General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Cornel West [View all]Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)control the thought process of the jury, the objective is very much not to encourage the jury to think for themselves but to encourage them to think as you want them to think. A closer in sales or law or any other context discourages consideration of fact counter to the desired conclusion.
A person like West is encouraging people to think for themselves, and like other teachers and artists and unlike salespeople or litigators people who seek to encourage thought in their listeners do not seek to persuade to conclusions but to motivate the use of reason as a habitual approach to information being presented.
Those who seek to force agreement with their point of view have an entirely different objective from those who seek to prompt you to think about your own point of view more completely.
Offering the language of a litigator as example of how a teacher should speak is just a big mistake. To my way of thinking it is a profoundly large mistake.