definitions of the world, it was everything to do 
with classifying and storing and organizing the 
given. But rhetoric was human communication, 
human relation. He took the good side of rhetoric. 
It’s a double-edged sword. Rhetoric is either a 
bunch of lies, or a bunch of ornaments to seduce 
an audience into believing something that is 
patently untrue. That’s the negative side of 
rhetoric. The other side is a skill promoting the 
best way you can, an understanding of what it is 
you want to talk about. Which is what McLuhan 
was interested in. He certainly was no charlatan. 
He certainly never used language to fool people in 
any dishonest way. He used rhetoric to make