Terministic Screens One of the most relevant terministic screens in modern popular culture relates to the spirit of the adventurer: the man or woman who willingly risks limb and life in order to challenge their minds and bodies. The adventurer is not a new archetype; from Odysseus onward we can see how adventurers and adventurism have captured the human attention as long as civilizations have existed. In recent years, adventurism has come to mean more than just exploring new lands. Now that almost every inch of the planet has been previously explored, adventurers need to invent new challenges. Some of the terministic screens with which we endow adventurers include implications of willingness to take risks, and passion for newness. The word "adventure" itself is comprised of the term "advent," which comes from the Latin for "arrive." Therefore, inherent in the linguistic underpinnings of adventure is a terministic screen connoting the arrival of new states of being. Indeed, adventurism carries with it themes of youth...

The adventurers among us are heroes; young or old in years, they nevertheless all distinguish themselves from the ordinary population as having a larger than average joi de vivre. The terministic screens surrounding the adventurer and adventurism create a rhetorical context that enables a prosperous, thriving commercial industry centered on such activities as "Xtreme" sports and exotic travel. Through the terministic screen of adventure, we see that almost without exception that human cultures value the adventurous spirit in their citizens. The most adventurous among us usually receive the most personal glory, even if for just a few brief moments in the bar while we relay tales of our African Safari.
The rhetorical implications of adventurousness can be examined in light of the four basic tenets of terministic screens. First, terms help people direct their attention, to isolate one train of thought and focus on it to the exclusion of any number of other possibilities. For instance, advertising…