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Examples Of Ethos Pathos Logos

Decent Essays

There are a plethora of controversial topics in the world today. Each issue has multiple sides that are trying to influence people's thoughts and gain their support. “Oil to Die For” and “Climate Change Debate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” are trying to do just that. Persuasion is an art, an art that is even more powerful influence with today's electronically based society. However, some sources are far more persuasive than others. “Climate Change Debate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” is less far less persuasive than “Oil to Die For”, because despite the fact that Jon Oliver uses stronger ethos, “Oil to Die For” has more convincing pathos and logos.
Ethos is increasingly important in the persuasiveness of a selection due to the …show more content…

The pathos in “Oil to Die For” is far stronger than the John Oliver piece based on the types of pathos used. The majority of “Oil to Die for” talks about Dustin Bering, who died in the oil industry. Dustin fell in love with Lacey Breding, was married soon after and then had a beautiful baby girl. The significance of having a young baby connect to everyone and is impossible for the audience to not feel bad for Dustin and his family. In addition, there is a timeline of Dustin’s life that shows not only his past life but glimpses into the future. These later events are especially important because they talk about how his life would have been if he was still alive. This detailed personal information helps to humanize Dustin's story. Creating a deep connection with Dustin is really able to direct the reader. The use of music, the video clips about the commemorative rodeo, and the interviews helps build the connection to Dustin. Overall the articles use of interviews, pictures, events and music generates a feeling of loss and sadness for Dustin, which overpowers the emotion of the John Oliver piece. The John Oliver piece focuses on humor, which makes sense in the context of the source, but isn't ideal for the topic. There is nothing in the jokes that really sticks with the reader or makes them think. By the time the next joke is starting, up there is …show more content…

Global warming is a worldwide issue and can be considered to have the biggest possible audience. However, it has no drastic impact on the day to day life, rather it's a gradual change. The fact that global warming is too broad is likely why studies have found that “people rank global warming lower than local environmental issues”(Konisky). In contrast, Oil drilling can be seen as impacting a comparatively smaller group but at a more drastic scale. National Parks, for example, are in danger of oil drilling due to recent congressional action. As a result of this, “the park service will have essentially no authority over oil and gas development proposed inside national parks. Leaks and spills could go unpunished without NPS authority to enforce safety standards”(Bontrager). Not just people who love national parks are impacted, all people near are at risk of water and air pollution from drilling catastrophes. This is crucial in the persuasive pull of oil because according to a Journal of Academic Health study, the three most important issues to the public are the protection of community drinking water, reducing pollution of U.S. bodies of water, and reducing urban air pollution. This is in comparison to global warming which ranked eighth in importance (Konisky). Without a doubt, this definitely shows that because of the greater and more direct risk

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