Category: Ethos

Misfires in the Gun Control Debate: Ethos, Pathos and Logos Essay

Rhetorical Analysis on “In gun control debate, the logic goes out the window”.

This article talks about how the former president of America Barack Obama decided to take drastic action on the gun control measures and how Sen Dianne Feinstein introduced a ban on weapons. In the Aristotelian rhetoric model, Logos means to reason with your audience using proof and facts. The author of this article used proof and reasoned with the readers to persuade them reader on the problems of gun control in America. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

First and foremost, logos was used in two different categories in this article, the major and the minor premise. These two were used in the argument. The premise is used in the argument to persuade the readers to support gun control in America. The Major premise is to create a database that will help to speed up the tracking of guns that were found at crime scenes, it will be beneficial to protect the lives of the people. It helps to identify people who are involved in the killings by firearm. The minor premise talks about how the federal database will work on how they will work on speeding up its tracing of guns and how it will be beneficial to the public. This author used logos in a way that provided solutions and some benefits for gun control. The author also used logos by reasoning with the audience, using references, and providing the audience with facts to state his points. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

Pathos as used in the article was successful in convincing the audience to support gun control in America. Pathos is used to persuade people with an argument that emphasizes emotional feelings and values. The author gave an example in the article about the lives that could be saved using such a medium, he argued that “isn’t any life saved worth it or valuable?” This was to put in all the emotion and values to properly prove his point on supporting gun control in America. The author used pathos to explain his point in several paragraphs and different sentences. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

Ethos simply means convincing the audience about the credibility of the author. The author talks about how he was the assistant treasury secretary overseeing the bureau. He admitted that he was unable to convince the NRA to believe that he was capable of regulating gun control because he was unable to understand the values that are associated with the ownership of guns in America which proved his ethos as he didn’t do a background check before arranging a meeting. The meeting provoked the opposition and the congress took a drastic step towards the bureau and the proposal. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

Fallacies were present in the article. The opposition was not willing to see the truth of the matter. They made statements that had nothing to do with the proposal. There were fallacies such as the “slippery slope” argument and faulty logic. Mr Davies addresses this with the use of rhetorical questions which demands no answers but provides answers by themselves. The opposition also differentiated by the “Nazis” to gun control and they also used fallacies to throw the proposal out of the Congress, they also sent rhetorical notes that expressed their anger and dissatisfaction with the proposal made by the Congress and treasury, whereas giving declaration to the decision the congress had made on the proposal. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

In conclusion, Mr Davies expresses his disappointment and also believes that no proposals will stop all gun crimes. Also, the 1978 proposals could have prevented the illegal sales of guns. The author also talks about how gun control is not the answer to the issues of all the mass shootings. He also hopes that this time the debate on gun control will be more logical. He fully supports the need for gun control laws throughout the article. (Rottenberg and Winchell)

Works Cited

1. Rottenberg, Annette T., and Donna Haisty Winchell. In Gun Control, Logic Goes out the Window. New York: Bedford, 2015. Article.

Basic Leadership Attributes For Leaders Development

The purpose of this essay is to break down how Leadership attributes play an essential role in shaping a good leader. Possessing a good leadership attribute will not only make a person stand out. Also setting the standard for which someone will like to follow. Leadership attributes can be broken down into three categories, character, presence, and Intellect. The role of an ethical leader is to imply the army values, Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Every army leader should be living by the army values. Empathy is also a character of ethical leadership; this is the ability to comprehend and share the feelings of another. Without empathy, you cannot build a team or nurture a new generation of leaders. The warrior ethos is an important attribute to have as a leader.

The Army implements the Warrior Ethos in all-new Soldiers by the way we train, live, and fight. Most new Soldiers that entered into the Army learned that the warrior ethos works cohesively with the Army values. Also, established on the premise that service to our nation is a responsibility and honor. Warrior Ethos requires selfless service and drive to uphold. The warrior ethos has enabled Soldiers to endure the hard times in combat and distinguish our Army on the battlefield by the character of our service. Presence is the military bearing, professional bearing, and resilience. Military bearing, this a soldier practices maintaining professionalism and discipline, and having proper military bearing aids in being a good leader, regardless of what is happing around you.

Applying professionalism plays an essential role in being a good leader both in the military and civilian organizations. Professionalism is essential to into military bearing because, they possess the same outcome of taking pride in what you even positively representing the organization do. According to worrier care and transition, ‘Resilience is having the mental, physical, emotional and behavioral ability to face and cope with adversity, adapt to change, recover, learn and grow from setbacks. ‘ Resilience is a vital skill to have to overcome certain life circumstances as a soldier, For example, wounded, ill, or injured. Intellect is an essential foundation of the leadership attributes; having Intellect will help a leader think critically. Fitness plays a vital role as a leader; a good leader will always lead his or her troops from the front.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Warrior Care and Transition Program, wct.army.mil/modules/soldier/s1-wctpProgram.html.]

In order to accomplish this, a leader must take pride in physical readiness. Makings sure he or she can carry their weight. A leader will not get the respect they need if they are unable to lead from the front. Physical fitness is a big deal in the Army. A leader cannot help their team to get better or motivate their team is they cannot stay physically fit. Lacking Intellect can cause someone to make a drastic decision without applying any knowledge. Innovation also aids intelligent choices or ideas. Innovation is figuring out the box and coming up with new ideas, accomplishing the goal by working smarter and not harder. Finally, we have expertise, being a subject matter expert in what you are doing. Expertise skill as a leader sets you apart from your peers and not only makes you a member of the team but an asset to the team.

This brings us to mental agility; this is usually one’s openness to investigating new ideas. Event going beyond breaking closely held beliefs and preferences. It is the ability to be open-minded to think about something without rejecting it. Simply because it does not automatically, fit previously made decisions, allegiances, and biases. According to Jim Pruitt, Senior Editor at VMEdu, ‘it was considered philosophically possible for a person to think about some new idea, investigate it thoroughly, and still reject it’.[footnoteRef:2] In conclusion, we can see how leadership attributes can be broken down into subcategories. Character, Presence, and Intellect and how each skill correlates to each other. Most of these skills learned over a period. As a leader, it is vital to take the initiative to learn these leadership attributes. You cannot be an effective leader without applying these leadership attributes. Every soldier and civilian should utilize these attributes and incorporate them into their day-to-day duties. They are great tools to use when conducting performance objectives and evaluation. The goal is being able to look back after your career ends and be confident that you were a good leader and that you made a difference. [2: ‘A Place to Share Knowledge and Better Understand the World.’ Quora, https://www.quora.com/.]

Essay on Nike Advertisement Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Advertisements are all around us: on television, magazines, billboards, and even on park benches. The advertising genre promotes a company’s product in a way that will appeal to consumers. Commercial advertising is one of the most influential ways to increase sales. Some common ads are Toyota, Budweiser, and Geico. Some commercials have a deeper message to give their company a positive image and connect with the audience on an emotional level to persuade them to purchase their product. This deeper message usually pertains to a global issue occurring at the time. One ongoing issue in the world today is feminism and women’s empowerment. Beauty on Your Terms by Dove, Dream Crazier by Nike, and Like a Girl by Alway are all advertisements that have a deeper message of women empowerment while promoting the brand. These three artifacts consider their audience of women while creating their advertisements attempting to connect with them. Nike, Dove, and Always used the issue of gender inequality in commercial advertising to promote their brand through the use of rhetorical strategies such as ethos and pathos.

The Dove advertisement Beauty on Your Terms includes women being defined by how they look. Pathos is present in the Beauty on Your Terms commercial through women speaking about how society judges them based on physical appearance to connect with other women who encounter the same obstacles. The beginning of the advertisement is a series of women stating what society has defined them as and the end of the video shows the women’s reaction to their labels. A woman named Jessica was told she was “too fat, only skinny girls can dress well,” so she made a fashion blog to prove her peers wrong. An additional woman, Marcia, is a lawyer who gets faced with judgments daily. People look at her and wonder how she is a lawyer due to her appearance and Marcia responds by saying, “Her looks have nothing to do with her capabilities.” These statements connect with women in the audience who face these same judgments which will encourage them to choose Dove over other hair products. In the middle of the advertisement, the women are all stating labels, such as: “too chubby,” “too skinny,” “crazy,” “manly.” Following this the women say “he said” and “they said” and Dove puts an emphasis on “I said” to show the world that it does not matter what other individuals define women as, as long as the women know their value. The overall exigence is that labels do not phase women, they are more than just a label given to them by society. Ethos is also evident in the advertisement through the credibility of Heather Hardy. Heather Hardy was labeled as “too pretty to fight,” yet is ranked number one in the country and number two in the nation for boxing. At the end of the video, Harding stated, “My face has nothing to do with my boxing.” Other women athletes look up to professional athletes, such as Heather Hardy, so if Hardy uses Dove this will convince those women to purchase Dove. The commercial concludes with #MyBeautyMySay to remind women they are in charge of their beauty and capabilities. The advertisement is empowering and encourages other women to stick up for their beauty and use judgment as motivation.

The Nike advertisement Dream Crazier touches on the fact that when women do the same as men they are labeled as crazy. Yet again, this commercial displays women as inferior to men. This Nike advertisement also uses pathos to trigger women’s emotions and agree with the message Nike is sending in hopes that women will purchase their products. Nike uses examples to display the unfair labels given to women that would not be the same for men. The commercial begins by declaring, “If we show emotion, we’re called dramatic,” with a clip of a woman athlete crying. Righeir brand a positive, uplifting image.

In conclusion, Nike, Always, and Dove effectively use exigence, ethos, and pathos to promote their company and promote women’s empowerment..ht off the bat pathos is used to engage emotionally with women watching the advertisement who can relate to the crying woman. In contrast to Dove using everyday women, Nike uses women athletes which contributes to selling their sports gear. The commercial continues to focus on all the times women are considered crazy in sports: if women dream of equal opportunity they are delusional, when women stand for something they are unhinged, and when women get angry they are hysterical or just plain crazy. Nike is sending a message to their audience that to accomplish big goals, one must dream big, there is no such thing as dreaming too big. Additionally, Nike uses gender roles to grab the attention of the audience. “A woman boxing is crazy, a woman dunking is crazy, a woman coaching an NBA team is crazy,” Nike is using exigence to make it known that women are capable of the same things men are. Nike also uses ethos by having Serena Williams narrate the advertisement. Serena Williams is ranked number one in the world for tennis, winning twenty-three major single titles which is more than any other man or woman has ever won. Serena Williams is also used as an example in the commercial, “Winning twenty-three grand slams, having a baby, then coming back for more, crazy.” Serena Williams is an extremely popular woman athlete so using her in the commercial enhances Nike’s credibility. If a successful tennis player wears Nike, then viewers are persuaded to purchase Nike gear because they trust Serena Williams’s judgment. Nike ends the commercial with a black screen reading, “It’s only crazy until you do it. Just do it,” giving a dramatic effect. Nike created a social response and inspired women athletes all while promoting their company.

Always Like a Girl advertisement interviews men and women and asks them to describe what it means to do something “like a girl” to demonstrate how society views women. Pathos is used in the advertisement to trigger an emotional response from women. The director asked teenagers to run like a girl and the individuals exaggerated kicking their feet towards their back, worried about their hair, and flapping their arms around. When the teenagers were asked to throw like a girl and fight like a girl the actors pretended to drop a ball and throw their hands clumsily. Next, the director asked younger girls the same questions. When asked to run like a girl the younger girls ran with power and determination. Additionally, when the young girls were asked to throw and fight like a girl they did it passionately. By comparing the teenage actors to the younger actors the audience will engage with the advertisement and wonder what is different between the age groups. In the middle of the ad the words, “When did doing something “like a girl” become an insult?” “Essentially, there is nothing wrong with throwing like a girl. Always attempted to create a more positive connotation with the phrase “like a girl.” Always intends for the audience of this commercial to be girls between the ages of ten and twelve who are going through puberty. Always promoting feminine products, they want their audience to relate to their advertisements. This commercial was effective in communicating the message that acting “like a girl” is not a bad thing. Girls perform activities “like a girl” simply because they are a girl. The advertisement concludes with the phrase “Let’s make “like a girl” mean amazing things.” Always communicates the overall exigence that doing something “like a girl” is not an insult, but rather a compliment. By ending with such a statement it is initiating women’s empowerment. Always encourages girls to be themselves and embrace being a girl while also giving t

Essay on Steve Jobs Commencement Speech: Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Speaker

The Author, Steve Jobs, Jobs, is the -Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios, accumulating over 1.2 billion in net worth.

Purpose

Jobs’ mission in sharing his anecdotes is to encourage Stanford graduating students and people, in general, to follow their hearts, do what they love, and strive for greatness, and to remind them that even if they face failures, they can overcome adversity.

Audience

Steve Jobs addresses the audience filled with young, gifted individuals at the commencement ceremony.

Context

Steve Jobs is widely recognized for his perseverance in revolutionizing the world of personal computers and cellphones by introducing iPhones to Mac software, which led to considerable developments that have affected the lives of every one of us. As he speaks in front of graduates, most of them are still searching for what to do with their after graduation, and Jobs, as one of the most intelligent, most prosperous men in the world, is willingly sharing some advice and insight on life.

Exigence

Steve Jobs gave the speech to Stanford’s 2005 college graduates because he wanted to remind them of the importance of staying true to their aspirations and pursuing their passions no matter the outcome. He understands that his audience is filled with young, intelligent individuals, who will enter the workforce and are destined for great things, but eventually, they are likely to face similar adversity or even lose everything they had once worked for and must not lose sight of what their heart says.

Choice

The author uses rhetorical questions to achieve his mission by leading into his speech with a rhetorical question,’ So why did I drop out?’. This immediately catches the attention of the audience because how could one of the most intelligent, most prosperous men in the world achieve such greatness from being a college dropout? In addition, Jobs encourages students through the use of repetition of the same phrases,’ Don’t settle’. By repeating this phrase multiple times, he stresses the importance of wanting the students to strive to be the best they can be and to never give up.

Appeals

While Steve Jobs’s status is a great use to build credibility with the audience(ethos), he skillfully uses intimate anecdotes to provoke the audience’s emotions (Pathos). It is effective because one of the most intelligent, most prosperous men shares that despite the adversity he faced, his success couldn’t have been achieved without failing first. By integrating past experiences with reflections, it persuades the audience to never settle for less, to not give up on their dreams, and their hard work will pay off.

Tone

The tone of speech is very inspirational and uplifting because Jobs motivates college graduates and people, in general, to live life to the fullest. Though at times where the tone of the speech is melancholy during the mentions of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer to facing poverty, it has motivational and heartfelt moments as he was able to pull through the difficulties he was faced with and be successful.