In Malcolm X’s speech on police brutality in the 1960s, he
applies all three of the rhetorical appeals in order to make a powerful
argument. Specifically, his use of ethos is extremely prevalent throughout the
entirety of the speech. Ethos, as we know, is an appeal to the audience’s
ethics, and Malcolm X uses this to establish a strong rhetoric to convince the
audience that what was happening throughout the nation was uncivil and immoral.
He points out multiple times that the police had been using the press to make
the white public believe that 99% of African Americans were criminals. In
reference to ethos, this creates a strong message that resonates with the
audience, both in the past and for viewers today. It allows everyone to truly
see and understand that what was happening in the country was unethical, and it
had to be changed before the issue became even worse. For our modern society,
it is crucial that someone with high credibility like Malcolm X speaks about
these issues, because the problem clearly still lingers today.
- Parker Knott
I think that Malcolm X's appeal to ethos is especially poignant because it highlights the unethical and immoral actions of the time in a way that calls us, as listeners, to take action. Helping listeners to realize the injustice taking place against African Americans at the time, Malcolm X wanted to not only bring the issue to light, but to encourage and enforce change. An appeal to ethos, as you pointed out, was the perfect avenue for this because he was able to educate America about the racial inequality and then challenge them to be active about finally putting an end to it.
ReplyDeleteI believe this was more of an appeal to pathos, because ethos/ethics is commonly confused with morality, which appeals with pathos. This is simply my interpretation, but him referring to the abuse of power and the terror of injustices seems to be more of a moral argument.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joseph that while this is definitely an appeal to the audiences ethos, it is more so an appeal to the audiences pathos. While he is most definitely a credible source, I think that through this particular speech, he reaches his audience through their emotions. In my opinion, that is the most powerful device.
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