Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Reasons Are Bullshit'

Politicians are the most persuasive people in the world. During an election, the most successful politicians are those who use Aristotle’s three appeals (Logos, Pathos, and Ethos) effectively. By not only establishing themselves with voters, but also appealing to voters’ emotional side and using evidence to support the effectiveness of their political platform. As a politician persuades voters, an author must similarly persuade their audience. For an author to persuade an audience, the author must use the three appeals effectively; in which, when observing the works of Nicholas Carr, Alexis Madrigal, and Rev. Billy Graham respectively, it is shown that all three authors use one of the appeals effectively.

Our teacher, Mrs. Hetrick, provided the answer to our question: “These essays could have easily been generated by a computer program. They tell me nothing about yourselves; why in the world you are telling me all of this? You need to make me care about the message you are conveying, otherwise, your writing is useless.” She then told us that while we were all communicating in the proper format, we had failed to take into consideration whom our audience was. In order to truly persuade and influence our audience, we had to do more than place complicated ideas into a grammatically immaculate sentences; we need to show the audience why they should care about our writing; otherwise, they will just lose interest. I realize now that this experience provided a stable foundation for what I consider to be an example of passionate rhetorical ability, which helps me reflect on what authors Wallace deems as “good” through their rhetorical strategies.

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

Murray employs the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos throughout the essay. The pathos, or pathetic appeal, of the argument is based on what Murray believes is society’s misalignment of understanding when it comes to propelling that all youth prepare to attend college. He makes the claim that a student with a natural liking for the rigorous abilities that it takes to complete a college education, and whose test scores indicate the threshold for college readiness, is more likely to succeed than an individual who doesn’t enjoy the work and who also tests low (PARAGRAPH 11). And because of this misalignment, those low testing, students are being set up to fail. The essay’s ethical appeal suggests that guidance counselors, teacher, political figures and others with a vested interest in a student’s progress, should do more to help students understand what their strengths are and that college is not always the best route for them to take (PARAGRAPH 41). Lastly, the appeal to logos, or the logical appeal is the basis of

In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater” written by David Zinczenko he argues that children suing the fast food industries may not be entirely wrong for doing so. He goes on to advocate that fast food companies neglect to fully inform their consumers properly. Throughout his arguments, he uses the different forms of rhetorical analysis to emphasize his point. These persuasion techniques allow us as the reader to see the article with further clarity. One of the persuasion techniques he uses is logos (logic), this is the act of stating facts, evidence, and reasons. The next persuasion technique is ethos (credibility), he briefly educates us on his current occupation which allows us to trust his words. Lastly, Zinczenko uses pathos (emotion), he appeals to our emotions and feelings by giving

Murray applies the rhetorical appeals of pathos, ethos, and logos throughout the essay. His rhetorical appeal on pathos is used to help promote his view on society’s misalignment of understanding that all youth should be prepared to attend college. He argues that a student who has the natural abilities for liking the stringent work it takes to complete a college education, and whose SAT scores meets the threshold for college readiness, is more likely to succeed than a student that does not have those same abilities. Because these student s are grouped as one and are all given one option the students who do not have those abilities are being set up to fail ( Murray 227). Murray’s ethos appeal propose that guidance counselors and others with a vested interest in a student’s should take heed to the student’s strengths and they may realize college is not the best option. Murray argues, “Guidance counselors and parents who automatically encourage young people to go to college straight out of high school regardless of their skills and interests are being thoughtless about the best interests of young people in

The novel Thank You For Arguing written by Jay Heinrichs teaches us the persuasive tactics behind an effective argument. Heinrichs emphasizes the importance of rhetoric by adapting persuasive tools to modern day situations. A former journalist and now an advocate for rhetoric, Jay Heinrichs has aimed to restore the art of persuasion by teaching it to his audience.

The authors capture the attention of the reader through an amalgamate of rhetorical patterns based on logos, ethos and pathos. Through reading these articles it is found that the writers predominantly use logos and pathos to put emphasis on their arguments. Specifically, logos is utilized to appeal to reason by repeatedly using data to uphold the arguments claims, while pathos appeals to the audience’s aptitude for compassion.

All good essays use some combination of the three rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos is an appeal to logical reasoning and how a writer puts together a cohesive, flowing argument. Ethos is an appeal to a writer’s credibility and good character, while pathos is an appeal to the emotions of the audience. “The Great White Way” by Debra J. Dickerson is an essay that questions America’s racial and social norm of “whiteness”. Dickerson describes how the terms of being “white” have differed over the past century and how this infatuation with race still defines American society.

In Lian Dolan’s “Carry Your Own Skis,” she effectively used all three rhetorical appeals to convince the audience that responsibility is necessary to be a part of the things that you enjoy. Through the use of ethos, she established a sense of trust in the reader. Through the use of pathos, she created an emotional sway and implemented a bit of humor. By using logos in an unconventional way, Dolan rationalized her mindset into a simple statement that summarized how the audience should carry themselves. The author used these appeals to persuade the audience that her message was the right one.

In Eric Hartman’s, “Let Those Who Ride Decide!”, Hartman uses logos, ethos, and pathos to persuade his audience into agreeing with his position on the debate as to whether or not motorcyclists should wear helmets. Using these three modes of persuasion, Hartman intends to appeal to his audience in different ways to ensure that his argument is strong and convincing. It is very important for writers to use these types of persuasion due to the fact that without them, the essay’s argument would be very weak and less likely to persuade an audience.

Excuses. They are the fabrications humans create to justify an unexpected or unpleasant event. Whether it be blaming the traffic for one's tardiness rather than admitting that they hit the snooze button or blaming ourselves for losing money in investments rather than looking further into the situation in order to understand that it was the bank's fault for making a bad business deal; excuses bury the true cause of an event. In Daniel Gilbert's "Immune to Reality", he describes the excuses people make as people being "immune to reality", and suggests that "people are typically unaware of the reasons they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one" (131). A few situations, in which Daniel Gilbert's described

The first essential of persuasion involves the structure of the argument being posed by one who is trying to provoke others to action. In order to convince someone of a new argument, idea or moral, one must use the proper methods: logos, ethos and pathos. According to Hauser, “The method

In the first two chapters of the book The Achievement Habit, Bernard Roth talks about how “nothing is what you think it is” (Roth 14) and “reasons are bullshit” (Roth 37). Bernard Roth has been a professor for many years and in his book, he directs his message to college students and young adults. He introduces a perspective for life and gives other tips along the way in the first chapter. In the next chapter of the book he explains how reasons are prettied up excuses and how one must be confident in their actions. Throughout both chapters Roth tries to persuade young adults to open their mind and look at things with a different viewpoint. Roth uses the rhetorical approach of pathos and ethos very well, but his logical reasoning

Bernard Roth begins the first line of the first chapter “Nothing Is What You Think It Is” of his book, The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life, with the phrase, “Your life has no meaning” (Roth 15). In the second paragraph, he goes on to explain what he means by the statement. Roth is trying to get you to change your perspective on life, your behavior, success, and happiness (15). Throughout the rest of the chapter, Roth uses this basis to explain that everything is within your control; people can control their actions and reactions to situations. Being a professor at Stanford alone could give Bernard Roth plenty of credibility on its own. However, it definitely helps that he has 216 publications in various journals and books, has a mechanical engineering doctorate degree from Columbia, and is also one of the founders of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (“Bernard”). Roth does extremely in getting this idea to come through in his text with various use of ethical appeals (ethos), logical appeals (logos), and emotional appeals (pathos).