American kids are immature

From where is stand I think lowering the drinking age in America would not work at all. In other places, with lower drinking limits teens are pretty mature and they don't really have a lot of restrictions, therefore, having to mature way faster than other individuals. In central America some teens at a very young age have to work and are pretty much put out into the real world at a very young age, some kids don't even go to school. So they mature at an exponential rate compared to American kids. Americans teens and I'm not saying all are, but a majority are very sheltered, they're kept safe in their suburbs and sheltered from a lot. Mentally they're very immature and mixing that with alcohol I think a lot of bad will come out of it. A lot of bad does come out of underage drinking despite having really strong alcohol laws, you hear about drinking and driving, and allegations of sexual assault. I really think that lowering the drinking age would not only be a really bad thing to do but it would further enable teens to develop bad drinking habits and would only lead towards more chaos.

Fire Arms

Growing up in a hometown where gun violence is the cause of most deaths in my city is disappointing. I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Honestly, I believe that we have the right to bear arms but to a certain extent. In my hometown innocent people are not losing their lives because the person being the trigger does not feel safe, they are losing their lives because these guns are being put in the wrong hands. From gang bangers, to drug dealers, etc. A mother should not have to lose her child because they are caught in a middle of a gang war on their way home from school. It's disappointing that I can sit here and write about this right now.

Two weeks ago it was a headline on the news that Chicago went a whole 24hrs without anybody getting shot. Everyone from my hometown were sharing it on their social medias as if it was a celebration. Really it was an indication on how bad gun violence really if out there.We need to put the gun down and keep the peace , Chicago is depending on it.

Importance of Rhetoric and the appeals

Using Rhetoric in everyday life is important in order to prove a point. Using appeals like logos, ethos,  and pathos helps prove the point trying to be made. People are more likely to listen to you if you have something that will back you up. For example, if you wanted to convince someone that they should go onto a vegan diet you might want to use the different appeals. You could use pathos and talk about animals and how they are mistreated, ethos could give an example from an important authority figure,  and logos could possibly give statistics about how people are healthier on this new diet. People would be more willing to listen to you and try your suggestion with these appeals rather than if you just simply stated your point. The appeals help rhetoric have a stronger argument and come off more credible in the long run.

Climate change

Some people don't want to believe it but its almost impossible not to believe that our climate is changing. I'm neutral when it comes to why it is changing weather or not its man made or natural causes cause that's more complex than I can handle but I do know one thing and that is the climate is changing. After doing research these causes that are happening can be very dangerous to us people. According to National Geographic the greenhouse effect is what helps are world keep the temp it does and without this effect our world would average -18 degrees. That's super cold so this is why we need to make a change. You already see many car companies making electric cars and this is a great step towards a healthier world. There's so much more us the people can do though like recycle and stop trashing our earth. This is our home we need to protect it.

Why we should have guns

We live in a world today that is violent and cruel and I think most people can agree with that. There are people that are out there that will say its the guns that kill people well they are wrong. The gun doesn't go off by itself its the people using them and that don't know how to use them. If we were to get rid of guns there would still be violence all over the world and I believe taking guns away from the people is just wrong. So why should we be able to have guns? The first main reason is easy, its a constitutional right and people fought for that right so we deserve it. Another reason is many of our ancestors used guns to find food and other things its a part of history and we cant change history we shouldn't be able to take guns away when it was a historical event. So with these reasons is why we should be aloud to have guns and never be scared that they will be taken from the people.

Animal Testing in the Cosmetic World

When you hear animal testing, what do you think of? Pharmaceuticals and drug testing is what comes to my mind and usually many others. But what about cosmetic animal testing. Just like drug testing, cosmetic testing on animals can still harm our furry friends. They put the animals through a test called LD50 which stands for lethal dose 50%. They test the product or drug on the animals and wait for half of them to die to determine the safety of the product. In this time the animals can suffer from seizures, convulsions, and paralysis. Also, can we talk about how many cosmetic products are launched in a year and how many used animal testing. There can be more than 5 new products launched in a month. Now, there are multiple brands that test on animals, Estée Lauder, Avon, NARS,  Benefit and much more. Every time they put a product out you can bet they had to run everything through animal testing and we are only seeing the final product. Many times these companies go through trials of trying to find the right formula. This leads to wasting lots of money of animal testing when in all reality animals most likely will not respond the same way a human would to the makeup. I know from personal experience there are a few products that I cannot use because they itch or give me a rash and I am not just talking about me having an allergic reaction to an ingredient but friends and family who also cannot use those products. So, in those cases animal testing did them no good and they just wasted a lot of money for a product that doesn't even work. Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Alcohol and Neglect

Many people try to argue all of the good sides to alcohol and even reasons why the drinking age should be lowered. There are many dangers to alcohol though, and they can affect many people negatively. Alcohol has become a huge factor to kids being neglected and taken away from their families. More and more kids are being taken from their families, put into foster care, and just overall living in absolute fear. These children are at greater risk for having emotional problems than children whose parents are not alcoholics. Alcoholism also runs in families, and children of alcoholics are  more likely than other children to become alcoholics themselves. Children should grow up in homes where they have strong role models to look up to. Kids from families that abuse alcohol see that behavior and may grow up to do that same thing and possibly even neglect their future family. Alcohol can create a cycle of bad habits and neglect and it is for sure something to look out for. 

Why 21?

Have you ever asked yourself the question "why is the legal drinking age in America 21?" When you look at it, it does really make much sense because in our country you are considered an adult at the age of 18. When a person turns 18 they are able to do the same things that all other adults are able to do except for one thing, which is purchase and posses alcohol legally in any state. An 18 year old citizen in our society is able to own a gun, house, car, enlist in the military, and many other things except for purchasing alcohol. If you have ever wondered why this is it is largely due to political reasons. In 1984 there was a National Minimum Drinking Age Act set at the age of 21 and each state was largely influenced to enforce this act by the federal government because if they failed to do so they would lose up to 10 percent of their federal highway funding. Do you think that it is right for citizens to be considered legal adults in our society at the age of 18 but not be legally allowed to purchase alcohol? Do you think that the federal drinking age should be lowered to 18 to match the legal age restriction of pretty much everything else in our society and the legal drinking age of many other developed countries around the world, or do you think that the age restrictions of everything else should also be raised to 21? In your opinion, are you for or against the national drinking age in our country being 21?       

Columbus Day?

When people think about Columbus day or Christopher Columbus they usually think about the European guy who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and discovered America. When he arrived he actually never landed in America, but he did land on islands in Central and Southern America. Most people are taught about Christopher Columbus in school when they are young and he usually is credited with discovering America and is thought to be a good guy and even a hero by some people.
What most people are not taught about in school are the horrific things that really happened when Columbus arrived and all of the horrible things that him and his men did to the native people. The Spanish conquistadors committed mass genocide on many different tribes of native people and on multiple different islands. They were able to take them as slaves and work them to death for their own selfish economic gains in order to try and please the king of Spain on the other side of the world. The main reason that they were able to take the native people by force with such ease was because they had the unfair advantage of gun powder and steel weapons. When you really look at what happened, do you think it is right that we celebrate this man the way that we do and recognize him as a national holiday? Do you think that Columbus gets more credit than he really deserves from the American people? Do you think that there is anything wrong with the way that the Story of Christopher Columbus is taught to young children in schools all across America?     

Is hunting good for the earth

All over the world hunting is done either for trophy hunting or for a source of food but to say if its beneficial or not is hard to say. There are many different variables that go into this question because theres so many different types of it. I think the best way to look at it is by areas in the world, for example in Texas there is a major wild pig population that is tearing the state apart. Hunting has been opened up to hunt these wild pigs and this helps the farmers in the state. Now this is only beneficial to humans but the pigs also takes food from other native animals in the area that are negatively affected from the pigs and by humans keeping the wild pig population under control its benefiting everything.


This picture shows what the pigs can do to a yard, imagine 3 to 5 million of these pigs around the state doing this to everything in their path.

There are other cases in time where hunting has helped keep populations of animals in the correct balance like the deer and coyote population. The main thing you have to understand that the average hunter wants whats best for the animals and the environment. Because if they animal that they are hunting goes extinct, then they cant hunt them anymore. Depending on certain populations of animals they will open up a season for that animal longer or shorter and limit or expand how many people can hunt these animals.

There are also cases of hunting that are looked down upon like the hunting of elephants and lions and stuff like that. Majority of these people are doing it illegally and are pouching the animal. These people are not following the law and shouldn't be considered hunters as they are not following simple rules. Just like people who do illegal things such as someone selling illegal drugs, those drugs are bad but other drugs aren't, so why say all hunting is bad?

The Student Athlete life

I want to talk about the college experience of a student-athlete. I'm a student-athlete and I play field hockey. During our season, which goes from August 19 to November 9, we have practice every single morning, from 6:45-9:15 am and then lift from 9:30-10:30. This means I have to get up every morning at around 5:45 during season, but don't get me wrong, I love doing that! I don't eat breakfast before practice in the morning, because it is simply to early for that. After lift I eat a protein bar and I have a protein drink. Then I hurry to my dorm to shower, and to be in time for my 11:00 am class. By the time I arrive for my first class, I already finished an intire practice and lift. My classes usually end at around 3:00 pm, some days at 4:45 pm. After my classes I go to study tables in North Quad. As a student athlete I'm required to finish 6 hours of study tables every week. On a day I usually do around 1,5 hour of stuyding at tables. If my classes ended early, this is the time to go back to my dorm and call my parents and catch up with them. If my classes end late, I go straight to dinner after stuying. Then I go back to my dorm, by this time it is around 7:00 pm. I do a bit more homework, and often times I have to pack for a travel day. I also talk with my teammates, fellow freshman and upper classmen, about tactics in games, or we just discuss the morning practice. Sometimes I have an individual meeting in the evening with my assistant coach in Worthen Arena. I make notes and make sure I'm ready to go for the next morning. I go to bed around 10:00 pm, because I have to get up early again the next morning to do it all again.

I love doing all this day in day out. There is only one thing that botters me: the fact that Non-student-athletes keep finding the courage to complain to me about 'how early they got up that day (10:00 am)' and 'how they have NO free time at all and have so much to do'. This really annoys me, because I see how you can easily do so much more in a day in be so much more productive. 

To all the non student-athletes out there: take a look at the schedule of a student athlete, and learn from it! You can do so much more in a day. And last but not least: stop complaining about lack of time!!

Adulthood and drinking

The drinking age is something that is very different all around the world. The united states is one of the few countries that have the age set at 21 along with Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Kiribati, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Samoa, Sri Lanka. In comparison to how many countries have the age set lower than 21 include, Iceland, Japan, Paraguay, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Austria, Belgium, Congo, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Germany, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, Antigua and Barbuda, Central African Republic, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Kosovo, Laos, Mali, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Togo. 

Now you might think its over the top to show every single one but its necessary to show the amount of countries that have it lower than 21. These countries aren't having devastating affects because of the drinking age. Some of these countries even being more mentally advanced than the united states as problems with drinking are associated with the mind.

My main argument is that if someone wants to go in the military and serve at 18 then they can. But they say drinking can have major changes in brain development and that the mind isn't fully developed at 18 so they dont want to hurt it. If the brain isn't fully developed yet why are we letting 18 year old kids join the military with the chance of them getting killed. Now im not saying i want underage people to go around getting drunk all the time but if they want to ability to drink then they would be able to if the government finds that they are old enough to join the military and consider them an adult. The law of 21 is not going to change peoples mind on drinking, if a kids going to drink then they will against the law. 

The Interview

I just came from, of what I think, an incredible example of rhetoric and self appliance to it. Tonight I had the interview for the job I have been wanting, orientation leader. It took place in a group interview type setting where I had a lot of competition. If I would want this job I would need to stand out amongst the others. I need to persuade my interviewers that I was one of the top choices of the group.
The interviewers would have us do group activities where we needed to cooperate as a team, and then to be able to reflect with the answers to their questions. I would use ethos when I answered my questions. I would go into my past experience and how I handled it back then and how it helped me in the activity. When I did this the goal was to show the interviewers that my character matches with what they are looking for hopefully more so than the others. Another tool I used was pathos. The question on why I wanted this job came up. I responded with the hardship that I have seen my friends coming into college had as well as my own. I used emotion to show I wanted the job more than just a paycheck but to help and guide the incoming freshman from those hardships. Throughout the whole thing I kept Eng_103 in my mind and now all that I can do is to wait to see if I applied it well enough.

Thoughts on gun control

I've been thinking a lot about gun control lately due to school shootings being normalized and overlooked nowadays. there hasn't really been and real change in how things work regarding gun control and where pretty much still the same unsafe America, and I think people who are against it are the ones really holding us back. At this point, I think it just comes down to ignorance in a sense. Citizens who aren't for gun control hear some fake news and just run with it. For example, when people bring up gun control some take it as laws that abolish our second amendment and that to me is just silly because a complete ban on guns will probably never happen.  Republicans love their toys way too much to let anyone take them away. Gun controls are laws and policies put in place to protect people and regulate them. What a stronger gun control essentially wants to do is to make guns harder to reach to people who really shouldn’t have one, and when some hear that statement they go straight to "well people can get guns illegally". and yes that is true but it's way harder for them to obtain one. it's like if you're underage and you want alcohol, you have to go through another person to get some but with guns, it's most likely entirely harder. At the end of the day we need stronger gun control so that America’s children can be safe again, and to people who think that gun control is brought up in politics means they’re trying to take your toys away, “Kim, there’s people that are dying.”

In Your Face

There is a topic that is a major issue in 2019 that somehow ends up being overlooked. The topic being, global warming. There are so many different things that point to the concept and what is happening on this planet, but some still want to deny it. Most obviously the president. I have a severe issue with that view point as it is just ignorant, especially when the evidence it right in your face.

A lot of redneck supporters of the president tend to negate global warming just like the president. Not everyone, but a lot of them. I do not understand how it can be argued especially when you just go outside. I have been a fisherman my entire life. I have traveled North and South and I have caught many more species than I can count. My knowledge is still very thin, but it is enough. Most of my time spent fishing was or is in these two ponds in my neighborhood in Indianapolis. The ponds are fished quite often, but nothing is ever kept and the fish are reasonably left alone. The smaller pond out of two is only 8 feet at most and I managed to catch a 19 lbs and 14 ounce Channel Catfish. The size of the fish shows that the fish are healthy and untampered with, but I have noticed certain things not just here, but everywhere.

In the early Spring the spawning season begins in the Hoosier state and most of the county. The first fish to begin spawning are Largemouth Bass which typically get on their beds around early to mid April. The bass begin their spawning season right when the temperature begins to go up. This goes for most animals really such as Garter Snakes. It is normal for animals to begin breeding soon as the cold weather subsides. Typically after the bass are the Bluegill and other panfish species that spawn in the mid to late Spring from late April to May when the temperature begins to climb. Following them are the catfish of all kinds who spawn in the early Summer months.

Now that that is covered it is easy to explain why these people are ignorant. Over the years fishing in these exact same place as well as others I have noticed that the spawning seasons have shifted due to the changing climate. As it never tends to get as cold in December the fish are still reasonably active. I have managed to catch bass on topwater baits in the Winter months since the temperature is in the 50's to 60's. At this time they should be moving towards the bottom of lakes. In January the weather has been so cold and lasted so long that the fish have grown dormant for longer. Since it is taking so long to come out of the cold the fish have pushed their seasons back and run into conflict with other fish spawning. The change has lead to less survivors from each year.

It is argued that since it's been colder it can't be global warming. Well it isn't global warming anymore, it's climate change. The Artic is getting warmer, but everywhere else is changing in drastic different ways. With things like theses fish it is right in the face of sceptics. It is just easier for people to agree with someone for being 'the president' rather than to make a decision for themselves.

Why Guns should be legal in all nations

I understand this is an unpopular opinion amongst many people today but I would like to present my case for why more nations should have a second amendment like here in America. Across the Western World freedoms are being quashed left and right In Germany Prime Minister Angela Merkel says that "Freedom of expression has its limits" she then continued "Those limits begin where hatred is spread. They begin where the dignity of other people is been violated. The house will and must oppose extreme speech. Otherwise our society will no longer be the free society that it once was". Our neighbors to the north have already enacted hate speech laws like Section 319(2) of the criminal code of Canada states: Every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

In Britain the police are openly telling people that offensive speech should be reported to the police so they can open criminal investigation into these people. This has resulted in 2 people given fines for what the British legal system calls "grossly offensive" speech. In one case it was a 19 year old girl who was repeating rap lyrics that included the n-word and a Scottish man who was making fun of Nazi's by making his pug make the heil Hitler salute. In more recent cases some people have actually been arrested and imprisoned for making racist comments and cracking tasteless jokes. The nation that gave us the Magna Carta, The English Bill of Rights, Edmund Burke, and John Locke has turned into a 1984 style state where the police monitor your social media and will arrest you for your hateful speech. These are the reasons why other nations need a second amendment, to protect their individual rights of freedom of speech and rights to privacy and property. Think about it in America no one has entertained the ideas of federal hate speech laws because in America the people have the right to protect their rights with a gun behind their words and in other nations they don't have anything to back up their words. That's why in France they had riots and not just simple protest over there new gas taxes because the French people did not have weapons to back up their words. With a second amendment in other nations people will be able to protect their rights from tyranny and oppression and I believe if these other nations have any stones then they should push for that right.     

Should animals be used for research?

Animal testing is a very debatable topic, but I think in our class we have only had the mindset that animal testing is bad and I just want to explain the positives and the need for animal testing. Although many people probably come to the conclusion that animal testing is only for humans and our benefit, thats just false. The research done from animal testing helps both animals and humans. Let me explain, if your family pet gets sick and needs a vaccine for something then how are we going to give them one if theres been no testing on it?  The foundation for Biomedical research said this. "But without it, the prognosis for millions of animals would be simple—they would develop diseases or contract viruses that would be untreatable, they would suffer, and eventually they would die."  it also said that animals and humans share around 50 of the same diseases and 100 medications. Of course this testing isn't going to be the most fun thing but its necessary and there are ways to lessen the suffering. In another website called your genome.org explains the stuff they try to do to prevent the suffering.

"To help minimise the harm animals may experience while being studied in the laboratory, researchers are required to follow a set of principles, the ‘three Rs’. These are:

• Replace: Replacing, where possible, experiments using animals with alternative techniques such as cell culture, computer modelling or human volunteers instead of animals.
• Reduce: Reducing the number of animals used, by improving experimental techniques and sharing information with other researchers so that the same experiments aren’t being done by many people.
• Refine: Refining the way the animals are cared for to help minimise any stress or pain, by using less invasive techniques where possible and improving medical care and living conditions."

In these labs they are not just torturing animals they are doing the least amount of harm they can to get the most benefits. In these labs and from these testings they are finding helpful cures to actual problems that affect people and animals. This might sound bad to some people but i would rather do testing on a mouse than a human if that testing could result in a cure for a potentially deadly disease. Some examples of cures that have been found from animal testing are antibiotics, insulin, vaccines, organ transplantation, and HIV. without these many people would of died. Now it doesn't matter to me as much as if you agree with me as long as i explained the other side of the story.

 

https://www.yourgenome.org/debates/should-animals-be-used-in-research

https://fbresearch.org/why-we-must-use-animals-in-research/

Persuading vs. Arguing

What does it mean to persuade someone rather than to simply argue with them, the difference simply put is the is that when you are persuading someone you are trying to get them to believe that whatever you are trying to say while arguing with them you are primarily trying to prove them wrong. A few example of this could be if you are trying to persuade  someone to like a certain football team you would tell someone all the achievements of that given team and tell them how this team is giving back to charity and giving points to boost your side. On the other side if you are having an argument on why a team is better you will most likely will be talking about the team the other person likes in a degrading way and talking about how there team "sucks" or talking about how their quarterback is old and can not play football anymore or stuff along those lines. The other main difference is the effectiveness of each, when you are trying to persuade someone your goal is to get them to come to your side of the argument and if done correctly it can be quite effective at convincing the person of one thing or another. On the other hand people who are having an argument with someone will usually not be successful at convincing them of their argument but end up just getting mad or having the other person get mad. With all this being said I am wondering if it is possible to have a certain time or place where an argument with someone would be better than trying to persuade them?

Should you eat processed food?

Processed food is defined as when food has been altered from its original state to either make it edible, shelf stable, improve taste, or create a "new" food from multiple ingredients. This means that there are many types of processed foods and different levels to which food is processed. The first group is minimally processed which usually consist of fruits and vegetables, these food have not been altered too much from their original state and are usually high in nutritional quality. The second group is processed ingredients which are extracted from whole foods and usually contain additives to preserve freshness. The third group is processed foods which usually contain two or three ingredients that are processed from whole foods. The fourth group is ultra-processed foods which include artificial colors, dyes and additives, non-sugar sweeteners, and processing aids such as caking and glazing agents, and emulsifiers. The FDA does not require food companies to label all the chemicals and ingredients that are put into all ultra-processed foods. The same chemicals that are used to help keep cement sticking together are also commonly used to help preserve potato chips and keep them tasting better longer.
So what do you think about processed foods? Does the FDA need to do a better job on putting more restrictions on what chemicals food processing companies can and can not add into their foods? Do you think its okay to eat some processed foods or all processed foods, and do you think processed foods can have negative or positive effects on your own personal health. 

Animal Rights and Testing

`For my class presentation, my topic was animal rights. There are many different options about animal rights and rhetoric is used in many ways to persuade the audience. The three types of rhetoric are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is based on an argument of character. Pathos is an argument based on emotions and Logos is based on an argument of logic and evidence. The logos of animal rights is using statistics and evidence for animal testing. The California Veterinary Medical Association says that almost all medical breakthroughs were because of animal testing. They had a list of vaccines that were made available because of animal testing. The pathos of animal testing and animal rights is the appealing to the death of animals and the torture. The pathos is stronger because most people have issues with torturing innocent animals and killing them for the possibility of a product that may or may not work. Using rhetoric is a smart choice in persuading the audience for or against animal rights.

Fallacies You Should Know

The author of Thank You for talks the 7 deadly logical sins.
The false comparison: is comparing two things together when there is no correlation between them
The Bad example: is saying that since a bus crashed, you should never allow your kid on the school bus
Ignorance as proof: an example is saying what we cannot prove does not exist
The tautology: is repeating the same idea with different words. an example is saying that someone is honest, so that means you can trust them
The false choice: is giving only two options when there is clearly many others
The Red Herring: is switching the topic to throw off the audience. It allows the audience to forget the main issue.
The wrong ending: says if you allow one thing, you will have to allow all the others. It fails to lead to the conclusion
These proofs can all be formed together by bad proof, bad conclusion, and disconnect between proof and conclusion. Fallacies trick the reader or audience into thinking what they want them to think. In order to get around a fallacy, you have to see past the lie and to what is the truth.

Why are Firearms Important

Do you or your family own a gun for safety? Does having this gun make you feel more comfortable in your own home? Firearms are important because they keep innocent people protected in their home and in public. Most of the time a person who is shooting mass amounts of people they get killed by a goodly with a gun. this is just one example of good things that can happen with a gun. A lot of people also use their guns for hunting so they can feed their family. If we take away gun rights many people would be unable to feed their family because they can not afford food so they hunt for it. This is very important because it put a lot of people would struggle to kill food with bow and arrow or other form of hunting.

firearm topic

 Recently in the American social world a big topic going around is if we as Americans deserve the right to own and carry a firearm. This topic has been brought up many times in political debates and other government conversations but recently it has been a main topic due to all of the mass shooting taking place in our country because some people think that the people are not the ones committing the acts of crime but it is the gun. The democratic party is fighting for gun buy backs which will essentially restrict American from owning the guns they choose to own, and it is going against our constitution. The reason this is so controversial is because the second amendment states that the American people have the right to bear arms and citizens get angry when the government interferes with their rights. Many people don’t understand the reason behind owning a gun and why it is so important and as a whole we should learn more about guns and the positive benefit they can have on society.

Climate Change Rhetoric

It's pretty messed up how much rhetoric influences the big issues of today, especially because it often seems that those employing the most harmful rhetoric are those with the most power. When it comes to climate change, some of the most prevalent rhetors on the subject in recent days have been members of the younger generation, yet actual change is slow to be enacted because they don't hold enough political influence.

We give so much importance to the value of money that those with more capital can influence politics and the discussion of issues, which leads to a cycle of those creating the issues paying off those in positions of power who are capable of shutting it down. We don't give any credit to young adults who have less experience than corrupt politicians, so their voices, despite touting good ethics, usually go unheard. Even after Greta Thunberg was granted a national audience to speak, not much changed regarding our nation's policy towards climate change.

It seems the only hope we have of mitigating climate change are non-governmental organizations because our government is currently failing us in that regard.

Ugh Religion

So - this is a pretty hot topic I should say but i don't care. I'm going to talk about it anyways since people think religion has to be in every argumentative topic (Obviously not everyone but you get what I mean) and because I don't follow any religion and I REALLY want to understand why people must incorporate it into everything even though that isn't the subject of the argument. I don't understand why people think It's necessary and appropriate to do so. It completely twists what the argument is about usually. After the school shootings - I've heard many people say that "We need kids to be taught more about Jesus in schools - that will fix the problem" Like umm - No Karen I don't think it will. Put the bible down and check on your child's mental health and make sure he's doing okay. 

Is it maybe just some strategy that people like to use? I've heard that people like to use bible verses and such to backup their arguments and opinions but - Is that even fair if the other person doesn't believe in what they do? I just don't get it. In my opinion I think religion brainwashes people to do this sort of thing - making people think they've got some sort of superior opinion because they believe in some invisible man and only read little snippets of the rule book. I really don't know what to say here - I guess I just find it extremely annoying when people want to shove religion in my face during an argument. I'm not saying this is the case every time- but it just happens so much. I just feel like religion makes people really biased and turns people into complete monsters sometimes and makes people narcissistic about their opinions and beliefs. 

School vs Gun

       When you think of firearms, what is the first thing you think of? The first thing I think of is school shooting and I think that is awful that, that is even an option for something to think about in the topic of firearms. School shootings have become such a common thing today that children have started to fear that they may not return home after school. There have been 24 school shooting just in Indiana alone since the Columbine incident. That does not even include all the other states in the United States. It took a couple teenagers dying from vapes for them to start getting banned. Hundreds of children and teens have died from school shooting yet gun laws still have not been changed. How many lives is it going to take for the laws to change?

Rhetoric in Everyday Life

Rhetoric can be seen in many places, and can be about many topics. You can hear and see examples of it everyday. You can see it when it comes to topics such as climate change, food, animal rights, firearms, and so many others. The different ways that people talk about these different issues will shape your ideas and what you think of different problems.
For instance, when you are watching TV and see all of the sad dog commercials it makes you want to help all of those animals. That is part of pathos because it appeals to your emotions. Rhetoric can also appear in different ways such as when Rick Berman talks about his ideas on the food industry. He tries to persuade you that the fast food isn't the problem and that people know what they are doing when they are eating the food. He is on the side of the food industry because he is in it for the money, not necessarily for the well-being of the people.
Rhetoric can be used in good or bad ways, it just depends on the topics and how the rhetor is talking about different issues.

Carrying Firearms

So, in my presentation we talked about how firearms should be legal to have but we should make them harder for people to obtain. One thing we did not cover was about the right to carry in public places. I do not think people should be able to carry outside of their cars. Even if they have the right to carry and are not in a gun free zone people could still start chaos. Most people when they see a gun in a public place like a restaurant are going to want to tell a manager and ask them to leave which may cause more problems in the long run. When someone carries by a school that school is forced to go on lockdown. If we were able to ban carrying guns in public places all together we could prevent mistakes like this from happening.

The Speaker

My brother and I have always been into big speakers. We like to try to buy once every couple of years so we can play the loudest music. He called me saying that he found one, and it was the loudest one he has seen yet, but it was a bit pricey. The speaker clocked in around $500. Which in my opinion is way to expensive and he was thinking the same. None the less he picked me up and took me to the Best Buy.

Before we went, he told me he was quite certain that he was going to pass on it. He continued to show me the speaker and it was super dope; the loudest one that I have heard so far. We both looked at it and decided that it was the right decision to not buy it. At least until we met Aiden (the rhetor), the salesman on duty at the time. Aiden continued to use all three types of rhetoric on my brother; logos, ethos, and pathos. 

He started with ethos. As soon as he walked up to us, he saw that we were interested in the speaker. He asked us if we had heard it at full volume, and obviously we did not because it would've probably resulted with us getting kicked out. So Aiden continued to turn the speaker up full blast and disrupted the entire store. Its no exaggeration to say the entire store was glaring at us. He continued to laugh and say that he was going to get in trouble because the don't know how to handle music. Ethos is shown here by building the idea that he likes the "thrill" of music too. This made my brother and I trust him because he shared the same passion as us. Aiden continued to pathos, by appealing to our emotions. He took us of the idea of that specific speaker and asked what type of speaker we have already, and what got us into speakers like that one. He got us to connect our memories of past good times to this new speaker making us emotionally attached. Lastly he used logos by talking about price he went into how the speaker stood up against the other speakers in the store. He went on to tell us why we were paying more for this one compared to the others and why it was the most logical one to buy. Long story short my brother and I ended up leaving the store with a dope speaker falling victim of the Rhetor.

Recognizing logical fallacies

It's important to know how to recognize logical fallacies. The trick to spotting logical fallacies is comparing statements logical steps with the logical steps of a good deductive or inductive argument. Too often, logical fallacies arise because people draw improper conclusions from the evidence, or reduce the evidence to a smaller number of options than are really available. There are seven total uses of logical fallacies. Starting with the False Comparison, the Bad Example, Ignorance as Proof, the Tautology, the False Choice, the Red Herring, and finally the Wrong Ending. Personally, I notice the first deadly sin: The False Comparison most often. For example "If you follow this diet plan, you'll lose 20 pounds in just six weeks!". This type of argument falsely compares everyone's rate of weight loss.

Animal Rights

Animals all over the world are tortured, beaten and experimented on, all for the benefit of human lives. Even though 90% of animal tested products do not work when it comes to human trials. Animals aren't only tortured in labs though, they get mistreated in entertainment, on farms and even inside the walls of their homes, the place they should feel the safest. Animals cannot speak out for themselves and say no or stop. They get treated however human beings want to treat them and there are not even any consequences for mistreating animals. There is no humane way to experiment on animals, even if they numb the animals before experimenting on them, every time an animal gets tested on it slowly brings them closer to the end of their lives. 

Do you know what you are eating?

Fast Food restaurants claim that they only serve fresh foods to their customers, but do they really?

A few years ago McDonalds came out with an ad campaign that said "now serving 100% real beef", so what were they serving before? Some suspect that before they were using some beef with other parts of the cow mixed in. Mcdonalds also claims that they only serve fresh foods, but some employees have posted pictures on twitter of the freezer that holds all of the food they serve. The boxes of frozen food indicate that they are processed and must be frozen in order to keep from spoiling. McDonald's is not the only fast-food chain that does this: Wendy's, Subway and even Panera serve foods that come out of a plastic bag. Should the fast-food industry be obligated to let their consumers know where the food is actually coming from?

Vaping News

Just FYI:

Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes

Advisers say the president pulled back from proposed restrictions intended to curb teenage vaping after he was warned of the political fallout among voters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/health/trump-vaping-ban.html

for more information (from the CDC):

Outbreak of Lung Injury Associated with the Use of E-Cigarette, or Vaping, Products

Types of Logical Fallacies

This week in class we talked about three types of logical fallacies. They are Bad Proofs, The False Choice, and Disconnect.
Bad Proofs are when a hasty generalization has been made such as when someone says that all pizza is bad just because they had one type of pizza that was bad. Another type of bad proof is lack-of-proof when you don't have any evidence o back up your claim.
The false choice is when you say that there are only two options A or B when in reality there are several other options that you could choose in a situation. Many times this will be worded as " We have two options sit back or fight".
Disconnect means that you think because you did A that B happened when that could or could not be the case.   An example that we used in class was that because someone got a petition signed that a rule was changed. While this could have happened because if the petition there is no clear evidence that was the reason.

Environmental Issues

So - there are other environmental problems that we need to address other than just Climate Change. I mean - of course it's still very important, but there are also other things we need to worry about. Such as Deforestation. Millions of trees are being cut down and it's affecting so many variables. We're pushing animals out of their habitats and this is causing them to intrude on other habitats and affecting the animals that live there - causing a food shortage for those native animals. It's slowly causing species to become endangered and then extinction.

Sure, people are trying to fix this issue and planting millions of trees but how much help can that be when it takes decades for trees to grow and replace the ones that are being cut down and by then millions of more trees will be cut down and then what? Start that process all over again? And sure conservations are great and they do help but they can other do so much you know?

I think that as humans -we take advantage of so much. We don't realize this because it's the only kind of lifestyle we know of. We weren't taught any differently. The reason we have a hard time actually coming to terms with what we are doing is because we don't want to take the blame and leave the comforts of the life that were are living. I truly believe that the human race is selfish. Of course there are individuals who are trying everything in their power to give back and actually help environmental issues but sometimes I think that maybe we're already too late. 

Open Your Eyes to the Rhetoric

I have noticed something over the years, but it was never apparent until this year taking a course on rhetoric. People in the US are so incredibly brainwashed that it is terrifying. It is noticeable on so many different levels from political issues to Facebook posts. It is at a point a lot of people believe almost anything that they hear. I feel it is important to point out some of these faults.

I personally won't lie and come out and say that I am Democratic, but there is one issue with that. Whenever I get into any form of debate no matter how intense I will never take a side politically. Outside of right now I have never told text to anyone my political affiliations. This is relevant since anytime I get into an argument or debate with someone over something they will accuse me of being Liberal. I am sure some of you can agree with this, but why on earth is that an insult? I hear people say things like Liberals are being brainwashed by the fake news. Where does this stuff come from? I will tell you. It comes from the rhetoric used by the other party.

Not just the president, but the entire party wants you to believe what they have to say. Rarely will they state any statistics or information. They just claim their numbers are good or huge. They claim the stock market is higher than it ever was in the Obama administration when in fact it isn't. The only market showing through is the Dow Jones Industrial Complex. The industrial business is thriving and not much else. Everything else is down. And if you disagree with me know that none of this is coming from a Democrat. This is stuff I easily found on my own without political affiliations.

The trick is they use a tricky state of pathos. The stuff said tugs at your personal strings just enough so that you believe it. People don't want their guns taken away because it is their right. So you hear constantly that the "Do nothing Democrats" want to take your guns when not a single one of them have ever said they want to outright ban guns. They want gun control just like Republican leaders, but the truth is people are too lazy to really look into it.

Another one that I love is religious affiliations. The Republican party boasts the biggest majority of Christian voters. And you want to know what is messed up? No matter the leader they vote for them for the sake of the party's beliefs. In the past Republican leaders refused to legalize things like gay marriage. Now they focus on following the beliefs of white Christians. Don't believe me? This is also not a Democratic view and is actually what I heard from my pastor, church friends, and my grandparents. That is right, I am Democratic and Christian. My grandmother refused to vote for Barrack Obama in 2008 since he supported legalizing gay marriage. Why? Because Republican leaders made it obvious at the time that Democrats were going against the Bible.

I think for all of our sakes it is time that people start opening there eyes to issues at hand that matter. It really doesn't matter your political backing or anything. It is a matter of knowing what you are reading and watching and being able to say yes, that is wrong. We should all support each other's beliefs and decisions and be able to decide when things need to change. We shouldn't be fighting each other.

The Idea of Human Progress

In Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, he wrote a chapter about the both sides of the history of Columbus and the Indians. Zinn's focus, when writing this chapter, was to tell the truth about the exploration of Columbus in the Americas to relate to human progress. Zinn's key points of the chapter can be broken down into sections of four. These four sections supports the overall theme of the chapter. The overall theme of this chapter was to support the question "Was all this necessary for human progress?"

In section one of the chapter, Zinn's shows the history of Columbus from the Indian's point of view. Zinn talks about, not heroic tales, but the the slavery, torture, and death of the Indians. In the sections, Zinn gives clear evidence by using a journal from someone who was with Columbus, and recorded everything that Columbus and his men did:

Moreover, Zinn goes on to arguing about history. In section two, Zinn argues that history is idealogical; meaning it serves somebody's interest. He argue that history is only the memory of States/Government or the ones in power. Zinn's purpose in his argument is support his idea that we not must not accept the memory of States as own. furthermore, to support his idea and claim, Zinn gives other evidence and details in section three, that are similar to that of Columbus. Cortes to the Aztecs, Pizarro to the Incas, and the English Settlers to Powhatan/ Pequot. Lastly, in section four, Howard Zinn concluded with the question "Was all this necessary for human progress?". Zinn asks how we can judge if we do not know the truth, he stated that should not those sacrificed have a choice, and he asks how certain are we that what was destroyed was "inferior." Zinn's purpose in writing this chapter was show how history is biased and that we should know the truth from every side before believing and trusting anything.

Howard Zinn question is absurdly obvious because the idea of another human being being inferior to another human being preposterous. Every being function in the same way, unless they are actually God. Human progress should progress with the idea of equality and the idea of one race. The race of humankind. Learning the history of Columbus from both sides shows how mankind had fallen to idea of inferiority. Columbus and the other men that sacrificed other people for their gain and ideal can never be in the right.

Dangers of lowering the drinking age

Lowering the drinking age limit is not a new topic whatsoever it has been around since the 1970s. Twenty-nine of the fifty states lowered the drinking age and had catastrophic results. Highway accidents involving teenagers escalated quickly after. Following these deaths states began raising the drinking age limit again. In 1984 all the states were required to have a drinking age of at least 21, this was called the Uniform Drinking Age Act. Although the drinking age limit has been experimented and tried, there is still an issue with underage drinking. Drinking underage is very dangerous and can result in health complications and other risks. 
The definition of alcoholism is “an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency”. It is dangerously easy to become addicted to alcohol which will result in binge drinking. Drinking alcohol slows down the reaction time and may cause somebody to lose control of their body and is more likely that a drunk male is to rape or abuse young women. Rape is not the only case. Normally, when both partners are affected, they are more likely to have unprotected sex. Alcohol can lead to the use of drugs or other dangerous substances. If the drinking age were to be lowered this would not change the party scene.
Another problem with alcohol slowing the reaction time result in less control of your actions when driving. 

Those who are for the drinking age limit being lowered often debate that the people of the age of 18 “can vote, join the military, sign contracts, and even smoke. These examples call for a certain maturity to be reached in those individuals but 18 to 20 is too young for being able to drink legally. 

Do you agree or disagree with my stance on alcohol, change my mind. 

Appearing Credible

In Thank You For Arguing, the book's author discusses the necessity for a rhetor to appear virtuous, even if not actually a good person. What this means is that a speaker or writer's virtue is determined by their audience, rather than themselves. What the speaker deems a virtuous quality may be seen as heinous by a specific audience, which is why knowing one's audience is so vital as a rhetor. However, it does raise concern as to whether any rhetor you see actually believes in what they are talking about - after all, if the goal is to appeal to their audience, what's stopping them from just saying what their listeners want to hear?

This concern can be met by the counterpoint that it isn't the rhetor's job to believe in what they say, which is a rather unfortunate truth. The rhetor's job is to convey a message in a way that moves their audience, and that doesn't have to mean they support their own message. The responsib bility of a wholesome message being delivered is in the hands of those employing the rhetor to spread said message.

Techniques of Ethos

In Chapter 6 of Thank You for Arguing, more useful tips and tricks to winning over an audience was given. To do this, you must make the audience receptive and attentive to the point you are trying to make. The audience must like and trust the rhetor for the most part.

According to Heinrichs, there are 3 traits of persuasive leadership. They include virtue, practical wisdom, and disinterest. Now these things all sound great, but what do they really mean and how can we use them to our advantage. Based on this chapter I learned that virtue means embody the values of your audience, and different settings have a major impact on the audiences values. Practical wisdom is appearing to know the right thing to do with different occasions. Disinterest is the lack of bias in what you are trying to persuade and showing care towards the audiences interests. Other ways to pump up your virtue is to brag, get a witness to brag for you, reveal a tactical flaw, and switch sides if the argument is doomed against you. All these ideas for arguing are great tools that can make any group of people listen and believe what you have to stay. This class is really teaching us a lot about giving great speeches as well, and I think it will become quite handy someday for many of us with future classes and careers.

Should we be using GMOs?

The use of GMOs is inevitable due to the growing population in the United States, but should we be using them?
There have been no studies done to determine the effects that GMOs have on human health. Many consumers are concerned with the ingredients in the products that they are consuming. This concern has led to a rise in consumers purchasing organic foods. The manipulation of the genetic makeup of food has become so common that packaging now indicates whether or not it has been gentically modified. I feel that since this has grown so common in America, studies should be done in order to determine whether or not it is safe to keep consuming. Although the use of this genetically modified food allows more to be produced and allows it to be grown in many different climates, is it safe to keep consuming? 

Different Types of Animal Abuse

Throughout history there has been many different forms of animal abuse. Most people just classify this abuse all together, however there is actually specific elements that make each type different and in my opinion worse than other types. The main types of animal abuse and the ones I will be referring to in this post include factory farming, ownership abuse, animal experimentation, hunting for fur, and animals used for entertainment.
These are all harsh however in my opinion the worst is factory farming and animals used for entertainment. Factory farming is intensive methods of creating food fast and productive without almost any care for the animal. Animals in this case are confined to very small spaces and are always put in the same horrific conditions. Entertainment use of animals is when animals are in a zoo or at a place like sea world. This is also one of the worst types of abuse because of their confinement. Animals who are in these spaces tend to live a very short life compared to their relatives in the wild.
                             
In your opinion what is the worst type of animal abuse? Would you agree with the ones I put or choose one from the other topics I listed? Even though here we are debating which form of animal abuse is the worst, I still want you to understand that I believe all of these types are unjust and wrong.

Animal testing: right or wrong?

We have always been told that animal testing was necessary for things that we use everyday, and even for medical usage. But is this right?
Animals don't have the ability to respond to things the way that humans do, so people think that it is okay to perform harsh long tests on them. Statistically 95% of pharmaceutical drugs that are tested on animals aren't safe for humans to use, or they don't work on humans. With this being said, why do people think that it is necessary to keep using animals for testing and torturing them?
The use of animal testing is unethical, inefficient and inhumane. Animals are tortured in labs and die everyday for things like pesticides, cosmetics, and human medication. There should be a more efficient way to test the products we need without harming other living things, just because they can not respond back to it. As technology is advancing, hopefully a different method for testing products is found.

Understanding Dangers of Alcohol

The past few weeks, my group has been focused on the appeals of rhetoric used to talk about alcohol. I believe that once alcohol is introduced to a person, they are more apt to want to drink it. Alcohol is used for recreational purposes and to "take the edge off".
Majority of the articles I read while reviewing the rhetoric used to talk about this topic, I realized advocates for drinking simply used pathos. This drug is not harmful if being responsible, everyone does it, it is fun; therefore, it speaks for itself. The benefit of drinking is to have fun. Everyone wants to have fun.
The dangers of alcohol are severe, especially to those who are genetically predisposed to alcoholism. Logos and statistics clearly shape alcohol as dangerous. There are more dangers to drinking than benefits. Moderate drinking benefits specific cardiovascular diseases, yet drinking too much may danger your liver, cardiovascular system, etc.
Personally, I think anything can be dangerous if not moderated or tamed by regulations. The laws and regulations pertaining alcohol is very helpful in the process of preventing accidents due to drinking. I also grew up in a family with alcoholics who let it tear down the relationships they had with immediate family. Overall, rhetoric and discussion over alcohol will always be controversial in my opinion.

Analysis on chapter 7

In Thank You For Arguing chapter 7 displays the second element of ethos which practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is not a technical or artistic skill, its a moral skill. The elements of ethos supplies the characteristic spirit of culture, era or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations. in Chapter 7 the main character John Belushi was a fraternity brother. Although, he was liked by his friends and fraternity brothers, many people did not trust John. Here the author demonstrated the difference between likeability and competence. People tend to gravitate to likeable people because they most likely are going to have a good time but might not always be trustworthy. On the other hand some people tend to gravitate towards competent people because they can learn from them.

Columbus Day

In class this week, we talked about the story of Christopher Columbus and what the truth was of what actually happened when he sailed across the ocean to find the new land. No one ever told the full story about what happened. No one saw the true face of Christopher and how he and his people killed the native Americans on their voyage to find land. No one talks about the part of the story that shows how the Americans actually survived when they found land. If it had not been for the Indians that were already there, the Americans never would have survived through a winter.

After learning about that we discussed whether Columbus Day should still be considered a holiday after knowing the truth about everything he did. Would you want to celebrate the life of someone who killed so many people? If we are going to give a holiday to someone who killed people to get what they wanted, might as well give a holiday to Hitler too.

Can't Fight the Past

So here's my take on the reading on Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress reading -

When I finally read it  - I was a bit surprised, only for the fact that it went more into depth with what I already thought about the subject. I knew Columbus did horrible things to the indians and that was clear enough in his reports. It definitely was horrible and people will get angry and disgusted about it just like I was - but what can you really do? You can't change what happened in the past. A war against it would solve nothing and would be a waste of time. Instead - maybe we should just push this information out to the public's eyes to give them another take about this man and about what actually happened. Though it is kind of misleading since they completely removed the horrible things done to the Indians from the textbooks - they literally don't even teach about it. But is that at all surprising when it comes to America? We just want ourselves to look good compared to everyone else - leaving out the stuff that would be detrimental to our image of "Freedom".

I guess this is such a touchy subject to some people- me included because it just kind of makes you mad doesn't it? In fact it's quite irritating to think that the information to the public is being altered and not giving the full story of things. But like Howard Zinn said - there's really no point in trying to fight the past. All we can do is learn from the compassion of the past and push that forward towards the future rather than focusing on our nation's gruesome history and the horrible things our ancestors did. That's not to say we should forget about it though because it too is an important part of our history.

Columbus Day

During class this week we discussed Christopher Columbus and how he really treated the natives when he met them. We also talked about if this should affect the holiday, Columbus Day.
When Columbus met the natives he wrote back to the king say ing how friendly and kind they were and how willing to help they were. When in reality he was forcing them into slavery and working to the point of death to find gold.
After knowing this information the class then looked at the holiday, Columbus day and looked at if it should still be a holiday. What was interesting to me was that I did not know that some states instead of celebrating Columbus day they celebrated indigenous peoples' day. This to me shows that some people do want to move away from Columbus day and if enough people start doing this then at some point in time there may not be a Columbus day.

What I’ve learned so far about rhetoric

This year so far ENG 103 has learned quite a bit about rhetoric, yet it is still sometimes confusing to me. When I look back on everything we learned, it starts making a lot of sense to me. Some important thinks that have really stuck with me is how rhetoric can be used in a fight or an argument. In a fight, the goal is to win, where as an argument, it is to persuade and achieve a goal. Rhetoric has some vital functions in society such as testing ideas, assisting in advocating for something or someone, distributing power, sharing facts, shaping knowledge, and building communities.

According to Aristotle there is 3 types of persuasive appeals, also called rhetoric devices. Ethos, pathos, and logos are the main 3, but there is a few others including authority, popularity, beliefs or convictions, and ascetics.

Ethos- used to convince audience of your credibility by your moral character.

Pathos- appeals to emotion, provoking a feeling, used a lot in our age of mass media

Logos- logic or reasoning, using analogies, examples, citations, and stats, not always just facts and figures but can be the structure and content of speech itself, the more convincing the message is the better

Deciding which types of appeals to use is a matter of audience. Hopefully those that have taken this class have taken a lot away to use in writing great essays and using in everyday life.

The Strongest Tool

Rhetoric is an artform. It is an acquired skill that not really many people have. To master rhetoric it will take practice and the use of many tools used in rhetoric. The three main tools is logos, argument by logic; pathos, argument by emotion, and lastly Ethos, argument by character. With the use of these tools rhetors can further master their skill of manipulation. Although all of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos are great tools, I believe that one tool is stronger than the rest, Pathos.
I say that Pathos is the strongest of the three tools. Even though the other two are still effective they are not as resourceful. The strongest rhetors are trying to persuade the audience over the direct opponent they are going against. If you win the people, you will most likely win the argument. But, the big problem with aiming your rhetoric towards the people, they might not be as educated on the subject. So the use of logos might show the fact to audience but it does not ensure that the fact won't just go over their heads. With Ethos, argument by character, can also be effective but if the people do not like the speaker the odds are that they wont change their views and possibly rendering the rhetor as useless. But if the rhetor uses the tool of pathos and reaches to the heart of the audience. The emotional tie of the audience member to the point that you are trying to persuade will be enough to make them side with you. Even though you lack the actual evidence to the argument, the audience will let their emotions lead them to your side of the argument. In my opinion if you win the hearts of the audience you will win the argument.

Drinking Age: Netherlands (18) vs. United States (21)

In the Netherlands we have a drinking age of 18 years old, while in the United States the legal age to drink is 21. Also, in the Netherlands we think that people are mature enough to drink responsibly at the age of 18 and make smart choices. Obviously, in the United States the lawmakers do not think about this the same way, but you know what I think is weird? In the U.S., you can drive a car when you turn 16, by the age of 18 you are considered an adult, you can buy a gun (!), buy tobacco, vote in presidential elections, and then when you turn 21, you're finally old enough to buy and drink alcohol!
Doesn't this seem a little weird to you? Seriously, a gun when you're 18? And then the government says that people are not old enough to buy alcohol where they are 18, but a gun is okay at that same age??? Not in my book.
At the age of 18, people usually graduate from high school, maybe go to college or enlist in the army, live independently on campus or just in a house away from their parents. This is a lot of responsibility, but people can survive these circumstances. In the Netherlands, we are confident that if people are mature enough to live by themselves, they are also mature enough to make smart decisions when it comes to alcohol consumption.
I think the United States government should think about their rules about the drinking age again, and also about their gun policy. Maybe a ban on weapon possesion will change the number of deaths by shootings rather than worrying about an 18 year old adult trying to buy or consume alcohol.