# Website rhetorical strategy: one mountain, three registers

**Bead:** [rhetoric `6715f286` (John)](../../about.md) · 2026-07-19 · answers Debbie's ask (Stephen's directive: an index.html that communicates the rhetorical arguments for different audiences, responsive, deployed with git).
**Consumed by:** [Debbie `c4a8e2f1`](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/.agents/c4a8e2f1-7b6d-4e93-a5c2-8f1d3b0e9a47/) (page design/build) · project bead [cristo-rey-new-mexico `fcd2b985`](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/.agents/fcd2b985-2e18-4778-a6a8-2f4179a16cac/) (deploy record).
**Grounds:** the three [narratives v0.2](../artifacts/narratives/) · the [forage report](01-forage-report.md) · the [T/P fans](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/.agents/fcd2b985-2e18-4778-a6a8-2f4179a16cac/2026-07-19/notes/01-cristo-rey-legal-pr-rhetoric-fans.md) · the four modes ([ethos](../../skills/ethos/SKILL.md) · [logos](../../skills/logos/SKILL.md) · [pathos](../../skills/pathos/SKILL.md) · [eros](../../skills/eros/SKILL.md)).

## 1. The site's own rhetorical claim

The page is not a fourth narrative. It is a **choir loft**: the reader chooses where to stand, and the mountain speaks in that register. Three audiences, three registers, one checkable fact base:

| Audience | Voice | Register | Dominant modes | Fan lineage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The faithful | the Church | prophetic (Baptist) | ethos-of-stewardship → logos (RFRA in plain speech) → eros (the feast invitation) | P1 lead, T1 core |
| New Mexicans as citizens | the State | sovereign (land records) | ethos-of-tenure → logos (process + security reframe) → the ask to officials | P4 spine, T5 standing, P5 exit |
| The borderland public | the People | anthem (Lennon) | eros (the summit rendered) → pathos (real witnesses) → vernacular logos | P3 spine, P5 lived |

**Transparency IS the ethos of the site.** All three voices live at one public URL; the switcher is an invitation, never a filter bubble. Nobody is targeted in secret: a State reader can stand in the People's shoes in one tap, and every narrative links its craft appendix and sources. Microtargeting hides its seams; we exhibit ours. That is the difference between rhetoric and manipulation, and the page should say so in one quiet line.

## 2. The shared spine (visible to every audience)

Whatever voice is chosen, four load-bearing members never move:

1. **Concede the aim, isolate the means.** Border security is legitimate; the taking is the target. This sentence appears verbatim in every voice's frame.
2. **The category error, never the price.** $183,071 appears as the wrong KIND of number ("$183,000 samples one point of an 87-year integral"). The valuation firewall holds on every surface: no public copy ever asks for more money. The appraisal-disparity exhibit (state parcel $798,500 for 7.3 acres vs $183,071 for 14.259 acres) is framed strictly as **process contempt**: the government's own numbers disagree with each other.
3. **Witness integrity.** Every teller real and sourced; the sources one click away (forage report). The divided-community sentence stays in (Escandon pro-wall): honesty is the play.
4. **The exit ramp.** P5 + T1 jointly design CBP's retreat: a technology corridor, no taking. The cameras are already on the mountain; we said yes to them. A campaign that offers the opponent a door wins more quietly and more often.

## 3. Kairos: the "now" strip

The page carries a dated timeline, because urgency here is not rhetorical, it is the construction schedule: **Apr 6** blasting begins · **May 7** condemnation filed · **Jun 15** $183,071 deposited · **Jul 6** possession motion + the Diocese's jury demand · **Jul 16** status conference, Las Cruces hearing postponed, no new date · **last Sunday of October** the Feast of Cristo Rey. The feast date is the eros anchor: every voice's call to action ends at the trailhead.

## 4. Visualization pairings (the spec Debbie asked for)

Each voice gets a lead image (rights-clear, from [forage/media.md](../artifacts/forage/media.md)), one paired instrument from the app family, and one call to action:

| Voice | Lead image (license) | Paired instrument | CTA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Church | NOAA statue close-up (public domain) | the [documentary hour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95BDqpg2cnk) (embed/link) + construction history | Come climb; the feast, last Sunday of October |
| State | CBP tower already on the mountain, Dugan Meyer (CC BY 4.0) | [viewshed](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/apps/nm-land/viewshed/) tower-study mode + the **per-acre appraisal-disparity chart** | The on-ramp for officials: say it plainly, bipartisanly (the [F5] silence is the target) |
| People | Pilgrims ascending, MJCdetroit (CC BY-SA 3.0) | [viewshed](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/apps/nm-land/viewshed/) "Jesus' view" + Good Friday segments (links) | Bring water, bring your kids; share the story |
| All | Scenic Drive landscape, LC Rogers (CC BY 3.0) as banner | the [data room map](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/apps/nm-land/): the 14.259-acre strip in context, approximate geometry labeled | Read the record yourself |

Chart discipline: the appraisal chart compares **$/acre as process evidence**, one pair of bars, government's own figures, cited. It never renders as "we deserve more" (the firewall applies to pixels too).

## 5. Publication gate status (what the page may say today)

The narratives are **DRAFT v0.2**. Open tags: `[F1]`/`[F3]` (the state patent instrument, W-1 of the project bead) and `[F5]` (Governor/AG/delegation statements on Cristo Rey: none found; narrative 02 ¶5 is written as their on-ramp). The page therefore:

- carries a visible **draft ribbon** with narrative version and date;
- renders the open-tag sentences in their **softened v0.2 forms** and footnotes their status honestly;
- links each narrative's craft appendix and the forage report (auditability as ethos);
- notes that Lehman/Garcia quotes are **site citations of published journalism**; campaign use beyond citation awaits consent via parish channels.

Ratification of the narratives as FINAL is Stephen's; anything court-adjacent goes through counsel. Deploying the page as a clearly draft-marked public face is within the directive; flipping the ribbon to ratified is not mine to do.

## 6. Forager status (checked this session)

- **News / media / stories foragers:** returned; verbatim in [artifacts/forage/](../artifacts/forage/), distilled in the [forage report](01-forage-report.md); narratives corrected to v0.2 against them.
- **Cowork media-forage:** dock provisioned and verified at [vdr/cristo-rey/inbox/](https://redfish.acequia.io/guerin/vdr/cristo-rey/inbox/) (PROPFIND 207, README only, anonymous read 302-blocked). **No deposits yet: the task has not run because the 30-day scoped token is still Stephen's mint** (spec in the [cowork brief](../artifacts/cowork-brief-media-forage.md)).
- **Second-round gaps** stand as queued: PACER docket, Juárez-side voices, officials' statements ([F5]), UTEP oral histories, patent instrument ([F1]/[F3]).