Persuasive Literary Devices In Amusing Ourselves To Death By Neil Postman

Rhetorical devices are statements used to persuade an audience. Rhetorical devices, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, have been used effectively in advertisements for years. All rhetorical devices can persuade consumers to buy their products. AT&T’s “Close to Home” commercial effectively uses rhetorical devices, particularly pathos and ethos, to persuade consumers to not text and drive and to use AT&T.

Thesis: Twenge effectively uses emotional appeals to persuade her readers into believing that the excessive use of smartphones has ruined a generation.

In present day, technology has helped in the ways of distributing news, stories, and general entertainment. In the book Fahrenheit 451, technology is still used for these purposes, however, it has a much more drastic role in the status quo of society. With technology such as the television and small ear-piece sized

(AGG) Bradbury’s message about technology means that people can spend too much time with media that can affect people in many ways. (BS-1) People who are associated with technology are being destroyed emotionally and physically. (BS-2) By using too much media there are major effects of the people in the society. (BS-3) This proves that a person who gets away from technology can gain their key trait back. (TS) Bradbury’s message is trying to prove that technology can be very absorbing, and people are surrounded by noise and no one can communicate with each other.

In Neil Postman’s novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he argues that rationality in America has become dictated by television. Through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Postman demonstrates that his claim is valid and reliable. These are three forms of persuasion that are used to influence others to agree with a particular point of view. Ethos, or ethical appeal, is used to build an author’s image. Ethos establishes a sense of credibility and good character for the author (Henning). Pathos, or emotional appeal, involves engaging “an audience's sense of identity, their self-interest, their emotions” (Henning). If done correctly, the power of emotions can allow the reader to be swayed to agree with the author. Logos, or logical appeal,

In today's culture, people use technology to their advantage all the time. They use it to hack, to learn the latest gossip, or to see breaking news around the world. But, occasionally they get captivated and instead of an accessible apparatus, it becomes a necessity and a lifestyle. In the story, The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses imagery, symbolism, and internal conflict to express that misuse of technology can lead to unforeseen disadvantages.

Neil postman was a jack of all trades, he was an American Author, an educator at New York University, media theorist, and cultural critic. (PressThink 1) In 1985 Neil Postman published a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourage in the Age of show Business. The book provides a look at what happens when politics, journalism, education and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death Postman says that the content of a culture is contained in its communication, and that the content of communication is affected by the medium of communication. In other words, Postman is saying that a culture is defined by its connection of people, and the connection of people is afflicted by technology. Sherry Turkle is another author that has written a book called Alone Together published in January 2011. Sherry Turkle is an award winning professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she focuses her research on human technology interaction. Alone Together is the results of Turkle’s nearly fifteen year exploration of our lives with technology, she describes new unsettling relationships between friends, family, parents and children, and new instabilities in how we understand privacy and community. There is a third author named Julia Angwin that has developed a book that connects with Postman’s argument. Julia Angwin is an award winning investigative journalist at a news organization called ProPublica. (About)

The purpose of this analysis is to examine the rhetorical appeals(ethos, etc.) of an argument presented by two different authors who have written about the subject of how technology is affecting our lives. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, he describes how over the years, using technology has evolved his way of thinking in a negative way. On the other hand, in the article “How technology has changed our parenting lives” by Christine Organ, she promotes the use of technology, for it has improved her as a parent. This paper is to examine the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos found within each of the two articles. While each author had a different viewpoint, their rhetorical appeals show both similarities and differences.

The contrast between technology and humans is talked about in Richard Louv’s article from Last Child in the Woods. He uses great strategies to get his point across to the readers. Louv wants everyone to realize how the times have changed and how important technology has become in our lives. He wants to give us a better understanding of how technology has changed our lives. In this article Louv uses rhetorical strategies to prove to his readers that his points are valid. These strategies are telling stories, using important names, and making jokes.

Many authors use rhetorical devices and strategies to get their point across and try to convince the reader to believe in their perspective. It can also be used to get emotions from its readers, but that isn’t really the whole point of persuading someone. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. uses an abundance of pathos in order to make the reader or clergymen feel sympathy towards the black people. Along with pathos, he uses logos and a bundle of hypophora. In order to obtain the goal of persuasion, Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter contains rhetorical devices.

Technology has changed how the world lives today, but technology always hasn't been around. Every year technology surpasses the next with the latest, fastest and reliable stuff. Marketers, producers and authors use Aristotle's three appeals for advertising and attracting more customers. Authors use Aristotle's three appeals to target readers by channeling in emotions, being logical and having credibility.

In this fast-paced society where our lives are surrounded by technology and it is a part of our everyday lives, it is of the utmost importance that we consider and are able to understand the role of technology, not only on our lives but also on society. In his 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, author Ray Bradbury demonstrates the damaging role that technology has on society. Throughout his novel, he constantly reinforces the negative impacts that technology has on us, namely how it replaces meaningful relationships, keeps us oblivious and controls us. As stated, Ray Bradbury uses the novel Fahrenheit 451 as a canvas to show and argue the negative role that technology has on society.

Technology may not be everything it seems. Although worldwide use of various devices and applications has revolutionized the way we live and our culture in a powerful and helpful way, there are many ramifications to be considered. The consequence to this revolution of culture and way of life is carefully observed and portrayed by M.T. Anderson in his novel Feed. Anderson uses the literary art of satire to create characters that are exaggerated versions of people today to reveal their uncontrollable obsession with technology.

What are some ways you could persuade your reader to your opinion? One way is by using logos, pathos, and ethos. What are logos, pathos, and ethos? Those three terms are modes of persuasion used to convince your audience. In the essay Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and The Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson.

In Zadie Smith’s essay “Generation Why”, Smith uses many types of persuasive tactics to convince the readers that Facebook or social media is ruining the generations. Her goal was to give the readers a distinct perspective on how they perceive the social networks. Throughout the essay you may find her words to be offensive or sarcastic, but she still manages to get her point across. However, three specific tactics stood out to me. They are ethos, pathos and logos. I read this article by Big Fish Presentations called “3 Ways to Persuade Your Audience.” In the article, the Big Fish presenters talked mainly on the topic of ethos, pathos and logos. They stated, “When used effectively, these three appeals can be powerful tools for achieving a speaker’s persuasive goal.” However, I feel to believe that Zadie Smith did not execute all three of them for these tactics to be successful or effective in her essay. There are many distinguishable ways that she could have utilized ethos, pathos and logos. However, the manner that she went about it was unexploited.