Analysis of The Time to Act Is Now
In his speech, The Time to Act Is Now, Al Gore uses several rhetorical devices and appeals to communicate his subject and persuade his audience. Gore is able to efficiently convey his concern about global warming by using statistics and facts, stating expert opinions, considering his audience, and using strong appeals to pathos.
Gore’s purpose in his essay is to convince America of the dangers of global warming and prompt the world to take measures to prevent the advancement of this dangerous event. Gore promotes his purpose by appealing to his audience’s emotions. He references the countless hurricanes that have impacted millions of Americans on the Gulf Coast and appeals to Americans’ morals as human beings.
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He states, “...thousands have experienced losses beyond measure as our nation and the world witnessed scenes many of us thought we would never see in this great country.” Gore uses this statement to appeal to the families who have experienced or seen the havoc hurricanes can cause and to influence them to prevent global warming, the suspected cause of the strength of these devastating storms. Gore states many facts and statistics to further prove to his audience the dangers of global warming and the need to act now to hinder its effects. In paragraph four, he lists the changes and disasters that global warming has already created in the world, such as hurricanes in the South Atlantic and an increase in temperatures and rainfall around the globe. Gore uses these facts to show America why people everywhere should act now because global warming will destroy the entire world. Al Gore has automatic ethos from being a famous politician, but he also appeals to nomos through his references to “we” and using statements such as, “my heart is heavy due to the suffering the people of the Gulf Coast have endured”. Gore appeals to his audience by referencing specific events that have affected and influenced people in America and places around the vast world. He references events and disasters that have occurred in Brazil, Japan, the United States, and other places around the world to show the diversity of places affected by global warming. Gore portrays himself as a common man who also experiences suffering due to global warming. He does this to establish character and to explain how everyone, not only himself and a few others, need to work towards using technologies and renewable resources to solve the global warming emergency. Gore uses anaphora throughout his essay to further emphasize his statements on global warming.
In paragraph 4, Gore uses anaphora when he states, “We know that hurricanes....We know that heat-trapping gasses...We know that, in the past thirty years...” He uses this appeal to emphasize that many people know the havoc that global warming produces, but they are not attempting to prevent it. Gore also uses anaphora in paragraph eleven to emphasize how the nation and the world have overcome many extreme challenges in the past and can solve the current crisis by using the many technologies that currently exist. Gore uses hypophora and procatalepsis in paragraphs nine and eleven to anticipate the audience’s objections or questions and to refute or elaborate on the concerns. He states, “Why is this happening? Because the relationship between humankind and Earth has been utterly transformed.” Gore uses a more colloquial diction and avoids the use of slang in his essay to relate to the occasion and his audience. His syntax includes mainly terse statements and sentences. It also is straightforward and easy to understand. He does, however, include a few complex sentences to further his point. In paragraph three, Gore uses a logical fallacy, begging the question, when he states, “Global warming may not affect the frequency of hurricanes, but it makes the average hurricane stronger, magnifying its destructive power.” This is a logical fallacy because he is stating what he should be
trying to prove. He also uses a false dilemma when he states, “In the years ahead, there will be more storms like Katrina, unless we change course.” This is a fallacy because he suggests that only two alternatives exist even though it is not guaranteed that there will be more storms like Katrina. Through his effective use of rhetorical tools, Gore is effective in communicating the dangers of global warming and persuading America and the world to use available resources and technology to solve the global warming crisis.
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
The tone during the whole plot of in Brave New World changes when advancing throughout the plot, but it often contains a dark and satiric aspect. Since the novel was originally planned to be written as a satire, the tone is ironic and sarcastic. Huxley's sarcastic tone is most noticeable in the conversations between characters. For instance, when the director was educating the students about the past history, he states that "most facts about the past do sound incredible (Huxley 45)." Through the exaggeration of words in the statement of the director, Huxley's sarcastic tone obviously is portrayed. As a result of this, the satirical tone puts the mood to be carefree.
One ordinary man finds himself standing in a colossal room. He looks into the audience, seeing an overwhelming amount of strangers who each share a slightly different opinion on the subject at hand. How can one individual spark a fire in the minds of such an eclectic group? Al Gore, an American politician and environmentalist, encounters this exact situation. He wishes to spread his message on global warming and inspire the audience to take action. Persuading just one person is an arduous task, but effectively confronting an entire audience requires extensive knowledge on persuasive tactics. The speaker must have a playbook containing an array of rhetorical strategies that are dispersed throughout the entire presentation. The playbook needs
A similar message that appears in his book that appeared in the aforementioned speech was the impact of the media speculation. The book addresses this in two examples. One was presented with the news of a lawsuit that an island called Vantu would file against the EPA; yet the lawsuit would never move forward due to it only serving a purpose to launder money and raise awareness to global warming that was never proven to affect the island. The other was shown to be environmental scientist who received their funding from environmental organizations, such as NERF in the book. These scientists would often have to go against their findings and report what the organizations wanted them to, or possibly lose their funding. Additionally, the book profoundly took opposition to the claim of global warming. This is presented in the form of the main character, Peter Evans, who has been manipulated into believing everything that the media has told him about global warming. It isn’t until John Kenner is introduced, that Peter begins got learn the truth about global warming. The author uses specific evidence to back his claims, specifically he uses a wide array of resources to verify his claim that Antarctica is not in fact melting, but getting colder and thickening. Furthermore, another essential concept that that book introduces is environmental extremists, or bioterrorism. These characters in the book would stop at nothing to make sure that everyone believed in global warming, and tried to destroy parts of the world to succeed in their mission. Bioterrorists are best represented as a warning of what could happen if people continue to buy into the media’s lies without having conclusive evidence to back up their
Throughout his preface of the book titled Why We Can’t Wait, which entails the unfair social conditions of faultless African Americans, Martin Luther King employs a sympathetic allegory, knowledge of the kids, and a change in tone to prevail the imposed injustice that is deeply rooted in the society—one founded on an “all men are created equal” basis—and to evoke America to take action.
This is a sophomore from Cleveland, Ohio. As a Politics and Government major and Spanish minor, she hopes to eventually become an immigration attorney. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, and participating in 5k races. Elizabeth will be presenting the speech A Time for Choosing, by Ronald Reagan. This speech was Reagan’s political debut and his endorsement of the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater. In this speech Reagan discusses why he supports Goldwater as well as the Republican Party. This is one of the most famous American political speeches because it explains the platforms of modern Conservatism.
Despite there being hundreds of video game releases every year, most of these games are unoriginal and therefore unplayable. There are countless video game genres, but one of the most popular genres in the past few years have been the zombie games, also called survival games. I was thoroughly convinced that all the games in this genre were clichéd and overdone, until I played the video game The Last of Us. Even though it is a survival game, the focus is not on gruesome zombies or gratuitous violence, making it already vastly different from the others. Instead, the focus is on telling a story. Between the gorgeous graphics, serene music, and flawless acting, it already goes beyond being just another “zombie game,” but this isn’t even accounting
In order for an article to be considered reliable and credible, it needs to follow a certain criteria. This includes having rhetorical appeals and devices such as logos, ethos, and pathos. The article must also include direct quotes from reliable sources to be considered plausible. Two articles, “Time to Assert American Values” and “Rough Justice: A Caning in Singapore Stirs Up a Fierce Debate About Crime and Punishment” both tell about the caning of Michael Fey in singapore. Only one article is considered reliable to me.
Pathos tries to evoke emotions from the viewer by using personal stories and vivid descriptions. Al Gore uses many personal stories and connects them to global warming. When he is talking about his sister’s death he explains how she started smoking very young and died from lung cancer. His family were tobacco farmers, but when his sister died his dad stopped farming tobacco because that was what killed her. It took somebody close to them dying to just realize what they are doing is bad for humans and take action. He compared this to global warming by explaining that all the CO2 in the air is like farming tobacco. Somebody dying is then going to be compared to some disaster that will be a catastrophic event for all humans, but will jolt them back to reality and show them that their actions are unsustainable. Scenes like this cause an emotion in the viewer because it is easy for them to understand the link that links the sister death to global warming and so it plays on the audience emotion to see his side of the problem. Pathos is also used throughout the documentary through the use of visual elements. There are many picture and videos of extreme weather, droughts, and tar sands. Pathos is also conveyed through audio element. His voice has this characteristic that can communicates sadness when he wants to really well, and he uses it when he is talking about the effects of climate change. His use of visual and audio elements
Do you ever wonder if text or video is more convincing? The video is stronger and more convincing because it includes more emotion and you can see Al gore's expression. However the text does not include tone of voice or emotion in the text. In the video you can tell when Al Gore is telling you what is important and we need to feel the emotion he has about the problem we have in the earth.
After hurricane Ike, which hit Texas in 2008, Texas didn’t ask for a coastal protection program, and instead did what they believed to be most economically necessary. Scranton includes this information to emphasize how we don’t seem to learn from our lack of preparation for disastrous storms in the past, and why that’s such an issue. However, today researchers are working towards solutions to the damage of future hurricanes. Although acting out these plans has proven to be a struggle, according to all the information Scranton has provided us throughout the article it should be one of the most serious issues on our minds. The lack of immediate call to action on the issue of climate change means that “today it might be too late,” states Scranton. He then wraps up his ideas by claiming to understand why the population has difficulty fully grasping the urgency to prevent climate change, if still possible. Readers are emotionally provoked when Scranton lists concepts that relate to climate change, such as leukemia, shampoo, specific places, paper, etc. because people can often relate to some of these things in their everyday life. Scranton seems to understand that many people are just afraid of
By appealing to a broader audience, she is able to more effectively convey her message, without bogging her readers down with words they would not be able to understand. “When the world is informed that unless greenhouse-gas emissions are significantly reduced, the Earth could, during the next century, warm almost as much as it has over the past 10,000 years, with potentially devastating consequences for people and the environment, it is business as usual.” The statement prompts immediate reaction without much thought and the brunt of the message is quickly
In Al Gore 's lecture called “ The case for optimism on climate change”, Gore talks about greenhouse gasses.Gore talks about what we have done to create more carbon emissions, and what to do to reduce them again. Gore starts of with facts, he states why we founded earth day, and why we need to preserve this Earth. Gores argument was very educational to because of the way he presented his argument. Gore did not just say we need to change or bad things will happen, but he told how we can change. He gave evidence that his plans to reduce emissions actually work. Gore also expresses hope that we can change our amount of released emissions. Gore backs up his presentation by using: logical appeals, an active convincing tone,
The audience can be persuaded through their emotion (Cockcroft and Cockcroft, 2005). High pathos makes the audience more likely to be persuaded (Dlugan, 2007b). On the one hand, in this speech, Leonardo invoked the fear of audience by quoting the scientific community’s prognosis, ‘If we do not act together, we will surely perish’. Later in the speech, he listed the specific actions and asked the leaders for action. He also cited the statement of the chief of the US navy, ‘climate change is our single greatest security threat’, which also trigger the fear of the audience. On the other hand, Dicaprio said solving this crisis is not a question of politics, but our moral obligation, which can inspire a strong sense of responsibility and mission. Through triggering audience emotion, Dicaprio can make his audience act together and face the crisis of climate
Subpoint A: Not long ago, a documentary film called “An Inconvenient truth” came out in 2006. This film raised international public awareness of climate change and reenergizing the environmental movement. A former U.S Vice president Al Gore campaigned to educate citizens about global warming through a simp...