Cultural Rhetoric

Almost everyone has seen an ASPCA commercial at one time or another. While I was watching one of their famous heart wrenching commercials about animal cruelty I realized that there was rhetoric in every last bit of that commercial. The commercial begins with shots of dogs in cages or beaten. Then moves along telling you about the cruelty these animals have endured and how you can help give them hope of a good, safe future. They explain to you how you can help these animals have a better future away from these hardships. By going to their website you can donate and give these poor animals a better future with a better family. This organization is trying to persuade you to give to their cause by using Pathos. Ethos and logos are also used but not as predominately and pathos. By showing the viewer the pictures of these poor beaten animals and playing slow, depressing music along with it they are appealing to your compassion. They have good reason to take this road in their advertisin...

This quarter I watched a Ted Talk done by Aimee Mullins. Aimee Mullins is a double amputee who doesn't have the bottom parts of both her legs. She was born without fibulas in both her legs. She did a talk on how she overcame that obstacle in her path and went to the Paralympics. She started out by telling the audience about her academic scholarship to Georgetown, this was the path which took her straight to the Paralympics. When she was at Georgetown she became interested in Track and Field, being an athletic girl she excelled in the sport. The coach of the team took time to train her personally, and she was blessed with the gift of new running legs. With the help of her coach, she made it to the Paralympics within a year of beginning to run competitively. She faced many struggles in races, but she never let that stop her. Her story is inspiring many today who are either paralegals or amputees. This was a very encouraging speech and has shined a new light for me on the subject...

This past Sunday (12/11/16) my pastor did a sermon on 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead- Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” His message centered around how if Jesus is coming back then he must have resurrected from the dead. If he is coming back and is bringing wrath then he will not inflict that wrath upon the righteous. Even though this is not explicitly stated in this verse we know this is true from past events. In Genesis 18 Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom for the sake of the righteous. In the end God does not spare Sodom, but he does spare Lot’s family, the only righteous family in the city. If God would spare the righteous from his wrath then, who’s to say that he would not spare the righteous now. If Christians are being true to God’s word and following his path then we will be pared from the coming wrath. Still we need to be ready, and we need to wait for the Son to return. My pastor delivered a great serm...