Citation

Belanger P. West. J. Commun. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Western States Communication Association, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10570314.2020.1802655

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyzes National Rifle Association past-president Charlton Heston's 2000 speech to the British Columbia Wildlife Federation. Narrating a shared mythology, Heston mapped a bridge between the two groups by dovetailing three ideas: wilderness, freedom, and firearms - each of which ostensibly transcends national borders. By exploring how Heston engaged a foreign audience dedicated to wildlife conservation, the paper examines the capacity of sacred rhetoric to generate shared ideological ground and thereby both expand, and demarcate, a community's contours.

Language: en

Keywords

Absolutism; Civil Liberties; Epideictic; Imagined Communities; Myth; Sacred Rhetoric; Transcendence; Wilderness