Ethos, Pathos, Logos

The readings for this past week have included all three types of rhetorical approaches. The first, logos, appeals to the audience's logic. The second, ethos, refers to the credibility of the speaker. The third, pathos, is meant to evoke the emotions of the audience. In the readings, we have seen examples of all three rhetorical style approaches. For example, in Fannie Lou Hamer's speech, although short, ethos is mainly used to persuade her audience. She describes in detail the horrific events she has experienced, ranging from being verbally and physically abused and being taunted sexually. Under the wide "umbrella" of ethos, which is Fannie Lou Hamer's main approach, she also appeals to logos, as she uses short, simple words to describe her personal statement. She is very concise and detailed with times, dates, addresses, and experiences, which also adds to her credibility (ethos). Her overall stature provides the audience with an image of her being strong by overcoming enormous hardships, and not able to be deterred by anything less than torture.
Similarly, Stokely Carmichael mostly appeals to ethos. It is evident that he has "done his homework" as is suggested in the reading packet. He is well informed about the issues at hand, and having prior experience as an activist, he is skilled at connecting with his audience. One way he does this is by using humor to appeal to his audience. It is evident through applause and cheers that he is successful at reaching his target audience by using these primary tools.
The informational video mainly appeals to logos, as part of it is rooted in fact. There are clips of judges, courthouses, reasoning, and outcomes. On the other hand, there are some scenes of harsh violence as African Americans are beaten at a local diner. This, undoubtedly, evokes strong emotion within the viewer. I thought the video did a great job in remaining informational yet adequately showing what the hardships were during the Civil Rights Movement.