Dennis Baron's "The right to be forgotten" and the Blending of Intertextuality and the Rhetorical Situation

The central focus of Dennis Baron’s recent blog “The right to be forgotten”, and the blog’s exigence, is the problem of Internet privacy and also free speech on the Internet. Baron speaks of a recent case in Spain where Mario Costeja González won a court case against Google, forcing the company to remove private information that was proved to no longer have relevance. Consequentially, the European Court of Justice made major changes to rules of Internet privacy, meaning Google now has to address hundreds of thousands of cases like González’s.

Baron’s rhetorical situation is the need to address the problems of free speech this new ruling creates. His blog might seem to focus on Internet privacy, but he really joins the conversation of free speech on the Internet, and to what extent the new ruling affects free speech. As Grant-Davie might say, Baron has joined a compound-rhetorical situation, or perhaps even multiple compound-rhetorical situations. The first is that of free speech on the internet. The second is how free speech has affected González’s case, because NPR had already reported on the case before Baron’s blog. Simultaneously, Baron’s essay is an intertext, in that it borrows from other texts through quotations and ideas.

More importantly, Baron’s essay is an example of how Grant-Davie’s definition of the rhetorical situation and compound rhetorical-situation and Porter’s definitions of intertextuality and discourse community are not conflicting, but rather overlapping. In fact, the terms can work within one another. By that I mean intertextuality is a means of entering a rhetorical situation and creating a unique product within a compound-rhetorical situation. I believe discourse community defines the group that takes part in a compound rhetorical-situation. The compound rhetorical-situation is the action a discourse community is centered around.

Baron enters compound rhetorical-situations while simultaneously writing an intertext. Toward the beginning of the blog he refers to the European Charter and how “ the European Court of Justice found that there is also a right to be forgotten implicit in the right to privacy.” While he is stating a fact, Baron has joined a conversation on the actions of the European Court of Justice. This seems to be the simplest form of entering a rhetorical conversation, but it is, nonetheless. And it also becomes intertext, as he is referring to public writing by the European Court of Justice. He goes on to directly quote the court a little further in the blog.

It’s when Baron begins to formulate his own opinions and conclusions of the case that we start to see a blending of the rhetorical situation and intertextuality. Baron comments “Google v. Costeja González represents a sweeping defense of internet privacy, but it's also a blow to free speech online.” He has taken the information he’s learned from articles on the case, the case itself, and the work for Google that has resulted from the case and created his own opinion. Baron might also be creating a new and unique rhetorical-situation, and foundation for other writers to join it. That’s plainly because there may not presently be an abundance of authorship on the subject of Google v. Costeja González. He would then also be the initial member of a new discourse community: one that discusses the affects of Google v. Costeja González on Internet privacy and free speech.

Intertext and rhetorical-situation are not completely separate terms. Baron shows how they work together. Engaging in intertextuality can mean you are entering a compound rhetorical-situation. Being a part of a compound rhetorical-situation most definitely means one is writing intertextually, as they refer to the ideas and writing of others. And as one joins a compound rhetorical-situation, they also join a discourse community - the people who create the situation.

Baron’s rhetorical situation is the confliction between more Internet privacy and less free speech created by Google v. Costeja González. He makes the foundation for a potential compound rhetorical-situation and discourse community. His essay functions as an intertext from the beginning when he quotes the Roman poet Horace. But it’s when he presents new ideas stemming from his use of other texts that intextuality and the rhetorical situation truly begin to overlap.

Works Cited

Dennis Baron's "The right to be forgotten"

James Porter's "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community"

Keith Grant-Davie's "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents"