Rhetorical Analysis Of Tinder And The Dawn Of The Dating Apocalypse

Journalist, Nancy Jo Sales, in her expository article, “Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’,” destroys the appearance of today’s young adults, specifically men, because of the method they use the dating application Tinder. The audience Sales is informing consist of people pertaining to the upper class as seen as evidence of the expensive brands, such as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and Michael Kors, advertise in the 2015 August issue of Vanity Fair. Sales message is that today’s youth use of Tinder is to promote various types of sexual behavior, which in effect causes the decay of commitment to relationships. In order to get her message across to her audience, Sales uses rhetorical appeals of both ethos & pathos in addition to imagery

throughout her article.
To begin, Sales right away gives a concrete and detailed overview of the wealthy young men she first introduces to her audience. Sales writes, “three handsome twentysomething guys in button-downs are having beers. They are Dan, Alex, and Marty, budding investment bankers at the same financial firm, which recruited Alex and Marty straight from an Ivy League campus” (1). She right away appeals to ethos by establishing her credibility in the aspect of having first hand testimony inputs to base her argument on rather than facts just from data and research from secondary sources. Sales then proceeds to use Alex’s testimony of Tinder to introduce the main idea of Tinder promoting sex among people who are not in a serious/committed relationship. Alex states that a person “could talk to two or three girls at a bar and pick the best one,” but with Tinder that same person “can swipe a couple hundred people a day—the sample size is so much larger. It’s setting up two or three Tinder dates a week and, chances are, sleeping with all of them” (1). Sales reveals this testimony second not only to establish ethos but to later on use other quotations from her interviews to build up feelings for pathos as well. In all, the first hand testimony in the form of the rhetorical appeal of ethos is 1st use to serve the purpose for Sales’ audience to be aware of what is really going between today’s youth regarding in the world of Tinder.
Moreover, the testimony Sales’ uses further in her article displays a feeling of sadness in the presence of the rhetorical appeal of pathos.

During the interview with Amanda from Boston College Sale’s writes, “‘There is no dating. There’s no relationships (in online dating),’ says Amanda, the tall elegant one. ‘They’re rare . . . you could never actually call someone your ‘boyfriend. [Hooking up] is a lot easier. No one gets hurt—well, not on the surface’” to display the emptiness of relationships now which arises sadness (5). Sales pathos in this testimony serves to display on how the decay of serious relationships has occurred for women and as well prove her ethos mentioned earlier on how Tinder is promoting sex among people who do not even have a relationship. Additionally, Sales’ pathos of sadness is emphasized at the end of the phrase, “They give a wary laugh” to point out that men are just out on Tinder looking sex and nothing more (5). The reader may have now derived lost hope from the pathos initially given from Sales for all youngsters and their future of building a strong and long lasting relationship & future marriage. The emotions felt from this article can bring a harder impact to those unfamiliar with this conflict thanks to the ethos of the majority of information presented being factual, or real, primary sources. As well, the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos can also be felt when imagery is presented in quotations from other young women. Sale now makes

the audience feelings greater effect to stimulates sadness to the reader on how the stigma of dating has turned the youth seeking for sex with strangers on Tinder to fulfill lustful desires rather than serious and long term relationships.
Lastly, the imagery described by the youngsters contain significant connotation that serves to reinforce the authors purpose on the conflict presented of the use of Tinder.

The sorority girls from the University of Delaware State stated, “‘A lot of guys are lacking in that department,’ says Courtney with a sigh. ‘What’s a real orgasm like? I wouldn’t know.” They all laugh knowingly. I know how to give one to myself,” says Courtney.” (10). Sales does not intend for this to be interpreted as a form of pathos to produce a disguised or mixed feeling towards the idea of an orgasm. But this in reality, Sales’ want this too connate as the cry of women who are not accepting the current norms of men on Tinder. In which the pathos of the connotation purpose serves to redirect the audience towards idea of sadness of the reality for women to date men for sex and not a real relationship. An additional connotation can be picked up at the last fragment of when Jessica stated, “Yeah, but men don’t know what to do” (10). In reality, men do know what to do but the women are not satisfied because it is not how women want things. For say, these young ladies may want to be with a man but not just for quick and easy sex as mentioned previously. They want something that will last a bit longer and actually have meaning. In total, not everyone is happy with the change of stigma of online dating Sales connotation

implies.
In all, Tinder no longer accommodates the purpose it was initially made to serve. Now Tinder no longer focuses on the theme of dating but meeting up for quick and easy sex. Society for young adults is changing as “the spectrum of human sexuality appears to be getting more colorful and broader, and very rapidly” (12). This social change in norms is for the better for some and the worst for others. As a result, Sales wants to inform her reader about what today’s youth is doing on Tinder and the toll it is taking on the definition of a relationship.