Skip to main content

Outrage Over 6 Month Sentence for Brock Turner

Since it is the last day of school and I still needed to do my blogpost, my natural reaction was to go on CNN and find a story. I saw stories about the presidential candidates and how Kim Jong Un was smoking during an anti-smoking event. Then I saw a story of a Stanford girl who was raped. I didn’t hear about the story until Wednesday when I overheard a group of friends talking about it. I won’t go into detail about what happened to the girl, but I will talk about the main controversy over the whole situation. The average time for rapist being convicted is 9.8 years and the average time served is 5.4 years, but the man who committed the crime was only sentenced to 6 months and can get out on 3 months for good behavior. Once he gets released he will be a registered sex offender and won’t be able to live within 1,000 feet of a school or childcare facility.

There are two different sides to this story, the story of the man and the story of the victim. A lot of news stories were using pathos and logos to defend the man. They said if he was convicted of a harsher sentence, it would ruin his life and he would have no future. They also said that they victim had it coming, getting drunk and passing out. They try and use rhetoric to make you feel bad for the man. The other side of the story was the one of the victim. She wrote her own personal statement to the judge about the situation. I don't think she was trying to use rhetoric and make people feel bad, but she was sincerely writing her story. The whole situation is bad and I feel very bad for the girl, I hope the situation gets better for her.
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 6, 2016 at 4:46 PM

    Both the defense of the boy and the critics of the decision seem to use pathos as their main source of persuasion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 6, 2016 at 5:40 PM

    I would love to see more information in this post as it seems rushed. I would also like to see specific uses of pathos and logos. It is an extremely controversial topic though and it showcases the sinful world that we live in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Abigail OverbeyOctober 18, 2016 at 11:52 AM

    This is a very sad article and it is tough how to feel about it. Though there are good arguments justifying why Turner should be let go in that time and all that, it still does not make what he did right. Rhetoric is extremely active when it comes to crimes as, like Brennan said, there are two very real sides. Overall this post was well written and very informational.

    Caleb

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Happiness

While at the movie theaters to see The Maze Runner , I saw a commercial that featured rhetoric. The commercial begins with a young woman named Jess purchasing two Coca Cola drinks in a convenience store. One has her own name on it, and one has the name of her friend Alisha on it. The cashier watches her forlornly as she leaves, hinting that he has a crush on his customer. Jess gives the Coke with Alisha’s name on it to her friend, and together the two friends drink them. Later, Jess, Alisha and two other friends come back into the store to buy more Coke, then leave and have a good time together. Jess keeps coming back to the store with more and more friends, each time purchasing Coca Cola with their names printed on the labels. The cashier smiles and watches, but it is clear that he wishes he was with Jess.  Finally, as the cashier is closing the store for the night, Jess shows up at the door with a Coke that has the name Chris on it. She smiles and hands the drink to the ...
4 comments
Read more

Lift Off: Harvard Graduation Speech

Donovan Livingston graduated from Harvard University in 2016. He was asked to speak at the graduation so he did. Donovan wrote a poem called “Lift Off”. In it he spoke of his life. His ancestors and slavery. He spoke of a new hope. A hope that kids can have to reach for the stars and to be up with them. He spoke of how each and every person has the ability to succeed and to exceed any expectations set for them. In his closing line, Livingston said “They say that the sky's the limit, but it is only the beginning. Lift off.” His speech was one of power and he used many rhetorical devices. Livingston was a Harvard graduate and to establish himself more as a speaker he talked about how he had given a similar type of speech at his high school graduation. He used pathos when talking about his life. About what he was like in school and how his teacher used his energy to make him a great speaker. The logos used was that he was one of the top members in his class and so he knew what he ...
1 comment
Read more

Marilyn Monroe's Shampoo

While browsing on Google I found an old advertisement.  The ad was for Lustre-Crème Shampoo. It featured Marilyn Monroe, known for her beauteous looks and her parts in different movies. One of her movies was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Lustre-Crème was attempting to sell their shampoo through the use of fallacies. By saying that Marilyn Monroe that tells you nothing about the actual product: it simply attracts you to the pretty face in the picture. Using this as an argument of why someone should buy your product is quite illogical. Just because Marilyn Monroe uses it doesn’t provide assurance of its abilities. They attempt using snob appeal by trying to make the audience believe that they could be like Marilyn Monroe if they use the same product as her. They use appeal to illegitimate authority by using Marilyn Monroe to promote their product. Although she herself is a customer, this is still rather irrelevant. She herself has no type of expertise in hair products and knows nothing t...
3 comments
Read more