The Gullible Public
Rhetoric is found in many different areas of media. Ads, commercials, essays, and even television shows can feature this persuasive language. For example, an article can include math to explain the logic of an argument, make people want to fit in with the crowd the article pertains to, and reference a famous person to make everything seem more believable. These devices are all used to appeal to someone reading a story or seeing a television ad. There are also many different kinds of rhetoric, which makes it easy to include in many different types of writing. The rhetoric found in a cosmetology article and an online college commercial makes very strong and persuasive points.
Rhetoric is very prominent in articles found in newspapers and magazines. The WCCC's Cutting-edge: Cosmetology Program article opens up saying, “With a mission to prepare youths and adults for successful careers, the Warren County Career Center (WCCC) in Lebanon, Ohio, has developed 28 workforce development programs, including a cosmetology program that is a premier example of a great partnership between instructors and the district” (Peg Allen). This sentence is an example of a form of rhetoric called logos because it tells the reader that there are 28 programs that help in developing a workforce. This line makes the article stronger because it not only offers a good beginning sentence to reel in the readers, but it also gives the readers a sense of how serious this cosmetology school is. A few sentences later the author dives into a logical paragraph about the amount of successful students who graduated that says, "In the 32 years of operation, more than 600 students have completed [the program] earning state licenses" (Peg Allen). This sentence is another example of logos. Most articles revolve around the use of logos because it gives the reader a sense of how well the object works using logic and numbers. This also makes the article more...