The ShootingsSpeech, And President Obama's Speech

Despite the several terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, America remained strong and united. In the speech “Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks”, George W. Bush, addresses the terrorist attack of September eleventh to let the citizens know they can overcome a tragic and mournful incident by remaining unified and a powerful country. The primary audience are the citizens and the family members of the ones who had died or were involved in the incident. The secondary audience are the terrorists to let them know American’s are not scared and will stand together against them. Bush uses ethos, pathos, and figurative language to encourage the citizens to be stronger, united, and feel safe.

Tuesday morning, September 11 of 2001, referred to as a day to remember, the twin towers were attacked by terrorists in a hijacked plane. Thousands of lives were lost and it was a day that brought great sorrow to America. George W. Bush, the president at that time, addressed his speech to America as a nation, giving them hope that the events that took place earlier that day would not shake them but that they would come back stronger. In this essay I will evaluate Bush’s formal 9/11 Address to the Nation and discuss the speaker’s appeals to pathos, logos and ethos to convey his message that America can stand tall as one.

December 14, 2012 was a heartbreaking day for America, as twenty children and six adults lost their lives in a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Two days later, President Barack Obama addressed the nation with an interfaith prayer vigil at Newtown High School to help remember those who had lost their lives, and also to convince the nation that changes need to be made. Obama asked America to make an effort to prevent future tragedies such as this one by caring for our children and using our power to help those around us. Through the use of eulogy, appealing to emotions, and structure, the speech attempts to persuade its audience, America, to make an attempt to avoid future tragedies in order to protect our citizens and to help make America a safer place.

The events that took place in America on September 11, 2001 will have a lasting wound on this country forever. President George W. Bush’s speech, “A Great People Has Been Moved to Defend a Great Nation”, gave America something to have hope in. Bush was a republican president and was the 43rd of the United States and was a very passionate man. Although Bush had to make some tough decisions that very day, he was a president that made a lasting impact on America. Throughout Bush’s speech, he effectively covered pathos, ethos, and logos.

President George W. Bush uses pathos in his speech to help unify the people. His wording has people feeling shocked, surprised, and angry. He reasons the cause for the attack was because “we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world” (Bush 7). Bush successfully vilifies the enemy, as it is still strong today, to unify the citizens under a common enemy. He continues pathos with a justice-seeking tone on how he will bring justice to those responsible. With compassion and hope, Bush asks people to pray on behalf of those affected by the

Feelings of concern, compassion, and interest, “Being a president that is willing to come to heart of the tragedy that had just occurred, automatically lifted his character to that of a person who is caring, compassionate, and interested. His sense of eunoia or goodwill was seen throughout his speech,” (Docan.) Other feelings which were shown that day were feelings of sympathy and pity (pathos), “Bush's numerous statements, such as, “The nation sends its love and compassion to everybody who is here”, bring out emotions of pity and sympathy, placing America as the “helpless and harmed”,” (Docan.) He also brought out emotions (pathos) combined with religion (logos), “Bush used an immense amount of religious jargon Phrases such as, “On bended knee in prayer” and “May God bless America,” appealed to both emotions (pathos) and to ways of thought (logos) and religion,” (Docan.) A sense of security was re-established and the American people were reassured that things would turn out fine. This reassurance was seen in the following, “And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear from us soon,” he was not creating fear in American lives, but he was appealing to the fears of whoever knocked down the buildings,” (Docan.)

One of the most detrimental and traumatic events of United States history involves the terrorist attacks on the day of September 11th, in 2001. September 11th is a day countless Americans will never forget. Because our nation encountered such a horrific attack, it was up to our president during the time, President George W. Bush, to address the country. Many Americans suffered loss and fear; therefore, former President George Bush’s goal was to heal and comfort the nation by persuading them to see the light within the darkness. Bush’s speech was a success because he showed America’s togetherness and solidarity by creating an emotional connection to the audience; moreover, by responding appropriately to the attacks, he presented himself with a leadership and role no one else could take.

In his State of the Union Address for 2016, Barack Obama uses logical and ethical arguments to emphasize shared ground rather than partisan disputes. He also taps into the audience’s desire to feel better about themselves and their country. By using humor and irony, Obama paints his opponents into corners, out of which it would require outrageous extremism to effectively squirm away. At its best, this approach demonstrates how much Americans actually have in common in a culture dominated by ideologically polarized cable-news channels, Facebook, and cultural tribes that increasingly live and socialize apart from one another. The president's technique throughout the speech is to frame issues through a rhetorical jujitsu to persuade his opponents,

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook elementary shootings, the NRA executive vice president, Wayne Lapierre, released a statement in a press conference that spoke of how politicians who wanted to make schools a gun free zone only serve to invite all potential killers that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk. “The only thing to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” was an important aspect of his speech, which emphasized the need to protect the children in schools with guns. He made the point that the President is surrounded and protected by Secret Service agents who are armed. Lapierre wanted to employ the millions of qualified and active retired police, active, Reserve, and retired military,

In times when the U.S. confronts serious threats extremist rhetoric sometimes seems appropriate and necessary. One could argue that speeches advocating the end of slavery or the fight against modern terrorists was justified. However, those well meaning words can plant thoughts of violence in the minds of the easily persuaded to commit violence to gain results (Davis upenn.edu). Rhetoric used by political leaders is sometimes uncivil because politicians do not consider the consequences of what they say or do before they execute their plans. With this being said, it would be extremely difficult to remedy the incivility of political discourse without damaging the right of free speech granted by the first amendment; however, President Obama’s speech in Tucson, Arizona offers sound advice for political leaders, speechmakers, and those who have a wide reaching

In the United States alone in 2015 thus far, there have been 353 mass shootings and 74 of those alone were school shootings. Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association, argues that the use of guns and/or armed security in our schools across America could potentially prevent school shootings. In order to support his claim, LaPierre appeals to emotion, trust, logic, and ethics in his speech following the Newtown shooting. In the speech, LaPierre says, “ A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18.”

Have you ever read or heard George W. Bush’s address to the nation on 9/11/01? Well if you haven’t you should it’s very meaningful. It’s full of ethos, pathos, and logos. It’s a very good message about the tragedy. It also helps to send a message about unifying the country.

All over the news we see increasing violence towards our fellow man. In 2017, there was over 400 mass shootings in the United States alone. These mass shooting have left over 1600 injured and over 500 dead. The most notable was the Las Vegas Shooting which has been said to be “the deadliest shooting in modern US history.” This shooting alone left 59 dead and over 500 injured. Many more would have perished if it weren’t for highly trained Emergency Personnel and good Samaritans coming to the rescue. With so many people injured, it was imperative to stop the bleeding to give medical professionals ample time to treat the most severe.

In his speech at the Interfaith Service after the Boston Marathon bombings, President Obama effectively used language to describe the tragedy that had occurred, reference people who were affected by the events, and to encourage the nation to stand up and stay strong. This use of language allowed him to capture the attention of the audience and clearly make his point known. President Obama’s use of language painted a picture of Boston, both before and after the bombings, and brought forward emotions from those who heard his speech.

On January 5, 2016, President Obama gave a speech at the White House announcing his executive action on gun control, which was relevant as there were numerous mass shootings that took place all over the nation. The purpose of his speech was to essentially persuade and inform the public for the need of background checks for buying guns and to urge congress to take action. The fact that Obama had people on stage with him who were affected by gun violence was an attention getter and made his speech powerful as viewers were able to see that gun violence can affect anyone. Obama continued to use Pathos in his speech as he talked about the miracle recovery of former congresswomen Gabrielle Gifford, who was shot in the head during the 2011 Tucson