNABook ) for $12.50. It is also available on Amazon.com as a Kindle e-book for $9.50. The companion software, NewView Essay Services, which automates the thesis-making process in Secret DNA, is available on his website ( http://bit.ly/SecretDNASoftware ) on a subscription basis for 3-, 6-, and 12-month terms ($15.50, $20.50, $30.50). Drew's newest e-book, The Secret DNA of Analyzing Short Stories, will soon be available for $6.50 on his website ( http://bit.ly/BuySecretDNABook ).

About NewView Options:
Founded in 2008, NewView Options is a Provo, UT, firm specializing in the teaching and training of writing, for both beginners and the more advanced. The company is focused on promoting its propriety NewView approach to writing, communications, and teaching. NewView Options provides Education Discount rates for school districts. Call 1-801-373-0447, visit http://secretdnaofwritingessays.com/ or e-mail billdrew@richcontent.com
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Contact:
Bill Drew
NewView Options
Provo, UT USA
801-373-0447
billdrew@richcontent.com
http://secretdnaofwritingessays.com/