How Does Charlie Hebdo Use Ethos Pathos Logos

My soon to be ex-boss works tirelessly at creating and maintaining social prestige. One would suppose that she was a great proponent of social justice and change. But, really, does the simple act of capitalizing on current events and spouting off an already formulated opinion deserve prestige? In mid-September I happened to walk in on a conversation of hers. She was upset by reports of Charlie Hebdo mocking the death of a child. In this essay, I will analyze one of those controversial cartoons based on its use of pathos, logos, and ethos.
First, the Charlie Hebdo cartoon uses pathos effectively. According to Lunsford et al. (2013) “emotional appeals (appeals to pathos) are powerful tools for influencing what people think and believe” (p.30).

Lunsford et al states that logos involves “arguments based on facts, evidence, and reason” (p. 56). The child’s name was Alan Kurdi. He was a three year old Kurdish Syrian refugee that perished in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea along with his five year old brother and 35 year old mother. His body washed ashore on September 2, 2015 on the Turkish coast. His stranded, lifeless body on the beach was photographed by Nliufer Demir, a Turkish press photographer. The assumed premise of the satirized version created by Charlie Hebdo is to bring focus to the Western world’s capitalistic approach to the crisis. The only open arms to greet the immigrants is picture of a clown. It seems to imply that we assess and greet the refugee crisis in terms of capitalism - what is the cost, who pays that cost, and what is the monetary benefit? After all, it is better here than in their own country no matter the toll the refugees had to pay to get here. At least we offer a two-for-one special as some sort of consolation and means for them to begin contributing back into the economies they are taxing. As my boss believes, it must be every Middle Easterner’s dream to live in the United States or Europe. Certainly, it might have been true in the time that my maternal grandparents emigrated from Homs, Syria in the 1940s. The West at minimum knows he was coming to a better place – “he was so close to the goal but...” This turns out to be the unforeseen

Much of our information provided to us is already interpreted information based off of some original account. My boss had not seen the original picture on its own nor did she see it prior to the media coverage of the satirized version. It certainly can bias our views or simply effect the quality and integrity of the information we pass on to others especially when we deal with an emotionally charged subject. She was trying to make the point of how wrong the magazine was for mocking the death of a child and it is no wonder why “they” hate us. That certainly was not the point the cartoon was trying to make. That type of absurd presumptions are what creates apologist for those that kill in the name of religion. Dealing with the absurd is certainly what Charlie Hebdo specializes in and will hopefully continue to hold a mirror up to society to examine its