Doomsday Speculation as a Strategy of Persuasion - Study of Apocalypticism as Rhetoric (Hardcover)

A study examining Doomsday predictions as a rhetorical ploy, this text argues that assertions regarding the imminent "End of the (or a) World" represent a means of coercion to get others (or the world) to do something or stop doing something. The work focuses on the rhetorical dimension of the doom-sayers' predictions and the special logic of the doomsayer. The author observes how the seemingly outward-directed argument reverts to the self, concluding that predicting doom appears to be objective and to apply to the outside world, but is ultimately subjective, self-serving, and self-centered.