Critical Reading Practice #1: George Bush Letter
The letter from George Bush to Saddam Hussein was littered with aspects of Pathos, due to perpetual use of fear. Throughout the letter, Bush seems to make threats to not only Hussein, but also to the entire country of Iraq. This is exhibited when Bush writes, “it will be a far greater tragedy for you and your country” (par. 5). Furthermore, the use of threats amplified the aspect of fear from the Pathos ideology, that is, Bush perpetually utilizes threats in order to convince Hussein to leave Kuwait or else Iraq will face major consequences: “What is the issue here is not the future of Kuwait –it will be free, its government restored – but rather the future of Iraq” (par. 4). However, Bush also
uses a different rhetorical method - Logos. This is portrayed when Bush mentioned the number of countries, organizations and governments that support the Bush administration: “Twelve Security Council Resolutions, twenty-eight countries providing military units to enforce them, more than one hundred governments complying with the sanctions—all highlight the fact that it is not Iraq against the United States, but Iraq against the world” (par. 5). All in all, I personally feel like one’s identity is portrayed by how he/she writes. In this case, Bush writes a persuasive letter that heavily utilizes the aspect of fear from the Pathos ideology. However, when taken into account of Bush’s perspective in this scenario, I can understand why a threatening letter is justifiable. In this particular case, Bush is under immense pressure from not only the many countries he represents around the world, but also the citizens of all these countries - including the American people. With this in mind, Bush writes a persuasive, yet threatening, letter that shows strength, power and unity among the many countries around the globe. Bush does this not to frighten Iraq, but to protect the American people, protect the citizens from the hundreds of countries he represents, and to protect International Security.
Throughout both letters pathos is used to help shape the reader’s opinion towards the end goal of the author. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, he writes about how disappointed he is with the actions of his fellow Americans, comparing it to past events
For example, the emotion is felt when Kozol speaks to a student from a New York, Bronx high school, “Think of it this way,” said a sixteen-year-old girl. “If people in New York woke up one day and learned that we were gone…how would they feel? Then when asking how she thought the people of New York would feel she replied, “I think they’d be relieved” (Kozol 205). By mentioning the thoughts and emotions of individuals involved with the issues of school system segregation and inequality his reader cannot help but develop a feeling of empathy for children that feel as if no one cares about them and their issue. Kozol also uses pathos effectively by reading letters to his reader he received from young elementary school children that are not afforded the same amenities as other children in wealthier school systems, amenities such as toilet paper or the appropriate amount of restrooms. Which causes students to hold the urge to relieve themselves out of fear of being late for class (Kozol 214). With the proper use of pathos, Kozol places the reader in the same situation and assistances the reader with an understanding of his reason for conveying a concern to help children in this unfortunate situation. Another example of Pathos is when he speaks of the letters that came from third-grade children asking for help with getting them better things. He mentions a letter that had the most affected on him that came from a girl named Elizabeth, “It is not fair that other kids have a garden and new things. But we don’t have that.” (Kozol 206). This example being only one example of the few things mentioned in the letter. The tone of the little girl from when Kozol reads gives a pitiful and sad feeling. By stating this, it acts on the reader’s emotional state which creates a sense of wanting to resolve the problem of
Among these forms of support is the use of examples and the persuasive appeal to pathos. One way Kimmel uses pathos is when he discusses the backgrounds of Timothy McVeigh, Adolf Hitler, and Mohammed Atta; three men who, according to Kimmel, have something other than widespread destruction in common, this something is a feeling of emasculation and enervation, “What unites Atta, McVeigh, and Hitler is not their repressed sexual orientation but gender - - their masculinity, their sense of masculine entitlement and their thwarted ambitions (Kimmel par. 25).” Kimmel uses these three men’s backgrounds to make them appear more personable to the audience, as well as to revise the audience’s stereotypical beliefs about terrorists, creating a feeling of empathy towards these three terrorists from the audience that may not have been previously present, “Looking at these two men through the lens of gender may shed some light on both the method and the madness of the tragedies they wrought (Kimmel par. 7).” This quote gives a direct statement from Kimmel himself as he tries to gain understanding from the audience towards the men he is writing about, showing how Kimmel is looking for the audience to perceive these men’s acts of terror in sequence with the circumstances of which they were derived. Kimmel continues to constrain the audience and
It is clear that he uses pathos as his most potent tool for persuasion. Be it a way to depict gruesome imagery, a way to supplement his call to action, or as an enhancement for both his ethos and logos arguments, his strategic use of pathos is what drove the letter’s meaning to the hearts of
... By making use of diction, Precedent Bush is again trying to make an appealing argument and strong support based on invalid assumptions and biased viewpoints. Since we are supposed to analyze his argument by using logic, it is hard to distinguish the logic from the issue because they are closely related. Nevertheless, I found out that the issue is that because of his personal values, assumptions, and illogical reasoning, he deceives American citizens to push a Middle East strategy we otherwise would not have. Six years after the 9/11 attacks, Americans are still looking for reasons to keep the troops in Iraq.
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
Throughout the speech, the Former President George W Bush strives to empower Americans by instructing them to remain resolute, but to “go back to [their] lives and routines”. He uses the personal pronoun we and the common pronoun us repeatedly to indicate that the people of the United States, who either saw the event on television or experienced this event firsthand, were and still are involved in this national tragedy. He implements this emotional appeal into his speech to involve all Americans--people living in the United States of America, regardless of their ethnicity, race, or culture, and to acknowledge that the American people have endured this together, and that they will continue to advance after this event with stronger resolve, stronger than ever. In addition, he implements personification to motivate and empower the American people. “Our nation, this generation, will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future” (Bush, 2001). “This generation”, again a synonym for the American people, with its unwavering resolve, will fight for its freedom persistently. He intimates that the future of America and of democratic freedom is in the hands of the American people: that the American people have the power to control their fate. The next sentence leads into America’s “philanthropically” democratic nature: “We will rally the world to this cause, by our efforts and by our courage” (Bush, 2001). This statement has been followed up by action only a few years later, when the United States intervened in the Iraqi War, Libyan Revolution, and even more civil wars to ensure the freedom of citizens from dictatorships, which in Islāmic nations, were militant groups, like the Hamas and Taliban. Lastly, the president utilized anaphora, specifically a tripartite structure, by affirming that the American people “will not tire”, “will not falter”, and “will not fail”. He implies that the American people will relentlessly fight for the worldwide establishment of peace and democratic institutions, a promise which America has kept even in the face of its own national crisis.
Throughout George W. Bush's political career he has implored the use of Aristotle's tripod, which we like to call it. This tripod is a rhetoric which implies that persuasion relies on three things, which are ethos, pathos, and logos. Logos is devoted solely to logic and reason. While on the other hand, pathos deals with attitudes and beliefs. Perhaps the most important one which pertains to George W. Bush is something called ethos, that is to say the branch of the tripod which deals with the personal strengths of the speaker and most importantly his character. Throughout his political journey he has showed the use of pathos, logos, and ethos time and time again, but the one of which he is commonly known for is ethos. The instances in which he has demonstrated them are countless, but I will recall but three. The first event took place on the day of September 14, 2001 at 'Ground Zero', three days after the attack of the World Trade Centers. The third instance was on September 20, 2001 during his Address to a Joint Session of Congress. Lastly, was the State of the Union Address in Washington D.C. Which was held on January 29, 2002.
"Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham.
Bush tried to fill the audience’s hearts with a sense of caring and belonging through describing his discussions he had with people who were financially struggling. He tried to persuade the crowd into basically believing that he felt bad for the people affected by the debt and the communities that were thus changing. However, he was not quite successful in persuading me that he truly related to anyone he’s talked to. Simply feeling bad for people who have financial burdens doesn’t create a sense of relatability to those people. The woman who was financially struggling did not seem emotionally persuaded by Bush’s response either. She wanted the candidates to prove that they relate to the public about what they are going through during that stressful time. Pathos could have been incredibly influential when discussing such a negative time for the nation. The woman who asked the topic question expressed pathos through discussing how tough it has been for her, and many family members, to make payments they used to be able to afford. Talking about how she personally knows people who could be losing their homes and cars evokes a saddening emotion from the audience. Sadness was also felt when Clinton began speaking to the woman. Clinton persuaded the audience to feel the sadness he had undergone during his time as a governor. Cutting local businesses and watching friends go
Pathos is a way of making you feel an emotion when reading the writing, When reading something you are usually left with an opinion, well that an emotion of what you feel about the article, novel, story, and ect. Staples adds pathos to this article to emphasize how bad racism was during 1986. A quote found in this article is “ As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken- let alone hold one to a person's throat- I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once” (Staples 2). He
President Bush used a copious amount of rhetorical strategies in his speech. He used many forms of personification, anaphora and metaphors. Personification is used to get people to comprehend what the country has at stake here when he says, “Freedom and fear are at war.” Anaphora is used when he wanted to make a point by disclosing, “The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time, the great hope of every time…” He used metaphors to describe to this glorious nation what they could do by proclaiming, “...our generation, will lift a dark threat of violence of violence from our and our future.” Overall the President's tone was sombre and proactive because what he was talking about was the worst situation anyone could imagine in America. While being sombre he was also proactive because he knew we couldn’t just sit there and let it happen again and he was letting the people know he wasn’t going to.
Economic and cultural turmoil within a nation always has a source. Iraq, a nation currently suffering violence due to the nation’s history, has been brought to its current state with the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein’s rule. The introduction of the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party in 1968 led to the promotion of the genocide of the Kurdish citizens living in the nation (“Kurdish Revolt”). The Ba’ath Party blamed many of the non-Arab Kurds for a majority of the problems occurring in the Arab states which resulted in the genocide (“Kurdistan Democratic Party”). This was just part of the extreme ruling methods Saddam Hussein used to maintain power. In addition, Saddam Hussein was extremely manipulative and used this skill to his advantage to gain for his personal self-interest. By not ratifying the the boundaries between Kuwait and Iraq although these boundaries were clearly states within letters between the two governments, it allowed Saddam Hussein to step in and use this to his advantage to take over Kuwait (“Iraq Until the 1958 Revolution”). Saddam Hussein is often known as Saddam Hussein’s ruthless dictatorship of extreme and repressive rule, alliances that ensured the continuation of his control, and his numerous refusals to comply with international regulations prompted foreign involvement against Iraq.
Cleland relies heavily upon the persuasive technique of pathos-targeting the emotions of his readers. He uses this technique to convince his audience that more needs to be done for U.S veterans. For example, he states “Imagine… a bomb splitting a humvee apart… and taking your leg with it.” Cleland paints this gruesome picture to target emotions of his reader. He does this in order to encourage his audience to believe such horrendous events experienced by our soldiers warrants our attention and action for/to those who return. Cleland also states, “Forty years after I had left the battlefield, my memories of death and wounding, were suddenly as fresh and present as they had been in 1968.” Again, Cleland uses pathos to convince his readers and
Pathos appeals to emotions and logos to the sense of reason and logic of the audience. Politicians often use pathos, but also try to do the opposite. They frequently remove the emotional weight of actions including, but not limited to; invading and killing. Politicians accomplish this by using a different vocabulary. They use words, such as liberating and neutralising. This is what George Orwell is referring to in his essay. Logos is usually present in some fashion when it concerns political speeches, but is also falsely represented from time to time. The speeches are filled with fallacies and doubtful issues are claimed to be facts. If the language is powerful enough, a politician can convince one to change one’s opinion based on misrepresented reasoning. Furthermore, if the language is just vague enough, if it includes just enough ‘but’s and ‘if’s, the politicians cannot even be called out upon