Ethos, Logos, and Pathos

I felt that this week’s readings and video clips portrayed the rhetoric concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos. Despite the clear presence of logos in both speeches, I felt that the success of the speeches relied more on ethos and pathos. For example, despite the fact that Fannie Lou Hamer’s speech was a testimony, which is categorized under logos, I felt that because of people put their trust in her, or in other words her ethos, she was able to win her second time around. In my opinion, the testimony helped more for her ethos than just as a clear cut piece of evidence. Furthermore, while she spoke quite plainly throughout her speech, her conclusion about living in fear in a land that is supposed to be understanding incites the kind of passion and emotion that should jumpstart the audience to taking action.

In the Stokely Carmichael speech, he did use logos such as mentioning Camus and Sartre to indicate that he is well educated. He also used logos successfully to derive his argument. An example of this in Carmichael’s speech is when he says “Anything all black is bad… I’m all black and I’m all good” (48). However, he succeeds so well with his audience because he has built up his ethos by mentioning his involvement with Martin Luther King Jr. and his knowledge of the SNCC. He then successfully uses pathos to become more intimate with his audiences. He tells many jokes that keep the students attention and often paints situations that really resonate with these students, as seen through the numerous pauses for applause. Overall, in both speeches, I believed that ethos and pathos were used extremely well. I think that because the nature of both speeches it makes sense that emotion and trust is used over facts. If the argument was more along the lines of proving someone’s innocence then statistics and logos would be more appropriate.

The video on the other hand, seemed like it served more of an informative purpose. Therefore it only made sense that the fact that the events were filmed, had judge, lawyer, and participant testimonies makes the video chock full of logos. At the same time however, it still did incite passion, which can be seen in the footage of the students at the restaurant getting beat and the white student that participated in a demonstration getting punched from behind.

My Beliefs

I believe in God and that even people that don’t say it, believe in a greater being. I believe that watches are extremely unnecessary. I believe that closed minded people are the worst. I believe that life goes by too fast. I believe that everybody plays the game a little, but what makes us different is how long we are willing to play. I believe that Roger Federer is the best there ever will be. I believe that too many things are left unsaid. I believe everyone is really smart, but most people don’t want to realize their potential. I believe that there is someone out there for everyone. I believe that every “just kidding” has a little truth in it. I believe that Saturday morning cartoons and nickelodeon have gone down the drain. I believe sleep deprivation leads to some pretty crazy revelations. I believe that work is important, but play is essential. I believe that everything will turn out better than you expect it to. I believe that high expectations lead to disappointment, and low expectations lead to great surprises. I believe that being good at guitar hero or rock band doesn’t mean you can actually play a real instrument. I believe you should have a few good friends, but need at least one great friend. I think luck is the result of hard work and preparation and nothing more. I believe Texas highways and roads are the most confusing things I have ever seen. I believe any movie with Tom Hanks is a movie worth watching. I believe that confidence in your abilities can take you as far as you want to go.

What exactly is a protest?

To me, a protest is action taken against an establishment that people find unfavorable. While my definition may sound a little ambiguous, it is because there are numerous types of protests that can differ enormously from each other. All protests, however, have a few things in common. The first component of a protest is the people that are involved in it. Even if it is only one person, as long as they are displeased with something, a protest becomes valid. Second, there is always something, whether it is a law, policy, or belief, which people believe is wrong or flawed. Finally, there is always some sort of action that is being done as a protest. These actions can range from standing in front of a building with signs to even things such as inaction, like not buying a certain book. Pretty much anything can be protested provided that these elements are present.

But what defines the success of a protest? While some believe that a protest is only successful if the main goal is reached, I believe that its overall success includes how much attention it garners and its size as well as the completion of its goals. This is because a protest is not always something that ends quickly. In fact, most of the major movements in history spanned years or even decades, such as civil rights and women suffrage. Therefore, the more attention a protest can garner, the more its message is spread, leading to a possibly larger following. With a larger following, the chances for a protest’s success increases exponentially. After all, most things in society are decided by majority rule, including decisions made in congress. With this in mind, I must caution that I do not believe successful protests mean the prevailing belief is right. It simply means that for whatever reasons, enough opinion was swayed in the protest’s direction.