Rhetorical Analysis Of Opinion Want A Revolution It's Easy Go Vote

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Christian Brand Professor bird 21 June 2024 ENG101 The Power of the Vote: Analyzing Russell Glass’s Rhetorical Strategies By skilfully intertwining three distinct modes of persuasion (the modes of logos, pathos, and ethos) within the framework of his essay ‘Opinion: Want a revolution? It’s easy—go vote’ (2012), Russell Glass asserts a rational explanation as to why one might find voting in American democracy compelling and meaningful. We will unpack and explain how Russell Glass utilizes rhetorical devices and strategies that make his essay more eloquent, rhetorically correct, and persuasive. Logical Arguments (Logos) Glass begins his entry with a parade of argumentative paragraphs that could justify voting. He identifies the Americans’ despair …show more content…

Voter turnout data, for instance, enhances the logos appeal by illustrating how much difference voting can make: President Obama won both in 2008 and in 2012 with less than 3 per cent of the popular vote; more people voted in those two elections than in any other in the history of the US. Invoking specific elections decided by narrow margins reinforces the ‘all politics is local’ appeal, as well as the emotional one, and he evidently hopes the data will make his readers feel that last year’s turnout of 53.6 per cent is too low for them not to have cast a ballot. Third, by presenting counterarguments to rationalizations for not voting, Glass provides practical proof of his position not simply or exclusively by persuasion, but also in a way that reinforces the logical force of his whole argument. He counters the objection that my vote doesn’t make any difference by showing how that objection, by considering the voting behavior of many individuals together, makes way for changes in the votes of individuals to combine into a difference that makes a …show more content…

The language is meant to ‘fire up’ the voters. Moreover, Glass’s blurb ethically escalates beyond rights by depicting voting as responsibilities rather than exercises of the right. He helps voters to dial up the ante by going to the future: ‘Those born in the future depend on what you do today when you vote.’ Here is the ‘responsibility appeal’, which works by enlisting decisionmakers’ concern about future people by inspiring their care for the present generation – the preservation of all family-minded people – and the country’s reputation. The clichéd thought goes something like this: ‘Yeah this is a wasted vote [but] my dad [and my grandpa] were in an Allied POW camp for years so we could vote.’ Here those in the future generations are presented as implying responsibility on the present generation, especially on us, the readers. Ethical Appeals (Ethos) By the tone of his broadside and the way it is presented, Glass also earns this credibility and moral force. He speaks ‘respectfully’ and

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