Cultural Rhetoric

With the upcoming Presidential election only a couple of weeks away, Youtube has been playing numerous politically driven ads. One that has been especially noticeable runs for thirty seconds about how Hillary Clinton has fought for children her entire career as a lawyer and politician. It goes through a series of video clips throughout her career that highlight an emphasis on children. The various clips range from when she was a young, promising lawyer to another of her Senate race in 2000. The advertisement uses ethos by building up the character of Clinton. It makes the viewer believe that Hillary is noble because she dedicated her life’s work to children. The ad also uses logos by giving a logical reason to vote for Hillary. If Hillary spent her entire career, which could have been extremely lucrative, on children then she must care more than just herself. It makes a distinction between normal politicians, that are viewed as self driven, and Hillary who the advertisement portray...

This past Tuesday, February 28th, Donald Trump gave his first address to congress. Trump’s speech was considered by most as a massive success for any President, let only one that has historically low approval ratings. In fact, the approval rating for his speech, at seventy percent, is almost double his actual approval rating at forty-three percent. The speech mainly consisted of Trump elaborating on his vague presidential platform. He urged congress to replace Obamacare, support his new government agency V.O.I.C.E. ( Victims of Immigration Crime Enforcement office), and spend one trillion dollars on infrastructure. The reason Trump’s speech was so successfully was because it was the first time that he seemed presidential. The speech, which was mostly scripted, kept Trump from saying any outrageous statements, similar to the ones that got him elected. Trump’s speech was full or rhetorical examples, which is unusual for someone that speaks so exhaustingly without giving much thought...

A couple weeks ago, the Priest at my parish got up and spoke passionately about something that seemed quite odd for a normal Mass. It was about abortion, which is a quite controversial topic. It seemed weird that a Priest would decide to deviate from a normal sermon to speak about abortion. As soon as the Father spoke, the atmosphere of church completely changed. It became serious, the Father’s tone of voice was more emotional than it had ever been before. First, the Father talked about the problem that American’s faced and could solve if we worked together. Then he began to explain why abortion was such a large issue today. It stemmed from one thing, a lack of respect for life.  The Father urged everyone to respect life, not only by opposing abortion but by caring for each person we encounter. The those three words, “respect for life”, have stuck in my mind for over a month. Not only because the are true and important but because of the way they were delivered. The Priest, by vi...