Osama Ethos Speech

The rhetorical appeal also known as Ethos, is usually defined as credibility or trustworthiness and uses the speaker’s good character, personal experience, and credentials in order to support an argument. Ethos can also refer to the author’s perspective when trying to persuade the audience to see what the speaker sees.

Usage of Credibility within a Speech Obama uses a significant amount of credibility in his Osama Bin Laden dead speech in order to convince the audience that the procedure of the task was well organized.“ Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense….” (Obama, 2011). Obama uses authenticity of professions like the military and counterterrorism professionals in order to persuade the audience to believe highly experienced individuals helped take part in the assassination of Bin Laden. He then emphasizes the amount of time and hard work these great individuals spent on finding Bin Laden proving the authenticity of the committee. The experience of the individuals that took part in finding Bin Laden helped persuade

He states “I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam.” (Obama, 2011). Obama uses his morals to convince the people that Islam is not the primary enemy. Because the September 11 attacks were carried out by an Islamic group, many Americans show hatred toward Muslims. He uses his authenticity as the leader of the country, and his good character to show that he is not an anti-muslim so the public should not be either. Obama relates to President Bush, who insured people that a single religion is not associated with terrorist attacks in order to stop the American public from making false claims about Islamic