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Pathos For Vaccines

Decent Essays

Persuasive Case Study Analysis
In the United States, there is a great ideological debate afoot regarding the vaccination of children. In the 2015 editorial “I'm Coming Out... as Pro-Vaccine” parenting culture writer JJ Keith outlines various points of view regarding vaccines. While Keith’s agenda in the writings is expressly to defend and encourage the practice vaccinating children, the author also attempts to acknowledge, address, and rebuke the concerns of “anti-vaxers” (para. 11). In an effort to urge readers to reconsider their position on childhood vaccinations, the author utilizes multiple forms of rhetoric.
Persuasive Rhetoric
In short, rhetoric is the art of achieving effective communication, particularly through the use of compositional …show more content…

Pathos is an appeal to the emotion of an audience (Gross & Walzer, 2000). Through the use of compositional techniques, such as simile and metaphor, or even tone, the speaker attempts to solicited an emotional reaction from the audience. In the case of Keith’s pro-vaccination argument, in one paragraph there is a visual form of pathos utilized. In boldfaced type Keith states,“Vaccines are different from every other parenting issue in that the choices that parents make affect everyone else as well. Vaccines are everyone's business” (para. 12). The passage reads as a plea, exactly as it is intended as to incited audience …show more content…

Logos is the rhetorical appeal referencing logic (Gross & Walzer, 2000). More specifically, logos is typically expressed through the figures and facts a speaker cites (Gross & Walzer, 2000). The proper use of logos can add to the perception ethos, or credibility, of the speaker to the audience (Gross & Walzer, 2000). In one of Keith’s most compelling arguments, the author explains that in order for herd immunity to be effective, vaccination rates need to be at approximately of 80 percent (para. 4). Not only does the use of statistics enhance the author’s logos, the inclusion of a citation of where that specific information came from is the icing on the cake. Burke's Rhetoric Of Motives Burke's rhetoric of motives, unlike Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals, is rooted in one overlying concept referred to as identification (Burke, 1969). The chief concept of identification is in order for persuasion to occur, one party must "identify" with another (Burke, 1969). However, there are various, specific facets of identification such as identification and consubstantiality, identification and property, identification and autonomy, and identification and cunning (Hansen, n.d.).

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