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Rhetorical Analysis

Decent Essays

The Editorial Board of The Sacramento Bee, in their opinion editorial, “California is Adult in the Room Amid Childishness Over Bathrooms” (16 February 2016), argues that going to the bathroom is a necessity, and thus, lawmakers should not pass laws that base the legal use of bathrooms on the gender from one’s birth. They support their claim by first exposing the faults in the opposite side's opinions, then providing information on California’s plan for bathrooms, then promoting California’s policy that takes safety and comfort into consideration, and finally posing the solution of replacing gender-biased signs on the bathrooms with “all-gender” signs. The Editorial Board’s purpose is to make people who support strict gender-based bathroom laws …show more content…

For instance, the following is an example of ethos: “South Dakota’s Rep. Thomas Brunner rationalized it this way: ‘Most of us are pretty traditional. We raised a family and we just think it’s a lot simpler that girls use the girls’ bathroom and boys use the boys’ bathroom.’” By stating opinions about the opposing side in the following excerpt from the article, the Editorial Board appears more reliable since they directly quote the other side’s viewpoint. The audience, then, believes that they are reading a comprehensive article that takes in account of both sides of the controversial topic. When using the rhetorical strategy logos, the Editorial Board states facts in way that make the opposing side’s views seem foolish and nonsense. For example, this following quote from the editorial “California is Adult in the Room Amid Childishness Over Bathrooms” demonstrates that strategy: “Using the bathroom is, after all, a human necessity. Gender is irrelevant to the equation.” Based on the fact that every human must use the bathroom, gender should not be a factor whether someone should or should not use a public restroom. Such logic is very convincing to the audience, but the clever uses of pathos transform the article into a comical mock against the other opponent’s opinions. The following excerpt demonstrates the amusing humor of the Editorial Board:

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