Malachi Ritscher’s ethos was built mainly by the testimonies of the people that were closest to him. Unfortunately, even these people only knew him at a superficial level. They knew that he was a dedicated man, as seen by his continual appearances on the
On the other hand, Cindy Sheehan was directly affected by the war that she was protesting. The fact that her son Casey died in the war, gives her strong connection to her cause. We further see her dedication to the cause as she initiated such large protests such as
I think that the most persuasive way to establish ethos is for someone to do the research on a subject. If someone can show that they are well informed on a topic they can better attract supporters. For example Cindy Sheehan’s son’s death directly involved her in the debate and made her appeal legitimate. Ritscher, however, suffered no direct injury from his cause, and with his hermit lifestyle, he had no where near enough ethos for people to think his self-immolation was more than a flashy act.
5 comments:
Tim,
Do you think that Cindy Sheehan would have been so passionate if her son had not died? It's just a point that Anmol got me thinking about in his blog. I think so much of her protest was based on pathos. It did not show much evidence of logos at all. I think if she had been thinking logically she would not have harshly critized the people that were not able to make it.
i agree with what you said about knowing your topic adding to your ethos but i don't think that i would say that Sheehan having lost a son makes her an expert. i think it just makes her an upset mother. she knows what it's like to lost a son yes but that doesn't mean she knows anything about the government or the war.
That was interesting what you said about Malachi not establishing good ethos. It's true that the people only knew him at a superficial level and this does not fly when you really want to have a strong, successful following. The people should know more about the individual
I agree with your comment about the importance of doing research on the topic that you are protesting. Having a rich knowledge in the background of any situation can do nothing but help your credibility. Also, I think that it is important when your protesting to proove that you know both sides of the situation and that your protest is not purely done out of emotions. I believe that if Cindy Sheehan was a little less abrassive and showed her knowledge on both ends of the situation she would be able to gain even more followers then she already has.
I like the equal distribution on the commentary, you definitely analyzed both sides well. I think that your comment on the fact that the story on Malachi is third person perpective of his peers rather than the direct coverage of Cindy. My main comment on your post is that you end the Malachi paragraph by stating that his type of protest fell short of effect because it failed to establish proper ethos. I only wish that you would elaborate a little more on this comment, but beyond this, it is a great post
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