The Vital Importance of Critical Listening: An Extended Example

As a means of reinforcing the importance of critical listening, this study analyzes six speeches presented by President George W. Bush. These speeches provide an extended example of the use of a rhetorical technique, associational juxtaposition, in which President Bush gives the impression of a connection between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center by al-Qaeda when, in fact, no evidence or reasons existed to support such a connection. The paper concludes by discussing how Mr. Bush's use of associational juxtaposition underscores the need for effective critical listening.