Obama's Ethos

According to Richard Lanham, Rhetorical Man is identified as actor whose sense of identity depends on the support of “daily histrionic reenactment.” I see this kind of person as lively as well as dramatic. By identifying as an actor, Rhetorical Man, I assume, can adjust themselves to any ‘character’ they put on. This is not to say that they do not have their own characteristic. They do. However, their nature selves are not rigid. They are fluid to adapt to the situation they have. Moreover, this person is believed not to dwell in a single value structure for they have several which change constantly. Therefore, they occupy a complex and dramatic reality. Rhetorical man is also perceived as an explorer of resources.

The advertisement by WWF uses rhetorical strategies such as an establishment of ethos, and an appeal to logos and pathos. WWF establishes ethos by being a world wildlife program who “is at work in more than 40 countries...and collaborating with governments and coastal communities,” which demonstrates their credibility. They appeal to logos by offering statistics such as that “ten million people in sub-Saharan Africa make a living fishing,” and that the “number of fish in their waters has declined by 50 percent.” By offering these concrete numbers and statistics, WWF establishes a logical advertisement. Pathos is appealed by this advertisement by including phrases such as “Protecting the Future of Nature”, “protect marine populations,” and “ensure

From line 100“ Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you.” Obama is referring to the American dream. Mentioning personal freedom and responsibility for ones own destiny. He explains that with hard work you can accomplish everything you want, no matter background or social rank. From the line 105 – 110 – 115 Obama is stressing his statement by giving some concrete examples about how real people with all sorts of difficulties, made it through hard work and determination. This is an example of logos, because he is giving concrete examples that are supportive to the message of the speech. From line 170 he is again referring to the American dream. “The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. “

In his speech, “Remarks by the President in a National Address to America’s Schoolchildren,” Obama effectively argues his claim, that kids should go to school and try very hard to succeed to schoolchildren around the U.S. He effectively argues his claim because he uses supporting details and stories of students that have undergone tough situations, but still overcame those obstacles to succeed and school. Also, he is trying to tell kids that they should do well in school to get a good job and make a difference. He also uses rhetorical appeals to help with the supporting details. One of supporting evidence that he brought up was that if someone wants to become something such as a doctor, or lawyer you will need a good education to do

In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.

In paragraphs 29-31, Swift mentions several expedients, such as taxes, wearing homemade clothes, rejecting foreign luxury, curing vices among women, instilling the virtues of patriotism, taxing the absentees, and rejecting divisiveness while promoting honest, industry, and skill. Swift’s speaker stated at the end of all his expending, “How preceptors!” Swift’s rhetorical purpose is to make the reader realize that he is ironic as well as understand what he actually stands for. The reader learns that Swift is forced to resort to ironic tone to reveal his true intention, which would otherwise go unnoticed. Swift is ironic because there is no way his expedients could succeed in a time that Ireland was in, he was mainly trying to highly the economic problems affecting the county at the time.

One aspect that he clearly states is how race relations improved, which creates America a better place to pursue education. This speech applies to the students because Obama wants them to know how amazing that America’s education has changed to focus on all people, no matter what’s your race, gender, and sexuality. It important that everyone should pursue education to follow their goals and dreams.

Move over, parents and teachers. Someone with even more authority wants to tell kids to work harder in school: the president of the United States of America. In 2009, in the first year of his presidency, Barack Obama opened the school year with a speech to students, asking them to take charge of their own education. His speech, which he filled with many anecdotes meant to establish credibility and create inspiration, sent students an important message about their education. However, Obama could have made his speech stronger if he had avoided several missteps in the content and delivery of his message.

Living in a country that provides access to great health care, one would expect the United States to have a sufficient supply of medical professionals such as doctors. After all, the country has a booming population and is home to many respected institutions with driven and compassionate medical students. However, in the March 3, 2015 edition of The Washington Post, Lenny Bernstein addresses a relatively new problem in healthcare. In the article, “U.S. Faces 90,000 Doctor Shortage by 2025, Medical School Association Warns”, Bernstein successfully creates a real sense of this crisis through his use of logos and diction to address the expected shortage of medical doctors.

Rhetoric is a significant part of our everyday lives. Whether it's convincing our friends to go to a concert on the weekend, to go to a certain place for lunch, or even convincing yourself to do something that you should but don't want to do. Rhetoric is all around us today. Billboard ads, television commercials, newspaper ads, political speeches, even news stories all try, to some degree, to sway our opinion or convince us to take some sort of action. If you take a step back to look and think about it, rhetoric, in all actuality, shapes our lives. Every day we have an array of options of things to do or things to buy. So every day, our opinion or actions are being influenced, however minutely, by rhetoric.

As a modern-day student of English Composition, how is the study of rhetoric and rhetorical canon valuable to me? Prior to beginning this assignment I had very little knowledge of the term rhetoric, or rhetorical cannon when asked to write anything. In elementary school, our teachers taught us sentence structure, vocabulary, and the basics of writing for testing purposes, nevertheless reading this assignment showed me that rhetoric is basically the core of almost everything that we read every day.

Paul Keating’s speech ‘funeral service of the unknown Australian soldier’ and Noel Pearson’s speech ‘an Australian history for us all’ have developed and expressed ideas using language appropriate to their audience, purpose and form. Despite the fact, it is fundamentally the speaker’s skills in the construction of the speech that determine its decisive success.

In Rhetoric, it is very easy to manipulate someone, but if someone can learn to use these rhetorical tools to push a point, but not manipulate them, then it is moral. There is a fine line between rhetoric and truth. The question is, should we strive to be on that line or stay away from it? Rhetoric could be for truth, trying to push Christianity, while truth is always moral and never for evil. Rhetoric is the art of using words skillfully in speaking or writing.

1. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States due to texting. Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 and 29, who admitted to texting while driving. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/texting-while-driving-statistics.html)

The World Wide Fund for Nature or WWF for short has worked at reducing our carbon footprint for over 45 years. Even since 1985, the World Wildlife Fund Network has invested over $1.165 billion in more than 11,000 projects. According to the WWF website, their mission is to conserve nature which they are actively doing in 100 countries with 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. There are several ways that everyone can do their part in supporting WWF. Supporters can donate money, adopt a species, or take action and directly help conserve our environment. I am going to discuss WWF’s cause and importance, how they are working to conserve nature, and how all of you can help support the cause.