Rocko402003’s Weblog

If everything is an argument, then what makes it credible, hold the power to change people’s opinions, and still make a point?  I knew before hand that utilizing ethos and pathos in an argument could turn into a volatile combination if they aren’t used correctly; once I started reading more into the chapter in Everything Is An Argument, on logos, I wondered what kind of an impact on argument these 3 elements could have if they were all combined together.   Once I started thinking about it, though, I realized that I see examples of these combinations all the time, both good and bad.  When you have a credible source (ethos), just enough emotional appeal (pathos), and present it in a manner that allows you to either let facts speak for themselves, or allow people’s common sense to kick in, then the combination for an argument is perfect.  One example of this that I think is a representation of this perfect combination is the public service announcement in the book, ch. 5, pg. 111.  This PSA is one that most people are familiar with presented by the Texas Department of public Safety to stop people from drinking and driving.  The Texas DPS is a credible source, and there is enough emotional appeal in the announcement to pull at people’s heart strings.  The combination of these two things, help logos kick in by sparking off common sense- if you don’t drink and drive, you won’t be responsible for horribly injuring someone with something that they will need to deal with for the rest of their lives.  In class we spoke about the different ways to combine all these different elements to help make an effective argument, and this ad is a perfect representation of what was discussed. 

I know that for these blogs, it’s best to tie what we’ve learned from class and the book to outside elements.  However, the PSA in the book, I think tied everything together so well, and I couldn’t really get past that. Since, my brain kept coming back to this image, this is what I decided to write about.