The Power of Logic and Emotions - Assignment Example

 The articles ‘Don't waste Luke's life’ and ‘Time to act on thugs’ written by Shane Mitchell and the editor of Herald Sun respectively are two articles written with an aim of attracting people’s attention towards important, challenging and current social issue of random violence in the city of Melbourne. Both the writers have been successful in creating awareness about the issues and also the need of the actions to be taken on the part of the government and the people living in the society. However, Shane Mitchell’s article creates more impact on the mind of the reader than the editor’s as his article has displayed the qualities of ethos, pathos and Logos more effectively and has no fallacy. When an idea or a message is conveyed to people, it has to have a power of logic, reasoning and emotions to persuade the people to believe the stance that the writer has taken. We will discuss how the two writers has used ethos, pathos and logos to drive their ideas and what more was needed to make the articles more effective. Shane Mitchell’s ‘Don't waste Luke's life’ : Ethos : Ethos is a set of beliefs and values that human being have as a part of the society and community ( Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.19). Your beliefs and the values that you hold plays a strong part in the development of your personality. Hence ‘personality’ and the ‘stance’ you take regarding the social or a personal issue are two main components of the communication that you make with the society (Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.19). Shane Mitchell displays an image of a person who cares a lot about the growing violence on the streets of Melbourne and who wants to take actions to eradicate the social problem by actively taking steps towards it. The social stance taken by Shane is that of a responsible and socially aware person by suggesting the need for immediate steps to be taken by the police department to stop the violence and the killings of innocent people on the streets. Shane’s stance has a power to move the reader emotionally as this stance was developed from the tragic personal incidence in Shane’s life. If you have to persuade people to agree with your beliefs and make your stance reach their heart, then you have to let the people know not only what stance you have taken but how is it that you have taken that stance ( Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.21). This is where Shane has been very successful as the stance is a result of a personal experience of losing a brother who was killed by thugs on streets when he was trying to save someone who was being attacked. This makes the reader immediately take Shane’s opinion seriously as it has come out of experience and not just an intellectual thinking. The article adheres very accurately to the theory of ideational function by using a language and personal life incidence that the reader can immediately relate with ( Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.27). Hence the article successfully grips the attention and empathy of the reader. Pathos: Pathos is an effective emotional engagement in the conversation to make an appeal to the emotions of the listener ( Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.27) . Shane has talked a great deal about his brother’s habit of always raising a voice against injustice and how he never hesitated to fight against the wrong. He has also mentioned that he was very loved and respected by his friends for his habit of helping people who were in need. To read that a guy like Luke was murdered by thugs when he was trying to save a stranger from the attack creates strong empathy in the heart of people. It touches the reader so strongly that they not only get persuaded to agree with Shane’s stance but also are ready to take whatever actions are necessary to stop this kind of tragic incidence from happening again. Logos: Logos is the part of the conversation where logic and reasoning are used to convey the message (Cockcroft & Cockcroft 81-85). The article ‘Don't waste Luke's life’, even though is very emotionally driven , it still has a powerful logic behind it. Mitchell has argued that if the incidence of his brother’s tragic death at the hands of random violence on Melbourne streets are ignored as one of the violent acts, then the life of common man will become hell. This argument has a logic and has a great sense as it is evident from his question “what happened to the Melbourne that was once one of the most livable cities in the world?”. This sentence makes us realize that city of Melbourne is becoming a paradise of criminals because till now no strict action has been taken against them by the legal department and so they are free to attack, injure, threat and kill the common people on the street. The reasoning and the logic is powerful. Fallacy : When an argument lacks the support of reasoning and logic for its conclusion, it is called as fallacy of the argument ( Definition of Fallacy). Mithcell’s article lacks the fallacy as the conclusion that immediate steps need to be taken by the government to stop the random acts of violence is supported by the evidence of murder of his brother Luke and mentioning the attack on Ron Barassi by the thugs when he tried to save a girl from the attack. Shane Mitchell’s article very successfully uses the ethos, pathos and the logos to drive people to take action against the growing violence in the city of Melbourne. Editorial Column ‘Time to act on thugs’ The editorial column ‘Time to act on thugs’ is an example of an intelligent and thought provoking article. It has all the ingredients that can make a reader to agree with the writer and understand why the writer is calling for an immediate action. However, the only aspect that is found missing is an emotional involvement with the issue. Ethos: The writer has displayed a personality of a responsible and socially aware person who knows how the problem of street violence can be stopped. The stance taken by a writer is that of a person who wants a solution to the problem of violence and the killings by the thugs. Stance is the second important component of Ethos (Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.19). The intention of the communication is fulfilled when a writer is successful in convincing the readers not only to agree with the his or her stance but also makes the readers to take the same stance. The editor has done a good job in explaining the reason behind taking the stance of demanding a stern action against the thugs. The writer has referred to the killing of Luke Mitchell and life threatening attack on Ron Barassi when they were trying to save an innocent victim from the random act of violence. These two stories make us believe completely in what the writer is saying is right. The writer has successfully fulfilled the ideational function of ethos by talking about the topic that everyone can relate to (Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.27). Pathos: For the communication to be powerful enough to drive the reader to take action regarding the stance taken, what is necessary is the emotional strength of the communication. No matter how intelligent or logical the content is, unless it has an emotional force, it cannot reach the heart of the reader. However, for this to be acquired, the writer should feel the emotions himself before he can drive people to feel about his message (Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. p.45). Somehow, the emotional strength is missing in the editorial column. The writer has shown a concern about the issue of violence. The concern seems to be more of a product of intellectual thinking rather than emotional attachment to the issue. The article seems to be an attempt to make people aware about the current state of violence in the city however, because of lack of feelings, succeeds only in arousing the mental interest of the reader and not the emotional interest. The statement that ‘The Herald Sun believes the answer to all these questions is a resounding no’ and ‘This newspaper has long argued for more police on the beat’ has resulted in a loss of personal touch to the article. The sentence makes us feel as if the writer is talking on behalf of Herald Sun rather than himself or herself. With this sentence, the article has completely lost a sense of authentic concern towards the issue. This sentence makes the reader feel that the writer is somehow trying to promote the Herald Sun. This sentence has made the article to lose its authenticity. Logos : The article is very strongly supported by logic and evidence. The writer has given the data to support the increase in the crime rate between the year 2001 and 2007. The writer has also given the information about the co-relation between the increase in CBD attack with reduction in police patrolling. The logos part of the article has been successfully attained. Fallacy : There is no fallacy as the argument that the writer has put forward is extremely valid and sound. The writer’s concern about the potential of hooliganism at the games turning into violence is a very intelligent point. This shows that the writer is well aware about the psychological aspect of the issue of violence. The writer’s suggestion that we need to understand the culture that leads to violence if we are to eradicate it, shows the mature and well informed attitude of the writer. So there is no fallacy in the article. If we compare the two articles, we know that Shane Mitchell’s article ‘Don't waste Luke's life’ is more powerful and has great impact on the reader while the Editor’s article ‘Time to act on thugs’ fails to create an emotional impact and hence is not that powerful. References Cockcroft R. and Cockcroft, S. 1992. Persuading People:An Introduction To Rhetoric Basingstoke : Mcmillan Definition of Fallacy, Retrieved from < http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ > Accessed on 26th May’ 2009 The Editor. Time to act on thugs Retrieved from Herald Sun, Australia May 25, 2009 < http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,25530738-24218,00.html> Accessed on 27th May’ 2009 Mitchell, Shane. Don't waste Luke's life Retrieved from Herald Sun, Australia May 26, 2009 Accessed on 26th May’ 2009 Read More