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Tevin Jerel Vincent

Dr. Roger Gardner

Introduction to Ethics

6 May 2013

Is torture really the Silent Killer?

Quite often, the realization is made that arguments are the typical norm. Aside from reality televisions shows, arguments are not just physical altercations but generally anything you can possibly imagine is an argument. As you begin to colloquialize your critical thinking skills, arguments becomes increasingly concrete and less abstract. Instead, deciphering through essays and editorials, arguments can be as specific as ads, cars, clothes, and website designs. Presentation of any legitimate argument requires the key element of persuasion. Mastering the art of persuasion has been displayed through teachings from Greek Philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle differentiated between the three major components in which he found most applicable to persuasion. The ethical appeal, or Ethos, establishes credibility with your listener. The listener needs to be able to trust you, not only by examining your credentials, but also interacting intellectually with an individual. The emotional appeal, or Pathos, involves

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appealing to emotions of your audience. Giving the audience an opportunity to audiate and apply the positive or negativity of argument, allows for there to be an imaginary dialect from pupil to pupil. Lastly, the Logical appeal, or Logos, allows for deductive reasoning of the audience. Providing concrete supporting evidence provides clarity for the overall position an individual is persuaded to take from an argument. Through the art of persuasion seen within essays, visuals, and editorials, the clich everything is an argument is not only a statement but reality.

The Torture Myth offers a careful examination of deeming the process of torture to be right or wrong. Constitutionally, torture is an outrageous concept voted wrong by the by-laws of the Geneva Convention. Anne Applebaum does an amazing job of simply proposing the question, Does torture work? To begin the argument, Applebaum establishes her credibility through other government officials listed within the passage. From the research provided, the assumption can be made that she has done her research and is somewhat knowledgeable on the topic. Within this short essay, Applebaum does a superb job at creating mental illustrations to have an emotional appeal. As an example she states, If I take a Bunsen burner to the guys genitals, hes gonna tell you just about anything. For males reading this essay, that stat ement really hits close to home. Lastly, the authors logical appeal is very expressive. Applebaum does a great job at providing you with the information you need to persuade or make you take her position.

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The visual aid in Figure 1 comes from the war zone of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. The photograph displays an American Marine holding a gun over an unarmed Iraqi soldier. In this specific case, rather than a picture painting a thousand words, the exact opposite actually occurs in which the photograph is concealing the underlying truth. The Marine actually went on to shoot the unarmed soldier. Within every country except the United States, the full length video was released so that the general public could witness the actuality of war from a second hand perspective. It was said by NBC that Americans were not ready to see the reality of war so therefore a still image was displayed throughout the United States. The sense of fairness seems to become obsolete with a still image. Having the distinct privilege to have a one on one interview with the author of this book and publication, Kevin Sites, the understanding becomes more familiar and mutual of his exact intentions. Kevin Sites credibility is established through his many years as a journalist and in-field operative. The emotional appeal is derived from the actual clip in which the wounded Iraq soldier is begging for his life. In addition to the strong examples of Pathos and Logos explained within Sites book and visual aid, the clarity is made by his argument with the clip that was released with the book and in other countries. While interviewing an American Marine, his response to Americas influence within the war reads in part, Were the good guys. We are Americans. We are fighting a gentlemans war here because we dont behead people, we dont come down to the same level of the people were combating (Sites). This is a contradicting

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false statement because American soldiers actually do go to the same level or maybe even more extreme to the individual in which we are fighting.

Many times within life, people tend to ignore small health issues. The clich that proclaims that ignorance is bliss is so apparent when dealing with medical health. Dont ignore the dangers of silent killer by Kenneth Hardin tell of the dangers of hypertension. This article goes back and forth between the difference in health care provided between white and black Americans. Hardin, being of African American descent, establishes his credibility not only by his race but his position as a medical doctor at a local hospital. Hardin has been a medical doctor for over fifteen years. Hardin does a great job with appealing to the logics of the audience by providing several statistics throughout the entire paper. Obesity is a contributing factor to hypertension, and nearly 70 percent of blacks between 20 and 74 years of age are overweight(Hardin). Hypertension is a deadly disease, therefore, Hardin encourages his audience to embrace and understand the dangers of hypertension. Live with it rather than die from it.

In conclusion, arguments present themselves to the general public every day in different shapes and forms. The key elements to arguments are the situation and persuasion. There is an art to persuasion in which the Greek Philosophers Aristotles theories of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are dominant. Aristotles concept exhibits its

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appearance thorough The Torture Myth, The Mosque Shooting and The Silent Killer. Therefore, through the art of persuasion seen within essays, visuals, and editorials, the clich everything is an argument is not only a statement but reality.

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Figure 1.

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Works Cited
Anne Applebaum. Torture Myth. 2nd ed. New York City: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 2008.. Torture Myth. Print.

Hardin, Kenneth. "Don't ignore dangers of silent killer." Salisbury Post 20 July 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/072009-edit-hardin>.

Sites, Kevin. In the Hot Zone. 2004. Private Collection. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://static.vg.no/leonora/bildarkiv/1100588569.73242.jpg>.

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