After you read the chapter on “Pathetic Proof” in Ancient Rhetorics for Wednesday, I’d like you to identify an editorial or op-ed piece from the past week that draws heavily on or features a striking appeal to pathos. In your comment, I’d like you to summarize briefly the main argument of the piece. Then, describe the appeal to pathos and explain how it works. That is, what emotional response or psychological condition does it attempt to cultivate within its readers? How does this state of mind work to the advantage of the rhetor? How does the rhetor’s writing foster this state? As you respond to these questions, please draw on specific phrases or brief passages from the text to support your claims.
Please post your response as a comment to this post on our course blog before class on Wednesday, February 2. Aim for 250 words.
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ReplyDeleteDan Haley’s latest column, “The Plight of Jailed Mom” utilizes the pathetic proof to solicit sympathy for a mother who may become a convicted felon for lying in order to get her children into a better school. The mom in question falsified documents to show school officials that her children lived with their grandfather within the boundaries of a better school district. Such falsification of documents is a felony in the state of Ohio and the mom’s career path (she wanted to become a full time teacher) may now be in jeopardy with such a conviction on her record. The overarching purpose of Haley’s piece is to convince readers that a mother should not be threatened with incarceration for simply trying to give her children a better education and that moms should have a choice in such matters so that they don’t have to break the law to begin with. Haley introduces pathetic proof in sentences like this one – “Jailed Mom's darkest day, I'm guessing, came earlier this month when a judge locked her up for lying in order to get her kids into a school where they might be safer and could get an education to lift them out of government housing.” Clever diction such as “judge locked her up” really emphasizes how disgusted Haley is by the failure of bureaucracy. Most readers will feel disgusted by the system and sympathetic to the mom and her children upon reading Haley’s piece.
ReplyDeleteKristen Kidd’s article “Colorado Voices: In church, women can teach, so why not preach?” outlines the self evident principal that while women have long been in charge of teaching our children in Sunday school, it is very unfair that they cannot yet preach for the entire audience. The Church claims that they are merely following principles set in the Bible that state "women should remain silent in the churches" (1 Corinthians 14:34). But many others say that in our progressive society, it makes sense that since we focus so much on remaining non-segregating, then we should keep it that way especially in our place of worship. The pathos of this article appeals to any religious people in society: evoking disagreement from classicalists, but praise from progressives. Those women who work very hard to educated children on religion in Sunday school are likely to feel empowered and agree. Kidd argues that “It's time to let women use their voices to guide, teach, inspire, clarify, remind, refresh and renew our adult spirits in the pursuit of understanding ancient wisdom, to help make it relevant to life today,” using words like ‘inspire’ and ‘wisdom’ to establish confidence in aspiring woman preachers. Kidd cleverly inserts the exact quotations from the Bible that directly state women should not participate, which can either push people away from religion, but more likely pushes the religious to see the need for reform. The ‘call for action’ aspect of this article appeals to the pathos because whether you agree or disagree with the proposition of allowing women to preach, that is just it: you have an opinion. And these opinions will cause you to take action, which is exactly what Kidd wants.
ReplyDeleteIn his article Yes Virginia… Dan Haley uses the appeal of pathos to get his message across. In this article, Haley reflects on a newspaper article in the New York Sun almost 10 years ago. In this article, an 8-year-old girl asked her father if Santa was real. In response, the father told the girl that she should write the newspaper and ask and if the newspaper said he was real then it must be true. Reflecting on this story, Haley then thinks of his own children and the magic of Christmas for children. Haley argues that in this fast pace, technology driven society, children could go on the Internet and get the answer. However, Haley argues that this high tech society needs to slow down when it comes to children. Let then enjoy the magic of Christmas and childhood in general while it lasts.
ReplyDeleteHaley effectively uses pathos in this article. First, Haley draws on the common place of the innocence of children and the commonly shared feeling of knowing the magic of Christmas morning. Haley draws on the feeling almost everyone has experienced Christmas morning, running down the stairs and seeing what Santa has brought the night before. From this basis, Haley brings in the thought of his own children, which could invoke parents to feel the same for their own children. He tries to evoke feelings of happiness of children feeling the magic of the holidays and also the sadness and guilt at the same time for stripping them of this feeling of enchantment. With these feelings evoked, Haley can then further persuade the audience that this society needs to slow down and let kids be kids.
Wrong Way on Medical Pot Bill
ReplyDeleteIn the article on the new bill concerning the medical marijuana bill, the Denver Post defines the bill as a step in the direction. They focus on the part of the bill that allows previous drug offenders to own dispensary licenses. The bill also allows doctors with restricted licenses to be able to prescribe medical marijuana, which opens more opportunities for bogus prescriptions. They briefly discuss the few positive points of the bill; such as lightening the law on the residence of employees of dispensaries.
The editor appeals to the audience’s general worry of medical marijuana. There are a lot of people who are nervous of the legitimacy of the medical pot law. The new bill increases the reasons for the public to question this law. As the editor proposes “Why would Coloradans want someone with a recent felony conviction of any kind getting a dispensary license? This is a business fraught with potential for abuse, and there is no reason to open it up to recent convicts.” This appeals to citizen’s thoughts on the legitimacy of the law and the people who are using medical marijuana. The general population’s state of mind on this topic supports the editor’s displeased opinions of the new bill. The writer asks his audience if they think that the terms of the new bill are appropriate, when they are obviously reasons for concern. His opinion supports the concern that the public holds on this issue therefore strengthening his argument.
In Dan Haley’s “ The plight of Jailed mom ” unitizes pathetic proof to create sympathy for a mother cared about her kids that she was sent to jail for trying to get them into a better school. The felon in question falsified residency records by saying here kids lived with there grandfather who lived in one of the states top districts. This is considered a felony according to the state of Ohio and may cost the mom her dream Job of becoming a full-time teacher. The overall purpose of Haley’s piece is to convince readers that a mother should not be punished for trying to get her kids into a better school and that parents should be provided choices instead. Haley unitizes pathetic proof in sentences such as= ”jailed mom’s darkest day came earlier this month when a judge locked her up for lying in order to get her kids into a school where they might be safer and could get an education to lift them out of government housing.” Another example is in the sentence-“As President Obama was addressing the nation last week and calling for an investment in ‘better research and education" to meet "our generation's Sputnik moment,’ Kelley Williams-Bolar was sitting in an Ohio jail.” Or when he used the example of the documentary “ Waiting for Superman” which told stories of parents who wanted to lift their children out of failing schools but were constrained by finances and a lack of choices. Families then gambled on entry into high performing charter schools, pinning their hopes on a lottery. However, the jailed mom didn’t win the lottery, she just broke the law. Haley through his examples really wanted to emphasize his disgust in the failure of bureaucracy. Hw wants his readers to feel disgusted by the education system and feel sympathy for the mother and children’s situation after reading his piece.
ReplyDeleteMike Littwin’s editorial, Will Egypt go the way of Berlin or Tehran?, draws greatly on the appeal of pathos. His appeal of pathos includes using the feelings of confusion, fear, and the feeling of unknowing to impact his reading audience. As a part of the audience, we can see this in the examples that Littwin uses and the style of writing that he employs for his appeal. In the writing style, he often uses brief and halting sentences to invoke frustration and a feeling of unknowing, as in, “No one is in charge. No one knows what will happen next.” (Litwin) He also uses this same style of writing to give the audience background information; “There's no apparent ideology. There is an overflowing frustration, built over 30 years of Mubarak rule.”
ReplyDeleteThe rhetor is able to use this style of brief statements mixed with uncertain predictions to foster the state of helplessness and frustration to the audience. Littwin’s background of the Egypt situation and the uncertainty of freedom of expression for the Egyptians is pressed upon the readers to feel the frustration and to make the article more personal. As Americans, we rely on our freedoms of expression, but what would it feel like to be uncertain of your own thoughts and actions? The audience needs to feel these feelings to better understand the social issues of the Egyptian people. Littwin concludes with the same feeling of confusion and unknowing: “No one knows. What we do know is where we've been. And that it's time to hope for better.”
In Dan Haley's recent piece "The plight of the Jailed Mom" he utilizes the appeal to pathos very effectively. Pathos, being the emotional connection created in a piece. In this piece he partially is able to appeal to pathos because of the topic at hand; talking about mothers in jail is sure to strike an emotional cord with the audience. Whereas in some writing…such as in our text book there is no appeal to pathos whatsoever and it keeps the reading rather dry. That is partially because of the writing style, but also because of the topic. Yes, a great rhetor should be able to create an emotional connection regardless of the topic, but lets be honest, who really gets emotionally stimulated by the history and philosophy of ancient rhetors? Haley’s style of writing is also more emotionally connecting, in the third paragraph after highlighting a rather sad fact, he states “Yeah, go ahead and read that again.” That is as blatant as it gets, that if your not feeling an emotional connection, you need to read it again to make sure you understood what he was saying. In this sense he is almost force-feeding the pathos to the audience, but considering the average reading level of newspaper consumers is that of the 8th grade level, its not a necessarily a bad approach. His style is very colloquial, which I’m starting to realize that most of the op-ed columnists are, and probably because it’s a way of not appearing condescending, and truly connecting with the audience.
ReplyDeleteOn January 28 an editorial piece titled “Keeping felons out of schools” talks about a serious concern using an interesting type of voice. The piece starts out very direct and forceful to stress the importance of HB1121. HB1121 is a bill that is trying to be passed to keep felons from being employed in schools for the safety of the kids. The voice quickly changes from forceful to one of enlightenment. Enlightenment in the sense that back -round information of the bill is given and reasoning for why felons should not be employed. This is a very effective way of convincing your audience to continue reading and support what you have to say. The following quote shows how the writer is very direct and its ability to grab someone’s attention, “After all, people who have committed crimes such as child abuse or indecent exposure have no business working in schools”. The transition to an informative approach to the audience also works well in the authors favor. It empowers the readers with the knowledge that they feel confident in making informed decisions about house bills. This works in the rhetor’s favor because if he can convince people that they know the entirety of what is being talked about than his writing is favorable. He is able to sway readers towards his view and in this case that is not allowing felons to work in schools.
ReplyDeleteMike Rosen wrote “No Labels: makes little difference in debates” in this week’s Denver Post. In this article, he discusses how this idea of “middle of the road” politics and neither identifying with the Republican party nor the Democrat party is completely ludicrous. Mr. Rosen, however, does not do this effectively as he hinges on people’s emotions for both parts of the spectrum (he does this on his radio show, mimicking Rush Limbaugh in the way he screams at his callers). Mr. Rosen’s plan for emotional appeals is to completely alienate more liberal readers and foster the beliefs of more conservative ones.
ReplyDelete“I hoped for a free-ranging discussion about the organization's vision and beliefs. What I got, instead, was an impenetrable, human press-release. Page was like a broken record, stuck on a handful of slogans, platitudes and vagaries. Her resistance to answering any substantive questions could have withstood waterboarding.”
To the average reader, this statement might seem like he had just had a conversation with someone who was neither intelligent nor convincing. However, I have listened to Mr. Rosen’s show numerous times and have learned over the past years that he employs this tactic frequently: bash your opponent because there is no other discourse.
Even if Mr. Rosen did not use these tactics, the mere fact that he devotes an entire paragraph in and of itself to striking down a person’s character, says a lot about this article.
For my post on Pathos, I chose an op-ed piece written by Dan Haley titled, “The plight of Jailed Mom”. This piece is about a Mom that lied about where they lived in order for her children to attend a better school in another district. Throughout this article, Haley uses pathos in three distinct ways, playing on the emotions: anger, shame and indignation.
ReplyDeleteThe first couple paragraphs are devoted to making a comparison of two Moms. One that is overbearing and obsessive with her children to the point where they never attend sleepovers, watch TV or play video games. The other, a Mom that cares so much about her children that she lied to get them into a better school. Haley goes on to describe the environment a bit further by mentioning “a women from the projects”, as he projects what she has done onto the audience. This small amount of detail is enough to paint a picture for the audience (enargeia), which sets the stage for pathos in the argument.
Haley quotes a statement made by President Obama in the recent State of the Union speech regarding investment in education to begin working on the anger emotion played out in this article. At the same moment the President is addressing education in his speech, a women is in jail facing felony charges and jail time and no one is outraged. Haley writes “That was the moment we should have blown our tops about the asinine and archaic rules governing far too many of our school”. Haley quickly moves on from this anger emotion to a shame one. He points out that well other countries are passing us in the classroom; our officials are spending their time hiring investigators to video people like Ms. William-Bolar who are deceiving the system. Haley also highlights whether she deserves a felony conviction, 10 days in jail and a 30,000 fine. If I believe this or not, as a reader I would feel a little shameful. After all this is a teaching assistant working to become a full-time teacher. But as a felon, that career path might now be derailed.
The conclusion of the piece and throughout the entire article carries a tone of indignation. Haleys ending comments acknowledge that yes, she broke the law but this is a law that should have been changed a long time ago. I think Haley gave enough information to play on these emotions, although not as dramatic as, say discussing war, there is a audience that will relate either for or against his statements and comparisons.
On Monday, Kristen Kidd wrote a column in the Denver Post that appealed to the pathetic proof. The article is about the limitations of careers for women, even today. Particularly, Kidd touches on the fact that Sunday school is usually taught by women; however, to conservative Christians, a female is incapable of being a pastor. She writes that, “It is OK for women to prepare Christianity’s future generations, but not to preach to them once they’ve grown up.” (Kidd)
ReplyDeleteKidd also references controversial scriptures that continue to be a basis of the religion. Her examples are, “women should remain silent in the churches" (1 Corinthians 14:34), and to "not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12).
In terms of the pathetic proof, Kidd does a fantastic job of drawing on the reader’s emotions. Her personal investment as a female, and strong opinion on the matter make the reader feel both empathy and sympathy. This state of mind works to the advantage of Kidd when luring the reader to one side of the argument. One cannot help let their emotions effect, if not, take over their opinion on the controversy.
It was a late Thursday night and I hadn’t seen my roommate all week, she stumbled in drunk laughing and singing as she tripped over the papers thrown all over the floor. Underwear was hanging off the chair, and fruit flies hovering over the trashcan. Our room was a pigsty. That was my experience first quarter of freshman year. I now hate living at the dorms. She was so unbearable to live with that I had to move out.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark Sandstedt post, “Colorado Voices: Adults without child supervision”, Sandstedt appeals to his audience by talking about the commonly opposed months of winter weather. In his first paragraph he leads with an enargia. He brings into his audiences mind the picture of a cold winter day when the car won’t start, it’s dark out and your bed feels so warm and soft and there is no reason why you’d want to leave. This is a great way to start off his post because those living in Colorado can very much relate to this image.
ReplyDeleteHis main audience is parents who have older children and have spent many years caring for them and sending them off to school early in the morning. He believes they, including himself, need a break. He also brings in a more logical reason for why people are sad or depressed in the wintertime. He says it is because the sun that provides the body with vitamin D disappears in the winter. It is cold so not many people like to go outside and the days are shorter. This causes people to be deprived of vitamin D. Now this statement describes why people feel the way they do during the winter. The rest of his argument goes on to tell his audience why they deserve a vacation.
He does this quite well and incorporates personal stories about his family and trips he has taken with his colleagues. Sandstedt says, “In the days when our kids lived at home, it was up and at 'em every day, off to work and school, practice after school, homework after dinner, games and church on the weekends, collapse at 10 p.m. Our boys were the center of our social and private lives.” He says that these are all great and important things and every parent should be proud of them. However, it is time to let yourselves have some fun every once in a while. This was the message that he was trying to convey to his audience by using stories and pathos. His goal was to convince them that a weekend in the sun can be a great way to get rid of the winter blues and parents have definitely earned it.