When an argument is made it is best to use a rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals to effectively execute the point. A rhetorical situation provides the reader with all the information needed to infer insight on the discussion. A rhetorical appeal can persuade an audience into accepting a new opinion or at least consider it however, once an appeal is made by the rhetor it cannot be withdrawn. “Gun Smoke and Mirrors” is an option piece from The New York Times, a noted liberal newspaper. It discusses the increase in school shootings and the overwhelming need for better gun control in response to the recent Parkland County high school shooting. Andrew Rosenthal, columnist for The New York Times, uses his opinion to display a rhetorical situation on the events to come to a possible solution to gun violence. Along the way, he inserts rhetorical appeals such as ethos, logos, and pathos, to better attract his audience. Rosenthal’s rhetorical situation was provoked by Donald Trumps response to gun violence after the Parkland county high school shooting. In his discourse, he claims that Trumps solutions were only partial measures to a bigger need in gun control. Rosenthal disagreed, that the solution does not lay in committing those with suspected mental illnesses, raising the age to buy semiautomatic weapons to 21, or arming teachers. He states that controlling what kind guns civilians can have and how they can publicly carry them would be a better approach. In his article, Rosenthal uses appeals such as ethos to support his opinion. Ethos in a rhetorical situation has a purpose of amping up the rhetor and make their opinion trustworthy and should be avoided if the rhetor could get discredited. Rosenthal, begins his article with strong statement and personal experience. He states off by comparing the purposed solution of committing those with suspected mental illnesses to that of “the Kremlin employed the notion of “sluggish schizophrenia” — dreamed up by the Mengele-like psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky — to imprison people on the ground that they were on their way to becoming insane.”. The statement by itself discredits Rosenthal because it is humor that imposes the method of name calling propaganda that in of itself a low blow. However, he then shares a that he experienced the “notion of “sluggish schizophrenia”” be taken advantage of in the 1980s when he was a reporter in Moscow. A man was committed under the notion on grounds not joining the Red Army. This tidbit of information supports why he would disagree whole heartedly with forced committing those that might have an illness because it could backfire and be used for the wrong purposes. Ethos is creditability that not only directly coms from the author, but the author can also gain credit indirectly by using creditable sources. Rosenthal obtained research studies from the Everytown for Gun Safety organization that includes over 4 million moms, teachers, mayors, and communities who lobby for gun control to make communities safer. Research from the Everytown was Rosenthals main source of logos used to support his disagreement with the purposed solutions to gun violence.
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Logos as a rhetorical appeal is statistic based on actual evidence that is hard to refute. Rosenthal uses a study by Everytown, they “studied 133 acts of mass murder committed between January 2009 and July 2015”. The results concluded that only 1 person was not allowed to buy guns due to mental illness and only 11 percent of the shooters showed concerns of mental illness. This disbands the possible solution of force committing on grounds of suspected mental illness because it will only make a minor difference when there is need for a larger change. Rosenthal also disbands that raising the age for purchase of semiautomatic weapons with the statistic that “only 5 percent of the mass shooters it studied were under 20. And of course, mass shooting victims account for a tiny percentage of the Americans gunned down every year. A majority of children killed by guns are killed by accident, or by their own hand, or by adults, with weapons legally obtained by adults.”. Rosenthal points out that majority of guns that have been used to commit an act of violence was obtained legally, so again the purposed solutions to gun violence will only amount to a minor change to in gun violence. As for pathos, the emotional appeal
Logos as a rhetorical appeal is statistic based on actual evidence that is hard to refute. Rosenthal uses a study by Everytown, they “studied 133 acts of mass murder committed between January 2009 and July 2015”. The results concluded that only 1 person was not allowed to buy guns due to mental illness and only 11 percent of the shooters showed concerns of mental illness. This disbands the possible solution of force committing on grounds of suspected mental illness because it will only make a minor difference when there is need for a larger change. Rosenthal also disbands that raising the age for purchase of semiautomatic weapons with the statistic that “only 5 percent of the mass shooters it studied were under 20. And of course, mass shooting victims account for a tiny percentage of the Americans gunned down every year. A majority of children killed by guns are killed by accident, or by their own hand, or by adults, with weapons legally obtained by adults.”. Rosenthal points out that majority of guns that have been used to commit an act of violence was obtained legally, so again the purposed solutions to gun violence will only amount to a minor change to in gun violence. As for pathos, the emotional appeal