Comparing Rhetorical Analysis Of Tim Wise's Logos And Pathos

Tim Wise’s article contains a lot of emotion and it is though the clever tactic of appealing to Logos and Pathos that Wise makes the reader really consider what he is speaking about. There is even an ethos aspect to his argument. Since Wise is a white man shaming his own race, this removes bias which in turn gives him credibility. Now to examine the Logos aspect of his argument. By using the statistic “in past two years, thirty-two young men have either carried out a mass school shooting or attempted to do so, and of these thirty-two, thirty were white teens,” Wise is using the logos aspect of a claim to really make the reader consider the gravity of the situation and take into consideration his appeal to begin profiling these kids (69). Wise also uses a statistic

It is through his clever word choice that Tim Wise attempts to provoke an emotional response from the reader. Wise’s essay immediately opens up with a statement that grabs the readers attention. Wise says “white folk need to pull our heads out of our collective ass,” which not only calls the white race in particular, including himself, but also includes profanity which grabs the readers attention (69). Wise goes on to say that these students are using their teachers and fellow classmates as “target practice” and it is through phrases like this that he intends to invoke shock into the reader which will hopefully make them consider the argument he is making (69). Perhaps Wise’s best effort to produce emotion is when he tries to cause anger. No one likes to be at fault or told they are wrong, and Wise uses this to his advantage. All through out his article, he constantly blames the white race as a whole for this negligence and continuously reiterates that the white race is no better than any other and as a result, should be treated no different. Wise hopes that this anger he provokes is the final price needed to incite people to action, especially the white