Protest Song Analysis: Eve Of Destruction

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The second type of appeal was the ethical appeal, ethos. “In this mode of persuasion the individual seeks to relate to the audiences by presenting him or herself as a person with high morals and human dignity” (Bailey, 2006). Therefore, there was only really one protest song that I and many other CSU students felt fell into this category, which was Berry McGuire’s, “Eve of Destruction.” The song focuses predominately on an appeal which I think made it easier for myself and other listeners to relate to the artist. In the song, McGuire expresses how our hypocrisy as a society is rendering us to our own demise. Throughout the song, the speaker uses paradoxes to display doubt in the minds of people who support the Vietnam War and choose to join the fight. The way in which the song is worded is almost like McGuire is speaking directly to the soldiers and society. The
Protest songs during this time were more popular than in previous generations, and had a larger impact. Because protest music had messages that where drenched in political events like the Civil Rights movement they were so closely related that each had to a role in causing or propagating the other. Nonetheless, whether looking back at the 60’s, 90’s, or even now there is one thing for certain which is protest music can be a very effective tool for change. Protest songs that have such strong political message in which a massive amount of people can relate deeply too, caused huge bouts of protest such as the Vietnam War, racially segregation, police brutality, Ferguson, occupy wall street, and Black lives matter movement. As history as shown, human beings are greatly affected by messages they can relate to and experience daily, and therefore, when harnessed into a political song that reaches the masses great change is surly to come

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