Obama Ethos Pathos Logos

After the tragic church shooting in South Carolina, President Barack Obama delivered a passionate and heartfelt speech. Reverend Clementa Pinckney was the focus of the Eulogy, but Obama also encompassed the other eight deaths. Obama had many messages in mind when he gave the speech. He wanted to remember those lost and honor what they had achieved in their short lives. He wanted to urge Americans to continue to respond not with the hatred as the killer did, but with generosity. He wanted to remove the symbol associated with violent acts. With this said, Obama’s main purpose of giving this eulogy was to pay tribute to the victims, make a call to action for continued racial progress, and unite a community after a hate crime. President Obama

He uses ethos when he speaks, “To the families of the fallen, the nation shares in your grief.” By saying this, he lets the families know that the whole nation is right beside you. Obama further employs ethos when he states, “they’ve now passed it onto us.” These victims died and now the country has to continue their work. We have to continue to overcome the racial barriers and prejudices. Obama uses logos when talking about how the nation should continue their lives after this tragedy. He says, ““it would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allow ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again.” He goes on to state, “That’s what we so often do to avoid uncomfortable truths about the prejudice that still infects our society.” This is a call to action by the president for the nation to not forget about this incident. We cannot become quiet about this disaster as we have done for many others. Pinckney would want us to work towards eliminating this bias. The group singing of “Amazing Grace” was one of Obama’s uses of pathos. This has a unifying effect and makes the speech feel heartfelt. In addition, the words of the song are important. The song reads, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now, I see.” This relates to the racial biases and injustices in our country. We once were blind to it, but because of this tragedy, we now see. Another utilization of pathos that truly hits home to the audience is when the president says, “the countless more whose lives are forever changed, the survivors crippled, the children traumatized and fearful every day as they walk to school, the husband who will never feel his wife’s warm touch…” This shows how the loved ones of the victims lives will never be the same, and how the shooting will incite fear into the