I see so many similarities between the historical viewpoints of rhetoric and those about this topic today. There was one line by Cicero in the presentation that specifically stuck out in my mind. “A flute player cannot play without his flute. An orator cannot tell his story without an audience.” This metaphor used by Cicero was a very good example about how rhetoric was used historically. The audience was seen as a necessarily accessory to the speaker; whereas today, the speaker is put at a much lower level compared to the interest of the audience. To me it seemed rhetoric was a very solid, black and white occurrence. There needed to be a speaker and an audience and the speaker had to convince the audience of an issue or argument. Rhetoric seemed to be a lot of convincing, as rhetoric seems to have intent within content, but not always necessarily within its consequences. I think it is also true today concerning the emotional connection that the speaker must have when connecting with an audience. I think historically rhetoric was seen more as a presentation of information for persuasion whereas today rhetoric can and is applied to many more simplistic forms of communication.