Happy Hour Essay

In 1989, lawmakers became extremely concerned with the dramatic increase in drunken driving, thus banned happy hour in several states including Illinois. Only in relatively recent news has the legislation been uplifted. The lawmakers followed a lead spearheaded by DuPage County, which concluded that the most optimal solution towards remedying binge drinking and drunken driving was to ban happy hour. In the years prior to the establishment of the law making happy hour illegal, it was recorded that alcohol-related crashes made up almost 50 percent of all fatal crashes in the state of Illinois. In 2012, it was 41 percent. In this literature, the opinions of several people are voiced from both ends of the spectrum in the matter at hand. The following

Audrey Saunders, the owner, preached “… In general, offering food and water and frequent check-in’s with one’s patrons is not just a good preventative—at the core, it’s simply responsible hospitality…It’s a bit narrowminded to think that a happy hour ban is going to drastically reduce problems” (Saunders 2-3). Saunders provided a weak stance in the matter presented of financial benefits to happy hour listing a raise in dollars from minimum wage to $15 an hour when happy hour would ensue. This statistic was paired along with other aspects of Logos, expressed an argument against the ban of happy hour. Saunders lifted an unrealistic solution to the matter of concern of drunken driving speaking to how as a bar owner, checking on the patrons as well as taking care of them is simply “responsible hospitality”. Saunders gives this solution as a possible replacement to the ban, having certified bartenders legally responsible and trained to judge customers who are too intoxicated to operate machinery. Overall, Saunders presented an argument in opposition to banning happy hour due to financial gains, however, it was not backed with strong enough evidence or statistic to convince me of her

Jacobs utilized firm Pathos through personal accounts recanted by his friends and community experiences with happy hour “…a friend told me of the tragic death of her close friend, a freshman at Eastern Illinois University, who was on her way home when the car she was riding in was hit by a driver who had just left a happy hour” (Jacobs 3). In this quote, Jacobs’ gives an astounding story that essentially implores his readers to reevaluate the value of lives. Jacobs’ argument lends itself nicely to Logos aspects as well due to the obvious fact that death for the most part is undesirable, especially tragic ones that involve the lack of responsibility of others. Jacobs’ attempted to convince his audience to not trade lives for revenue even if reinstating happy hour would “let Chicago compete with other cities for tourist dollars”(Jacobs 4). Ultimately, it is evident through the major use of Pathos, and logic, Jacobs’ argument leaves a strong, lasting impression on its