With billions of people in America coming of driving age today, the prominent question in a majority of minds is “What kind of car do I want?” “According to GM, 90% of teens interviewed in 1999 said they preferred SUVs to any other class of vehicles” (Bradsher 542). “Teens and people in their early 20’s may love SUVs, but should they be driving them?” (545). Keith Bradsher’s article “Gimme an SUV—ASAP…” effectively convinces his audience that teenagers driving SUVs proves to be dangerous by using respectable expert’s opinions, expressive stories, and appropriate studies and statistics.
Through Keith Bradsher’s article, he successfully establishes credibility by using reliable sources and famed individuals. “On Jan. 2, 2002, U.S. President Bill Clinton’s dog, Buddy, ran into the street in Chappaqua, N.Y., while chasing a contractor’s truck and was struck and killed by a high school student driving an SUV” (Bradsher 542). By giving this personal experience of President Clinton, the audience tends to be further interested and persuaded rather than reading an experience from someone random. Most, if not all, Americans are familiar with President Clinton, therefore making Bradsher’s argument stronger by giving a personal example of a credible source. Ed Molchany; Ford brand manager for Explorers, and Drew Cook; Ford marketing manger for Sport Trac and Ranger small pickups are mentioned in the article and also prove to exhibit credible sources when talking about SUV’s. The author includes a “press release warning parents against allowing young drivers behind the wheel of SUVs” issued by The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that states “Don’t let your teen drive an unstable vehicle. Sport-utility vehicles, especially the smaller...
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...pathos, and logos. The appeal of ethos helps the author establish credibility, referencing significant individuals and concentrating on their opinions. By arousing the audience’s various emotions, Bradsher relates to the audience and establishes pathos. The fluent use of logic that the author incorporates helps institute the reality of the situation. Each rhetorical appeal proves to be an important ingredient in Keith Bradsher’s article by strengthening, in different ways, his argument that teenagers driving SUVs does not display a positive outcome.
Works Cited
Bradsher, Keith. "Gimme an SUV-ASAP: Teenagers Are the Next Big Market for
Sport-Utility Vehicles-and the Consequences Could Be Deadly." 2002. Page 540 Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. By John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Blinn College Edition ed. New York: Longman, 2007. Print.
Edlund, John R. Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Three Ways to Persuade.” Cal Poly Pomona, n.d. Web. 6
In the argument that college is not for everyone, Reeves establishes his ethos through both extrinsic and intrinsic support while maintaining clarity using the logos approach. Pathos, however, lacked the same amount of control. By using an excess amount of pathos while approaching rhetoric with a condescending tone, the author diminished the persuasiveness achieved by combining the techniques. This resulted in a limited audience due to the insulting nature of the closing remarks geared to the very audience he was trying to reach.
An example of Moss’s outstanding usage of ethos, pathos, and logos is Jeffrey Dunn’s story. Dunn held an executive position at Coca-Cola in 2001, when the main company goal was to drive Coca-Cola into poorer areas. On a business trip to Brazil, Dunn realized that “these people need a lot of things, but they don’t need a Coke” and decided to push the company in a healthier direction. This choice led to Dunn’s eventual firing (491-494). This story not only appeals to pathos by getting to readers’ emotions, but also to ethos and logos because Dunn is a credible source and gives an authentic experience that adds to the credible feel of the article. (very good info./analysis, keep but
Ask any ten enthusiasts what two cars epitomize the concept of an automotive rivalry and at least nine of them will instantly conclude the Chevrolet or Chevy Camaro and the Ford Mustang, two cars that make up part of a small automotive segment known as Pony Cars. These fire-breathing leviathans of the street snarl with guttural reverberations boastfully announcing their presence with the mere turn of key. For nearly five decades, these mechanical beasts have captured the imagination of the American driver and ignited the most contentious debate in automotive history: Which car reigns supreme? Muscle car buffs waste no time quoting sales figures, vehicle performance, track times, or even mundane statistics like vehicle dimensions or available colors to simply justify their support for one model over the other. As this debate rages on, the makers of these brutes fan the flames through targeted marketing strategies, consumer promotions, pricing strategies, and creative advertising all in effort to win an automotive war the likes of which have never been seen or fought before (Davenport, 2013).
The author uses pathos and logos several times in this writing. Pathos is in use when the author says, “Attempts to add sexual orientation to the federal statute began shortly after the brutal murder of young Matthew Sheppard in Wyoming, apparently because of his homosexuality.” He uses logos when he says, “ the yearly number of hate-crimes charges brought by the Justice Department dropped from seventy-six in 1996 to twenty-two ten years later.
In this article written by the author Bruce Feiler, titled “Teenage Drivers? Be Very Afraid”, he talks about how he suggest the parents to stop being helicopter parents and allow their children to be independent. However, other professionals’ suggestions are the opposite when teenagers start to drive. As a result of the teenagers’ immaturity, the parents are told to be more involved because their child’s life may be in danger. As stated in the article by Nichole Moris “the most dangerous two years of your life are between 16 and 17, and the reason for that is driving.” There are various factors that play huge roles through this phrase of the teenagers’ life: other passengers, cellphones, and parents. In 2013, under a million teenage drivers were involved in police-reported crashes, according to AAA. The accidents could have been more but many teenage accidents go unreported. As a result, one of their recommendations to the parents is to not allow their children to drive with other passengers: other passengers can big a huge distraction and could increase the rate of crashes by 44 percent. That risk doubles with a second passenger and quadruples with three or more. Furthermore, as technology has taken over teenagers’ lives, the parents should suggest to those teenagers who insists on using the phones that the only safe place for it to be: in a dock, at eye level, on the dashboard. The worst place is the cup holder, the driver’s lap, and the passenger’s seat. Next, professionals also suggest that the parents implement their own rule and even continue the ones like the graduated driver’s licenses regulations. This regulation includes restrictions like not allowing their children to drive between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. To
By appealing so much to pathos, his letter focuses more on emotionally convincing and persuading the reader to accept his claim, rather than providing facts and logic to his argument. His combined use of logos and ethos also adds an aspect of logic and reason to his argument, as well as further showing his credibility and connection to the subject as the author. His use of the three rhetorical devices helps to bolster and support his claim, while also personalizing and connecting with the
Ramage, John D., and John C. Bean. "Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1998. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
" Web. The Web. The Web. 15 Mar. 2010. http://www.idebate.org. Gregory, Ted. A. Should 16-Year-Olds Drive?
“Americans’ Love Affair with Cars, Trucks and SUVS Continues.” USA Today. USA Today, 30 August 2003. Web. 5 January 2012.
Andrew Simms, a policy director and head of the Climate Change Program for the New Economics Foundation in England, presents his argument about the impact SUV’s have on our roadways, and the air we breathe. “Would You Buy a Car That Looked like This? “. The title alone gives great insight on what the article is going to be about, (vehicles). “They clog the streets and litter the pages of weekend colour *supplements. Sport utility vehicles or SUV’s have become badges of middle class aspiration” (Simms 542). Simms opening statement not only gives his opinion on how SUV’s are the new trend, but he also paints a picture of what we see every day driving down our roadways. Simms also compares the tobacco industry’s gap between image and reality to that of SUV’s; stating that the cause and consequences of climate change resemble smoking and cancer. Simms comparison between SUV’s and cigarettes shows how dangerous he believes SUV’s are.
Davis, Robert. (2005, March 3). USA Today. “Is 16 too young to drive a car?”
What makes you love the car that you drive in? Could it be multiple factors such as the color, the amount of miles you get per gallon, the number of people that can fit into it, or even how much storage it has? Buying a car makes you feel like a new person, the ability to transport from one place to another and getting to places a lot quicker than the train or bus makes life a lot easier. But does buying a car mean you’re technically safe from the all the dangers that the road ahead brings to you? The one thing that people don’t look for in a car is the amount of safety that car gives to you and every person that drives in. In the book Unsafe At Any Speed, author Ralph Nader discusses the dangers that automobiles not only bring to people that are driving within the car but he also discusses the dangers that the cars bring to the environment.
The trends that have been most instrumental in the shaping of America over the past sixty years have been suburbanization and the development of our consumer culture. These two phenomena have changed not only the face of America, but also the fabric of our society, our values and aspirations. Suburbanization and consumer culture are broad, sweeping terms that encompass many different catalysts of change. However, the automobile is an important product and tool of both of these institutions. This paper examines the inundation of American society by the automobile during the post war era as a key catalyst for the rise of consumer culture, its role in facilitating suburbanization and some of the negative impacts the automobile has had on America. Over the past sixty years America has changed greatly to become what it is today, and these changes have largely been driven by our national love affair with the automobile.
“Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional deaths for teens (16-17),” reported The New York State Department of Health. The most exciting thing about being sixteen in the United States is driving. Teenagers can not wait to be sixteen to drive, however, they do not understand the dangers that come with driving at such a young age. Sixteen is the age between child life and adulthood. It is a time when they are not stable and undergoing change, which makes them unsuitable to drive. Many teenagers would say that they need to get to places. In response to that claim, there are public transportation systems and bikes as available alternatives for young drivers. The financial stability and matureness of eighteen year olds proves