Wake Up, America. We're Driving Toward Disaster - Essay Example

The incendiary nature of the discourse does not have a concrete payoff at the end. From the beginning of the article, Kunstler establishes his credibility in speaking on the topic that he chooses to address. He begins his discussion with the words “Everywhere I go these days, talking about the global energy predicament on the college lecture circuit or at environmental conferences”, thus without knowing anything about the man or his credentials, the reader is given the impression that this is a man whose opinion is valued enough to attract university level attention.

He has established a sense of ethos from the start through the use of an aspect of his career that relates to the topic he is addressing. He then continues, in this first paragraph, to grab the attention of the reader by suggesting that the rallying cry that is most often heard about the topic of energy, that of ‘solutions’, is not the focus that should be taken by the American public. In these two first sentences, Kunstler has established a sense of his own expertise and engaged the reader through challenging a preconceived idea that has framed a great deal of the discussion on energy consumption.

The next section of Kunstler’s article specifically states his position on the topic. He states, “We have to make other arrangements”, thus establishing his viewpoint on the idea of how to approach the problem of energy consumption. He first states the ways in which energy consumption is being abused and infers that a willingness to sacrifice those abuses of energy is the only way in which to realistically approach the nature of the problem. An assumption is made, after his point is made, that the public does not understand the consequences of ignoring the energy problem and this ignorance puts into jeopardy every aspect of American life that is concerned with survival.

He engages the audience through discussing their needs through the concept of the threat to those needs. Kunstler further explains the problem when he says “It’s about the instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply“. This section of the work does two things in the pursuit to convince the reader to believe in Kunstler’s point of view. He insults the trivial nature of the attitude of the American belief in a lifestyle that includes a great deal of energy consumption, as well as then insulting the intelligence of the reader who has not thought far enough to realize that an energy problem will halt food, trade, travel, housing, and money, while throwing in governance, health care, and education to further draw in the reader so that they feel a threat that must be addressed through which his beliefs will clarify how the problem should be addressed.

This type of rhetoric uses the force of fear in order to create context for the importance of the problem. Kunstler is telling the audience that if they do not swing towards his point of view they will lose everything that supports their way of life. He attaches his argument to their fear for survival, the need to protect and secure the future and to support the continuation of how they procure their basic needs. Once establishing that the future of survival is at risk, he supports this belief by giving a list of consequences that will occur if the use