Pathos Overload

While I was reading chapter 13, the thought of pathos and emotional appeals made me think of only one thing: the BC SPCA commercial featuring Sarah McLachlan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc

 I'm almost positive that everyone has seen this commercial at some point or other.  When it first aired, I remember everyone talking about how sad it was and how they cried watching it, but I hadn't heard a single person with such emotional reaction to it actually donating any money to the BC SPCA.  I'm not sure if anyone else agrees, but I think the producers of the commercial might have gone to the extreme with their use of pathos.  Although there was a point where logos was brought in when Sarah McLachlan shared the number of animals abused each year, the whole commercial focused on the emotional response to such cruelty and how to fix it.  I don't know that this commercial was a success in their aim to raise money for the organization, but I know for certain a lot of people won't forget it.

Why I Want a Wife

As Tori had pointed out to me in class on Tuesday, the article in chapter 5 by Judy Brady has a nice tie-in with my other blog on women's rights.  In this article, Brady describes why she believes it would be nice to have a wife.  Although she does seem to take on a rather sexist viewpoint, I can't say I totally disagree with her.  But on a rhetoric and civic life note, I never would have thought about an article like this as one about rhetoric, especially since I had no idea what it was before this class.  To be honest, I had never heard of exigence either before I read this chapter.  Now I understand, exigence is a problem.  Rhetoric is used to persuade people to act towards a solution.  The exigence in this article is the fact that Brady wants a wife to help her with the kids so she can enjoy more about her life.  If she had a wife, she could go back to school and not have to work, while also being able to spend time with her children.  The solution to this problem is obviously that she would be able to enjoy more time in her days.  Brady describes the perfect wife for a man, as well as the perfect husband for a woman.  Although this seems completely out of reach, and quite impossible, Brady uses rhetoric as a wonderful way to make it seem both possible and amazing.