As I was skimming various blog sites for this post, I finally came across an interesting blog called “Ben’s Bitter Blog” (https://bensbitterblog.com). At first, I looked at it, laughed, read a couple posts, and moved on. It was funny, engaging, and more, but I wanted to see what else was out there. However, I found myself returning to this blog because I find it fascinating to see how focused the content is, and how the blogger, Bitter Ben, has managed to engage so well with his audience.

This brings me to Bitzer’s Metatheory, a theory (shocker) about three key components of rhetoric: exigence, audience, and constraints. While it would be interesting, in my opinion, to see how each of these are present in Ben’s Bitter Blog, my role in this blog post is to tell you about one of them: audience. 

Alright. To begin with, the very name and tagline of this blog (“We make bitter better”) are like identifying flags to any prospective readers. When I first stumbled on the sight I took one look at the home page and began laughing. You should enjoy it too…

As you can see, Ben does several things here. First of all, the shades of grey color scheme goes right along with the title and tagline, essentially setting a mood and providing visual support of the themes and topics which should draw in the desired audience. Secondly, the angry bird. Enough said. 

I do have to say (even though I just said “Enough said”), by far my favorite part about this first look at the blog is the list of pages. Even if you don’t click on anything to read, or even if you’re just passing through, it is clear that literally every part of this blog is dedicated to bitterness. In fact, bitterness is being spread through various amusing mediums and about different topics. To me, this is significant because 1) great alliteration with all the “b’s” and 2) this blog is actively creating a space where the audience can determine the author’s rhetorical purpose. Furthermore, if you look through the “About” page, you will see that this entire blog started from an audience noticing Ben’s bitterness and therefore revealing a potential audience that Ben then decided to appeal too. The result: A grey themed blog in which the written content, awkward videos, cringeworthy memes, and Ben’s signature sign off “ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH” work together wonderfully to draw together an audience of fellow bitter humans.