Obesity Rhetorical Analysis

“The Cato Institute’s” Policy analyst, Radley Balko, in his article “What You Eat Is Your Business,” talks about the idea of obesity and whose fault it is. Balko’s purpose is to convey the idea that obesity is the individual’s responsibility, not the government’s or anyone else’s for that matter. Ultimately, Balko’s “What You Eat Is Your Business” has a strong hold on ethos, pathos, and logos, making for a successful and persuasive article.

Much has been written to explain the medical aspect of obesity but little attention has been paid to understanding the sociological aspect of the epidemic. This research attempts to understand the sociological aspect of obesity by examining the socio-cultural, gender, and psycho-social effects and includes the different perceptions of the epidemic as well as what is deemed acceptable in the society we live in.

Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto is an eye-opening analysis of the American food industry and the fear driven relationship many of us have with food. He talks in depth about all the little scientific studies, misconceptions and confusions that have gathered over the past fifty years. In the end provide us with a piece of advice that should be obvious but somehow is not, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He follows the history of nutritionism and the industrialization of food, in hopes to answer one question….. how and when "mom" ceded control of our food choices to nutritionists, food marketers and the government.

The obesity epidemic is rapidly spreading throughout America, reeking havoc on the nation. I have chosen two articles that discuss this issue and use different rhetorical strategies to convince the reader of the causes of this deadly epidemic as well as different aspects of the disease that should be focused on when researching treatments options. Examining the different rhetorical strategies used in the articles proves that, although logos arguments can be a good way to convince an audience of your point, use of ethos and pathos arguments is a much more powerful strategy to inform and convince the reader to take action.

A man should never go through an animal for its nutrients, when that animal receive all of its nutrients from plants. One man such, author Wendell Berry, wrote " The Pleasures of Eating," published in 2017, and he argues that every individual should be educated in what happens to their food before it becomes food. Many people are oblivious to what harmful things animals are put through in order to one day become our meal. Berry's intended audience is every single human being who eats meat, and even those who do not. I know this because Berry mentions the importance of individuals understanding where their meat comes from and why they should not let animals be treated this way. Berry assumes that individuals would not like to be treated that way, so why should animals be treated this way. Berry's purpose in this piece is to inform all humans of what inhumane things are done to animals in order to provide as one of our temporary fills. Berry's writing is somewhat credible and valuable because he is currently a farmer and currently a writer, he gives personal viewpoints and few examples, and he provides emotional statements about animal cruelty.

Did you know as claimed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine American’s annually spend $3.2 trillion on health care? It was very eye opening when I, myself read the article titled “Unhealthy Eating Makes Health Care Expensive” by Timothy Philen. The article mentions how our unhealthiness began with our exceptional unhealthy eating habits. He points out what he thinks the root cause is in order for the readers to be persuaded. Therefore blaming Dante the food chemist as the possible cause for creating food “crave” with ingredients that included sodium nitrite, ingenuous hydrogenated oils, and monosodium glutamate. This was the author’s way of defending himself by using ethos as a way of reaching and connecting

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollen utilizes elements of ethos and metaphors in the passage on pages 116 and 117 in order to persuade readers to believe that humans have become a “race of corn.” Ethos is one of the most notable forms of persuasion Pollen uses. He gets credibility by asking “Todd Dawson, a biologist at Berkeley, to run a McDonald's meal through his mass spectrometer and calculate how much of the carbon in it came originally from a corn plant...in the various McDonald’s menu items” (Pollen 116). Including a study written by a certified professional lends more support to his argument of the presence of corn. In addition, he also mentions that the research mentions menu items from McDonalds, a well-known, unhealthy company,

The first introduction in the film is multiple images of farms, and agriculture of all kinds. Then the author quickly states that farms do not look like they use to. The message, and start of this film is to inform the viewer about the changes in agriculture, and present ideas about where our food actually comes from. The purpose of the film is to introduce to consumers the risk of eating foods that are owned by large corporations. This film addresses issues with large corporations owning all food sources, treatment of animals, and food-borne illnesses.

As the world expands through time and business, the natural process of developing food is forced to adapt to the growing demands of civilization. Henceforth, the modern-day food industry is capable of producing a plethora amount of nutrients that sustains mass populations. However, is the modern tradition and technique of mass food production hiding a burdened truth behind the curtains of society’s unawareness? Is such truth more sinister than productive? Filmmaker Robert Kenner directed a documentary in 2008 where the methods of processing meats and harvesting crops were analyzed with their effects. As a result, Kenner’s documentary, Food Inc., has revealed that the ways foods are processed have consequently made them perilous for society. Through the use of

In his book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All- American Meal, Eric Schlosser, an investigative journalist, argues that “the fast food industry has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture” (3). He supports this claim by first describing the history of the fast food industry, then explaining the current condition of the chemistry and the labor in the industry. Schlosser’s purpose is to inform the consumer and describe the state of the fast food industry in order to call to attention the impacts of the industry on the lives of Americans and on America as a country. He establishes an optimistic tone in the beginning but then develops a gloomy tone for consumers to

Pathos, logos, and ethos are used throughout In Defense of Food to strength arguments on eating more healthy. Pollan contributes to his arguments by showing Americans what the Western diet has done to their health. These three devices help to provide support to enhance his arguments on finding a more healthy diet.

The amount of foreign students come to study in Canadian University has increased dramatically in the last few years, and in the process for them to integrate into the host country, they will experience a culture shock. In her article “Picture this: A Photovoice study of international students’ food experience in Canada”, Stephanie Amos delivers a research she made on food experiences of international students in Canada, and based on the experimentation, she demonstrates that “international students acculturating to Canada have emotional and physical needs, which can be met through food.”(pg59). Stephanie Amos herself is a registered dietitian who works in the Department of Applied Human Nutrition at Mount Saint Vincent University, and through this article, she tries to convince Canadian Universities to “incorporate food acculturation strategies into campus events and menus,” (pg59) and then she persuades the nutrition professionals on campus study on create a better food environment for international students. Stephanie utilizes logos, which is the dominant rhetorical appeal of the article, by separating the article into different parts, though in some respects her appeal to logic is kind of weak. In spite of the fact that Stephanie effectively appeals to her audience by using ethos and pathos to connect them to the participants in the

PAINTED POST (WENY) - As we make our way into the holiday season, most of us are surrounded by friends, family and food - lots of food. However, if you have diabetes, the holidays can be especially hard to stick to your health routine with so many temptations in sight.

The sociological aspect of obesity shown through the impact of families, the government and the economy. The rapidly growing, fast-paced, technological society creates an epidemic of sorts. Families pursue the use of technology, restaurants and fast-paced eating as well as single parenting and parental denial. The government sets a significant health care cost to obesity, which prevents a solution and increases risks. A non-stable economy brings about a society filled with unemployment or multiple jobs as well as both parents working to stay above absolute or relative poverty leading to distractions from a healthy lifestyle. Obesity is a concern, not just for an individual but also for

This essay discusses how social constructions have an effect on obesity and what combination of causes and contributing factors it includes can lead to obesity. `Obesity is the term used to describe someone who is overweight and unhealthy. Obesity shortens life by an average of 10 years. It is very common in the UK and results from a study back in 2014 showed that a whopping 65.3% of men and 58.1% of women are obese here. (UniversityOfBirmingham,2016) Being over weight is generally associated with being lazy and unpleasant. There are a lot of media groups that have influenced our society’s perception on obesity and many factors that lead to the disease. Obesity can be life threatening and can be the start of lethal conditions such as diabetes,