Have you ever seen a sign and scratched your head wondering what is it trying to communicate? All around the Unites States, patriotic slogans are countless and in Gary Sloan’s article “Sleuthing Patriotic Slogans,” Sloan presents readers with his thoughts concerning patriotic slogans by questioning various patriotic expressions, parsing each of the words for meaning. Sloan sparks critical thinking about various slogans through his thoughtful writing style and use of rhetorical appeals. This rhetorical analysis shows the varied degrees of success with which Sloan uses ethos, logos, and pathos: while Mr. Sloan’s credibility appeal is strong because of his teaching background and his use of logical appeal by breaking down words into meaning is difficult to argue with, his use of emotional appeal is somewhat weak. However, Sloan does not identify himself as being a part of the groups to which his pathos might appeal to, such as …show more content…
This is mainly due to the connection he makes with slogans that are commanding. In one of the examples he uses, “Support the Troops,” he relates this commanding slogan to those that are “natural-born rebels” and “patriophobes”, but this is not an appeal for those that are heavily patriotic. However, Sloan does not use a tone that suggests he is in any of those camps. Therefore, this weakness does not detract from his strong use of appeals, ethos, and his persuasive use of logos. Essentially, Sloan delivers an effective argument for his readers through his use of ethos and logos, aside from what might be considered weak pathos. For his audience of everyone, his use of ethos and logos are strong, since he is a highly educated, and a critical thinker that uses logos very effectively. He successfully executes his thoughtful thesis that patriotic slogans should not necessarily be taken at face value. That is to say, some slogans can be problematic and are worth scratching your head